Navigating Relationships and Friendship in Early Adolescence: How Important Is It

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The transition from middle childhood to early adolescence is a time where there are many changes going on in one’s life. One major shift that takes place is the change in primary relationships that children and adolescents find themselves in. It is known that during childhood, children’s most prominent form of socialization is through their parents, however during the transition into adolescence, it has been found that such interpersonal relationships shift. This transition puts children in a place where they must learn to navigate a larger peer group, placing them in an environment with many new challenges, such as creating themselves an acceptable status within a peer group. The desire for a sense of belonging increases, making peer relationships and acceptance into peer groups an important marker of success in early adolescence.

While children are navigating this major transition phase in their lives, entering into adolescence, it is important to recognize that the relationships they make with their peers, and the friendships that they form, will have significance in terms of social, emotional and cognitive development. As a matter of fact, it has been found that children who experience positive peer relationships, such as friendships that are reciprocated, acceptance into a peer group, and friendships that are of high-quality, have a greater chance at adjusting well socially and will

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exude other signs of a healthy well-being. A reason for this could be that the forming of meaningful bonds with others gives us a sense of relatedness, connectedness and belonging, needs that as humans we strive to fulfill. Research on social development in a study conducted by Waldrip et al. on high-quality friendships and early adolescent adjustment suggests that friendships offer a host of positive benefits at this age. It is suggested that they produce a safe environment which provides social support and security, as well as an environment for learning problem solving skills and information in regard to self-knowledge and esteem. Lastly, it was also suggested that friendships provide a starting point for the development of learning what it takes to handle social situations successfully and in return gives adolescents a chance to practice these skills for relationships that arise later on in life.

Research by Benner et. al has indicated that adolescents who report higher levels of friendship quality and support are less at risk of factors such as internalizing behaviours or experiencing loneliness and are more likely to benefit from a greater sense of self-worth. Such research also highlights that with the responsibility of forming these relationships also comes the responsibility of learning how to maintain them. Even though ideally friends act as supports, they can also at times be a stressor when conflicts and challenges enter the relationship. This stress that comes from friends can have negative impacts on adolescent’s functioning and be detrimental to development if not handled effectively, but with support coming from other non-peer relationships, youth can learn to handle these challenges in a healthy manner.

Despite knowing the importance of positive peer relationships and friendships during adolescence, sometimes achieving such a thing can seem easier said than done. It is not uncommon for youth to feel as if they may be disconnected from others, even they appear to have close, supportive friendships. Feelings of loneliness can arise and youth who may not be in positive peer relationships could ignore these signs as it may seem that a poor friendship is better than no friendship at all. Peer victimization, commonly known as bullying, can also become a major stressor for some youth at this stage and may lead to poor school engagement and other negative outcomes such as anxiety and depression. There is also the possibility that an adolescent may fail to gain acceptance into their desired peer group, leading to perhaps a negative emotional outcome. But, to get back on a positive note, the phrase quality over quantity is commonly known, and in the case of friendships during early adolescence, it could have truth to it once again. Maunder and Monks found that even one friendship can act as a comfort for those who feel they have not been accepted by the larger peer group and that having a supportive friend can help diminish feelings of isolation. Similarly, Waldrip et al. found that having a supportive friend acted as a buffer against poor social adjustment when levels of peer group acceptance were low.

Wagner suggests that focus should be placed on character strengths, and that being a good friend is one way in which character strengths can be used to positively benefit others. There were three character strengths found to be related to positive peer relationships, and not only the well-being of the individual, but also to the well-being of others around them. These were love, kindness, and social intelligence. There were also four key character strengths found to have been indicated as being most important in a friend; humor, honesty, kindness and fairness. Wagner also found that there were many character strengths which were reported as more desirable and important in a friend than characteristics such as being sporty, popular, or attractive. Although these may be desirable characteristics to strive for during adolescence in hopes of acceptance from a wider, perhaps more popular, peer group in the school environment, when it comes to making high-quality and meaningful friendships, character strengths should have greater relevance.

The transition from childhood into adolescence can be one of the most complex developmental transitions and navigating relationships at this stage is not always an easy process. The important thing to emphasize to adolescents at this stage is to focus on being a good person and to display character strengths that create positive and supportive relationships. Learning interpersonal skills can be challenging, however, with guidance and support, youth can develop high-quality friendships with those around them and in turn be rewarded with positive adjustment during this stage of life.

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