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14th April 2018
02:08pm BST

They were asked to include information like how close they were, how many hours they spent together and what they would categorise the relationship as: acquaintance, casual friend, friend or close friend.
This let the researchers estimate the number of hours where people would be able to move up a level to a different stage of friendship.
The second group were asked about the people they had met since they started school two weeks earlier. From there, the researchers asked again four and seven weeks afterwards to see how the friendship had changed.
The results ended up showing that it takes between 40 to 60 hours to form a casual friendship, 80 to 100 to be considered a friend and around 200 hours to be "good friends".
On the findings in the study, lead researcher Jeffrey Hall said:
"We have to put that time in. "You can't snap your fingers and make a friend. Maintaining close relationships is the most important work we do in our lives – most people on their deathbeds agree. "When people transition between stages, they'll double or triple the amount of time they spend with that other person in three weeks' time. "I found freshmen who spent one-third of all waking hours in a month with one good friend. "Make it a priority to spend time with potential friends. "If you are interested in a friendship, switch up the context. If you work together, go to lunch or out for a drink. These things signal to people that you are interested in being friends with them."
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