Friendships in teen years important for future happiness

Friendships forged during a person's turbulent teenage years lay the essential foundation for their happiness later in life, a new study suggests.

Being broadly accepted by peers in early adolescence and forming close connections as an older teen both predict how well-adjusted a person will be in adulthood, researchers found.

"Friendships during the teenage years provide youth with one of their first forays into intimate consensual relationships," said researcher David Szwedo , an associate professor of clinical and school psychology at James Madison University.

"Because friends may come and go, friendships are a context in which teens must develop skills to maintain and grow the friendship or risk its loss," he added in a news release. "These skills are likely to be subsequently helpful for forming future friendships and longer-term romantic relationships."

For the study, researchers interviewed 184 U.S. students at 13 and 14 and 17 and 18 years of age to measure the quality of their friendships and social acceptance.

The team then caught up with the group at 28 to 30 years of age, asking about their health, careers and personal lives.

Adults who thought their peers liked them as teens reported lower levels of anxiety and aggression, better physical health, more social connection, and higher satisfaction in their professional and romantic lives.

The study also found that different types of friendship benefitted people in their early and late teens.

Young teenagers who were more generally accepted by their peers had better well-being as adults, while older teenagers appeared to draw more benefit from developing close friendships with a few pals, results show.

On the other hand, older teens didn't seem to suffer from a lack of the high levels of social acceptance that are important to young teens, researchers found.

"A teen's perception of how broadly socially accepted they are by their peers in early adolescence is particularly influential in predicting adult wellbeing," said lead researcher Emily Shah , a doctoral student at the University of Arkansas. "Conversely, in late adolescence, the quality of their more intimate close friendships is more influential for predicting adult wellbeing."

However, Shah added that teens struggling to be accepted shouldn't assume they're doomed to an unhappy adulthood.

"I want teens to know that they aren't alone," she said in the news release. "It's not easy being a teenager in this world, and I choose to believe that teens are doing the best that they can with the skills that they have. I hope that adults who interact with teenagers consider sharing that perspective, to hold space for empathy and compassion."

The new study appears in the journal Frontiers in Developmental Psychology .

More information

The University of California-Berkeley has more on the importance of positive peer relationships among schoolkids .

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