Is it a red flag if the only friends someone has are from childhood?

I would say yes. Anytime I meet people who have the same social group for long periods of time I find they are quite socially stunted and have poor boundaries/ standards. Men are especially terrible about easily “forgiving and forgetting”, and justifying friendships with appalling people. Friendships wax and wane with personal growth from both sides, and the label for these relationships needs to accurately reflect that. I find it also a red flag when people just give the permanent label of friend to damn near everyone they are on friendly terms with in their life, even people they haven’t talked to in 5+ years. People become total strangers in a fraction of that time, it’s arrogant to assume they’re the same person as you remember them.

I don't think it's necessarily a red flag.

On one hand, it might indicate lack of personal development/maturity. On the other hand, it might indicate loyalty and the ability to maintain healthy, long-term relationships.

I think each case is different, and you have to feel it out for yourself.

IMO, it's a red flag because they haven't had enough personal growth.

It's too easy to chill with the same people instead of working on yourself and levelling up. Part of that is seeking out new relationships.

I'm not at all the same person I was 20 years or even 5 years ago. You can't take people with you when you level up and mature. They tend to either enable or resent you, IMO.

My sister still hangs with the shitty friends she had in high school. It's because she's a narc who can't face herself, so has surrounded herself with flying monkeys who are losers just like her. Birds of a feather...

If you were to ask me in my early 20s, I would said "NOOOOOOOO! Having friends only from childhood is a sign of loyalty!"

Now that I'm 30, I agree... it could be a red flag depending on the quality of the friendship.

Most of my childhood friends were awful, insecure pick-mes. The worst ones find opportunities to put you down. The best ones, while decent and ocassionally sweet, were void of chemistry. We hung out for old times sake, not because we enjoyed each other's company.

I was deeply terrified of putting myself out there to meet new people. As @Nahhh bruh puts it, I had poor boundaries and was socially stunted. Recipe for a disastrous friendship. It took me a while to get over my fear and work on my giving in tendencies for my social life to improve.

Even if our childhood friends are great people, we should ideally be meeting new people. It doesn't hurt to diversify your social portfolio IMO, as long as you keep vetting of course!

IMO it depends on whether the friends are HVM or LVM. If his friends seem like HVM, then it's fine. If his friends are LVM, then it's definately a red flag. Having said that, IMO a man having LVM as friends is a red flag regardless or whether they're childhood friends or more recent friends. Unlike our family, we choose our friends so if a man chooses LVM as friends, then he's likely to also be low value.

Case by case basis. If all his childhood friends are losers who smoke pot, bad. If they are lawyers, astronauts or productive members of society who hang out in golf or non-stupid things, good.

A lot of LV men are actually like this, they have one or two friends from childhood and that’s it. Unable to build healthy friendships with men as an adult. Usually have female ‘friends’ code for a harem.

I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily a red flag because I don’t have enough experience to back it up but it’s definitely at least a yellow flag. For the same reasons as the other two commenters above.

No, it's not a red flag in my opinion. 99% of men are trash, and if someone is a HVM they don't want to be around or waste their energy on scrotes. That applies to women too: we only want the best, and so should a man want the best as friends.

Does this apply to men or women too? Unfortunately, my dad can be quite controlling on how much I go out for fellowship (if it's in the evenings), which causes me not to have a solid support system. I know I'm over 18, but in my dad's culture, age doesn't matter - they still kind of control you 😑

God yes. My worst ex was one of those losers who never left his home town (until moving to mine). He was obsessed with high school and it is all he ever talked about at almost thirty. Extremely attached to the losers he used to smoke weed with back then.