Contents:
- Medical Video: The critical importance of friends on your happiness | Mike Duffy | TEDxBerkeley
- Research on youth friendship and mental health
- People who have true friends are less anxious and depressed
- Your true friends can be the key to mental health in the future
Medical Video: The critical importance of friends on your happiness | Mike Duffy | TEDxBerkeley
Naturally, humans are social beings. That is why having a true friend is a must in your life. Not only as a place to share stories when joy and sorrow, friends can also have a good impact on your health. In fact, researchers have recently found that thick friendships as a teenager can help maintain good mental health in adulthood.
Research on youth friendship and mental health
Inevitably, establishing healthy relationships brings many good benefits to your life. This then prompted scientists to begin to examine the effects of close friendship on one's mental health.
Rachel K. Narr, Ph.D., one of the researchers and several colleagues from the Faculty of Psychology, University of Virginia in the United States, made long-term observations of friendships that have been nurtured since adolescence. The study, published in the Journal of Child Development, indeed states that adolescents who have close friendships tend to be less likely to get stressed. Interestingly, teenagers are generally happier, feel valued, and can improve abilities in their academic fields.
Departing from here the researchers want to find out whether these various benefits can survive into adulthood. For this reason, Rachel K. Narr and her colleagues examined 170 teenagers aged 15 years, and continued to follow their development for the next 10 years.
The study participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire regarding the figure of their friends and the quality of their friendship. Not only that, the researchers also conducted interviews to determine the emotional state of adolescents, especially regarding self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and self-acceptance in their social environment.
Almost all adolescents think that quality friendship means that each person respects, believes, and supports each other. That's why it's easier for teens to share things that are being felt, which might be difficult for them to share with others in general.
People who have true friends are less anxious and depressed
Apparently, the study found that teenagers who had developed close friendships around the age of 15 were less likely to have social anxiety disorders (social anxiety), higher self-esteem, and no less important is having a much less risk of depression at the age of 25 years. This is inversely proportional to other adolescents who are not too intimate in friends, even tend not to prioritize friendship.
Rachel Narr said that the quality of friendship that takes place during adolescence can predict aspects of one's mental and emotional health in the long run. Because the quality of friendship is actually effective to maintain one's mental health for years afterwards.
Being close to other people can unwittingly increase your self-esteem. This is of course very important for self-development and the formation of the identity of each person.
Your true friends can be the key to mental health in the future
Having a true friend can also help restore the health of people who are struggling with mental illness. According to Leslie Becker-Phelps, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist at Basking Ridge, people who experience mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder or depression tend to be irritable, tired, and moods often change.
Now, the presence of a true friend who always accepts and supports you so that you get better can help you deal with mental illness. Not without reason, because friendship can increase feelings of happiness, reduce stress, and even make you live longer.
However, it is important to remember that it does not mean that people who have true friends must be free from the risk of depression or similar mental disorders. Mental disorders can still attack anyone, regardless of whether he has a good friend or not. However, the risk is smaller and the chances of recovery are greater in people who have true friends since adolescence.
