Featured Data February 22, 2023

Friend Zone

Survey Center Staff

Dating apps have become an undeniable part of the romantic landscape, but more young people opting for a different strategy of finding a partner: Their friends. A new report, “From Swiping to Sexting: The Enduring Gender Divide in American Dating and Relationships” finds that young adults are much more likely than older Americans to say their partner or spouse was a friend first. This trend is even more common among young women. Half (50 percent) of young women who are in a relationship are dating someone with whom they were friends before they started dating.  

Advantages to dating your friends include; relationships starting from a place of mutual care, shared personal history, and an ability to trust the person you are dating and for young women specifically, safety. Seems like being in the “friend-zone” might not be as permanent of a position as many young men might think.