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Adolescent friendships predict later resilient functioning across psychosocial domains in a healthy community cohort

Published version
Peer-reviewed

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Authors

van Harmelen, A-L 
Kievit, RA 
Ioannidis, K 
Jones, PB 

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Adolescence is a key time period for the emergence of psychosocial and mental health difficulties. To promote adolescent adaptive ('resilient') psychosocial functioning (PSF), appropriate conceptualisation and quantification of such functioning and its predictors is a crucial first step. Here, we quantify resilient functioning as the degree to which an individual functions better or worse than expected given their self-reported childhood family experiences, and relate this to adolescent family and friendship support.

METHOD: We used Principal Component and regression analyses to investigate the relationship between childhood family experiences and PSF (psychiatric symptomatology, personality traits and mental wellbeing) in healthy adolescents (the Neuroscience in Psychiatry Network; N = 2389; ages 14-24). Residuals from the relation between childhood family experiences and PSF reflect resilient functioning; the degree to which an individual is functioning better, or worse, than expected given their childhood family experiences. Next, we relate family and friendship support with resilient functioning both cross-sectionally and 1 year later.

RESULTS: Friendship and family support were positive predictors of immediate resilient PSF, with friendship support being the strongest predictor. However, whereas friendship support was a significant positive predictor of later resilient functioning, family support had a negative relationship with later resilient PSF.

CONCLUSIONS: We show that friendship support, but not family support, is an important positive predictor of both immediate and later resilient PSF in adolescence and early adulthood. Interventions that promote the skills needed to acquire and sustain adolescent friendships may be crucial in increasing adolescent resilient PSF.

Description

Keywords

adolescence, child adversity, friendships, mental health, resilience

Journal Title

Psychological Medicine

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0033-2917
1469-8978

Volume Title

Publisher

Cambridge University Press
Sponsorship
Royal Society (DH150176)
Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) (2013/38917/MaGW)
Wellcome Trust (095844/Z/11/Z)
Wellcome Trust (107392/Z/15/Z)
Medical Research Council (MC_UP_1401/1)
Medical Research Council (MC_UU_00005/9)
This work was supported by a strategic award from the Wellcome Trust to the University of Cambridge and University College London (095844/Z/11/Z), a Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research Rubicon grant (AlvH, NO 446-13-006), and a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship (AlvH; No DH150176). Study data were collected and managed using REDCap electronic data capture tools hosted at the University of Cambridge. P.F is in receipt of a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Senior Investigator Award (NF-SI-0514-10157)and is in part supported by the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) North Thames at Barts Health NHS Trust. E.T.B. is employed half-time by the University of Cambridge and half-time by GlaxoSmithKline; he holds stock in GlaxoSmithKline.