There is a link
between teenage friendships and adult health – and it depends of whether
teenagers are impacted by conformity or individuality.
Teenagers want
friendships, and they want to fit in with their friends – generally – and this
is called ‘blending in’ or conformity.
Conformity is both a pressure and a need. But what happens to individuality? Now scientists think blending in leads to better health in
adulthood (Pacific Standard, August 21, 2015).
A study by University
of Virginia psychologists in America, published in the journal, Psychological
Science, finds that by a person’s mid to late 20s their health can be ‘robustly
predicted’ by their adolescent experiences. Specifically, the quality (not
quantity) of their friendships in their teenage years and their ‘pattern of
acquiescence to social norms’ can determine their adult health. Remaining close
friends with teenage buddies (instead of separating from the ‘pack’) has
long-term implications for adult physical health.
Joseph Allen of UV
said that ‘intense adolescent focus on forming and maintaining peer
relationships may well result from an instinctive recognition that these
relationships are linked to wellbeing.’
UV researchers studied
171 participants as a subset of a longitudinal study of adolescent peer
influences. Each participant was assessed annually during five years from the
ages of 13-17 years of age. Each year participants provided researchers the
name of their closest same-sex friend (which could change from year to year).
The participant and the friend were surveyed about the quality of their
friendship and asked five questions abut ‘acquiescence to peer norms’ (i.e.
conformity). The same 171 participants were contacted again at age 25 years,
and for the following two years, to assess their physical and emotional health.
The results showed
that the higher the perceived quality of their teenage friendship, the better
the participants’ health 10 years later.
Researchers also found
that the teenagers who were ‘allocentric’ had better health as an adult.
Allocentric behaviour is ‘acting as a follower more than a leader, being low in
assertiveness, and being readily influenced by peers.’
Researchers think that
‘the chronic stress of social isolation has been linked to an array of negative
physiological changes.’ There is also stress for teenagers who want to be
individual and also conform with their friendship group, without social
isolation. Hence many teenagers put the desires of their peers as a higher
priority than their own individual goals – or find like-minded groups where
their individuality can shine.
Hence there is a fine
balance between seeking autonomy (individualism) versus seeking conformity.
Conformity vs individuality will be a challenge for many teenagers, and those
who conform and are allocentric – non-assertive followers – will reap the
health benefits in adulthood.
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