How College Students Make, Keep, and Lose Friends, with Janice McCabe

Janice McCabe shares her research on campus loneliness and college friendship networks on episode 627 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast.

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Quotes from the episode

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The previous surgeon general, among others, have declared a loneliness crisis facing the United States, and, in fact, the highest rates are among young adults.

-Janice McCabe

Many people that I interviewed told me how they felt like everyone else either had more friends than them, had better friends than them, was having more fun than them, along those lines.

-Janice McCabe

Something I hear from students a lot is just this appreciation for taking friendship seriously in students’ lives. And so that’s something that professors, teachers, college administrators can do.

-Janice McCabe

Students often say they don’t really like group projects, but then, that was a place that many of the friendships that formed in classes that I saw formed.

-Janice McCabe

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Resources

• Making, Keeping, and Losing Friends: How Campuses Shape College Students’ Networks by Janice McCabe (press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo…)

• Connecting in College: How Friendship Networks Matter for Academic and Social Success by Janice McCabe (press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo…)

• Janice McCabe at Dartmouth (faculty-directory.dartmouth.edu/janice-m-mccabe)

• What Friendship Network Type Are You? (PDF) (dropbox.com/scl/fi/jbbzccy5jvb6njzoky2mb/What-…)

• I Study Friendship. Here’s How You Make Lasting Friends by Janice McCabe, The New York Times (nytimes.com/2026/01/03/opinion/friendship-mark…)

• The Friendship Advice Experts Swear By by Catherine Pearson, The New York Times (nytimes.com/2026/01/27/well/friendship-make-ke…)

• Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community (hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-so…)

• Community of Inquiry framework (thecommunityofinquiry.org/framework)

• Propinquity (Wikipedia) (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propinquity)

• Homophily (Wikipedia) (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homophily)

• Peter Felten (centerforengagedlearning.org/about-cel/center-…)

• Network Weaving as an Antidote to Imposter Syndrome (teachinginhighered.com/2025/11/08/network-weav…)

• Dear Nina: Conversations About Friendship podcast (ninabadzin.com/podcasts)

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