There is no body of research showing that attractive, kind people lack close friends because others use them. A 2019 paper in Motivation and Emotion reported four studies on parental conditional regard and later peer relationships. In the first two studies, young adults who remembered more conditional regard from parents also tended to perceive more conditional regard from romantic partners and best friends, alongside lower relationship quality. None of those qualities prevents close friendship, and none proves that another person’s motives are instrumental. Close friendship begins with finding out whether those two experiences can belong to the same relationship.