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Americans' circle of close confidants has shrunk dramatically in the past two decades but the number of people who say they have no one with whom to discuss important matters has more than doubled, according to a new study by sociologists at Duke University and the University of Arizona. "(1)____ The evidence shows that Americans have more confidants and those ties are also more family-based than they are used to be," said Lynn Smith-Lovin, Professor of Sociology at Duke University and one of the study'sauthors of Social, Isolation in America: Changes in Core
Discussion Networks Over Two Decades.(2)____(3)____
The study compared data from 1985 to 2004 and found which the mean number of people with whom Americans can discuss matters important to them dropped by nearly one-third, from 2.94 people in 1985 to 2.08 in 2004.(4)____ The study paints a picture of Americans' social contacts a "densely connected, close, homogeneous set of ties slowly closing in on themselves, becoming smaller, more tightly interconnected, more focusing on the very strong bonds of the nuclear family."(5)____(6)____(7)____
That means less contacts created through clubs, neighbors and organizations outside the home-a phenomenon popularly known as " bowling lonely," from the 2000 book of the same title by Robert D. Putnam.(8)____(9)____ The researchers speculated that changes in communities and families, such as the increase in a number of hours that family members spend at work and the influence of Internet communication, may contribute to the decrease in the size of close-knit circles of friends and relatives.(10)____
