This is indicated by at least a team of psychologists from the universities of Virginia and Utah, in the USA, who have studied the personal evolution and clinical history of 171 people for 14 years. In an essay published in the journal Psychological Science , these researchers point out that these types of relationships provide adolescents with some of their most intense emotional experiences.
Often times, this leads those who are part of a group of friends to adopt the views of their colleagues even when it comes at a significant cost from a personal point of view. “This type of social interactions, in which the wishes of friends are put before their own goals, result in a decrease in vital stress,” says Joseph P. Allen, from the Department of Psychology at the University of Virginia, who has coordinated this work.
Allen and his collaborators studied the relationships of 171 adolescents, from 13 to 17 years old, and paid special attention to the communication, degree of trust and emotional connection that they maintained with their best friends. A decade later, the scientists analyzed the possible ailments, hospitalizations and pictures of anxiety and depression that those same people presented between the ages of 25 and 27.
Thus, they determined that those who had shown greater “connectivity” with their friends were healthier, even when other variables were taken into account, such as income, body mass index or drug use. In the opinion of these experts, the relationship is that good relationships forged during adolescence contribute to reducing anxiety levels and depressive symptoms even years later.
