A new study has reignited the age-old debate over whether men and women can truly remain “just friends” after researchers discovered a possible clue that a male friend may secretly have romantic feelings.
According to scientists, men who are romantically or sexually interested in their female friends are more likely to regularly pay for meals, outings or shared expenses when spending time together.
The research found that rather than only treating one specific woman differently, some men who viewed female friendships as potential dating opportunities tended to be financially generous towards several female friends overall.
However, the same behavioural pattern was not observed among women when interacting with male friends.
The findings were published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior, with researchers concluding that “men’s mating interest predicted their financial investment in cross-sex friends”.
The study was conducted by researchers from the University of Texas at Austin involving 581 undergraduate students who completed online surveys about their friendships with members of the opposite sex.
Participants answered questions designed to measure romantic and sexual attraction towards friends, including how often they paid for activities or covered expenses while hanging out together.
Researchers said many romantic relationships often begin as friendships, but little is understood about how courtship behaviours develop within those friendships.
The study found that women were also able to notice the pattern. Female participants were more likely to believe a male friend was interested in them romantically if he frequently paid for things.
Still, researchers stressed that not all men behaved the same way, with some showing no tendency towards financial generosity despite close friendships with women.
Interestingly, a man’s relationship status did not appear to influence the results. The pattern remained consistent whether the man was single or already in a committed relationship.
Researchers also suggested that some women may deliberately insist on splitting bills as a subtle way of signalling disinterest or avoiding misunderstandings.
The study added that accepting financial gestures from male friends could sometimes be interpreted as encouragement of romantic interest, while rejecting such offers may serve as a “soft rejection tactic”.
The findings come amid growing research into how attraction influences friendships and dating behaviour.
Separate studies previously found that around 50 per cent of people admitted experiencing sexual attraction towards an opposite-sex friend, while roughly 66 per cent of romantic relationships reportedly began as friendships.
Meanwhile, another recent study revealed that sexual attraction can cloud judgement during dating situations, causing people to misread signals and overlook signs that the other person may not actually be interested romantically.
