Background: The present study examined how parents assess the significance of friendship for quality of life in adolescents with mild intellectual disability. Method: The study was based on qualitative semistructured interviews with 6 mothers. A thematic structural analysis was used to identify the themes. Results: The mothers compared their children with typically developing peers to examine to what extent their children's relationships were working optimally. Social support and a better understanding of friendship were found to be essential conditions for establishing friendship. Development of independence and a sense of belonging with others were factors that were reported to be highly important in determining quality of life outcomes for their adolescent children. Conclusions: From a parental view, friendship in adolescents with mild intellectual disability seems to be highly important for their quality of life in the long term. However, well-functioning and lasting friendship for this group of people appears to require substantially more effort for their parents than for typically developing offspring.