5 Fast Facts About Peer Relationships and Friendships During Adolescence

5 Fast Facts About Peer Relationships and Friendships During Adolescence

Friendships gain new importance and power as we become adolescents. With the onset of puberty, hormonal shifts cue changes in our brain chemistry that make us more sensitive to social rewards and increase our desire to feel acceptance, belonging, and like we matter to others. Changes in our social brain network also help us develop new capacities to consider the perspectives and feelings of other people. Additionally, our social worlds begin to expand as we move to larger secondary schools and we begin to have more control over who we choose to spend time with.

Peer relationships forged during adolescence can be particularly intense. Healthy connections can lead to higher academic achievement, less delinquent and risky behaviors, and greater well-being. Although friendships in early adolescence can be more short-lived, with only one percent of friendships last from seventh grade to twelfth grade, they can be influential to our future values and identity and healthy friendships formed in late adolescence can have positive effects on mental health well into adulthood.

All young people should have the opportunities and support needed to build meaningful connections with others. Providing opportunities for young people to form and maintain healthy friendships and providing support during turbulent friendships or after friend breakups should be seen as a priority for programs and caring adults.

Following are 5 research-based facts about the importance of healthy peer relationships during adolescence:

1. Healthy peer relationships during adolescence can predict future mental wellbeing. Research suggests that close friendships made during middle adolescence predicted relative increases in self-worth, and decreases in anxiety and depressive symptoms in adulthood.
2. Positive peer relationships can protect against the effects of adverse experiences. Some research suggests that having strong supportive friends as an LGBTQ+ youth increases positive identity development and protects against depression. Additionally, several studies have shown that positive peer relationships can serve as protective factors for children at risk due to family adversity.
3. Forming friendships is a necessary developmental task of adolescence that helps young people gain the skills necessary to form successful relationships later in life. Young people who forge healthy friendships during adolescence can learn critical social skills they’ll need to navigate future complex relationships, including with employers and romantic partners. Having strong friendships during adolescence can predict successful romantic relationships in adulthood.
4. Peer relationships can feel particularly intense and powerful during adolescence due to our increased sensitivity to social reward and need to matter to others. While this increased intensity and sensitivity to social feedback can lead to deep connections, it can also make the pain of being excluded or rejected feel particularly acute. Young people who have been socially excluded or isolated report greater distress and show greater activity compared to adults in a brain region associated with higher levels of depression in general. This suggests that young people need support and scaffolding to navigate and manage the strong emotions felt during and after friendships.
5. Adults can help young people build and learn from friendships by supporting these connections and helping them through turbulent friendships or after friend breakups. Adults should recognize the importance of these connections, help young people prioritize time to connect with their peers, and reflect on their own close friendships and encourage young people to do the same. They can also listen and validate intense emotions when friendships end.