Making friends comes naturally to many people as children, but just how hard is it to make friends as we get older?

University of Limerick Department of Psychology’s Dr Ann-Marie Creaven told Lunchtime Live that as we age, we are given less opportunities to authentically make friends.

“Those early life stages where you’re spending a lot of time in school, you’re actually meeting your peers routinely, every day,” she said.

“You have the chance to build connections with people and you have the chance to build connections with people in your community.

“But as we transition to adulthood and our lives take different paths, it can be harder when we don’t have those kind of structures in place that support friendship formation.”

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Listener Emma, who moved to Ireland from France, said, “You need to be intentional if you want to make friends in Dublin”.

“I think you can find a lot of different types of groups where you can meet people that are ready to have new friendships, but sometimes it’s also about finding what’s the right group and what’s the same people that have the same mindset as you,” she said.

“I feel like when you’re younger, you meet your friends, maybe at school, and the stars kind of align to find your own group of friends.

“But sometimes when you’re an adult, it’s kind of harder to have these stars aligning to find good friends.”

Emma said she found Irish people to have been very welcoming, but that it takes a lot of effort to form deeper connections.

Main image: A boyfriend is brought along to girls night. Image: Antonio Guillem Fernández / Alamy Stock Photo