Strong friendships in adolescence could offer a measure of long-term resilience

Good quality friendship has a significant impact on how young people affected by childhood trauma respond to social exclusion.

In a study published in Social Cognitive and Affective NeuroscienceResearchers from the University of Birmingham have shown that the quality of friendship within a cohort of 14-year-olds is strongly associated with their ability to positively deal with social exclusion ten years later, at the start of the ‘adulthood.

While social exclusion was the stressor used in the study to test resilient functioning (a marker of long-term resilience), the research team argues that friendship is a powerful indicator of overall resilient functioning. ‘a person, which she defined as the social, emotional abilities of an individual. and behavioral functioning in relation to the trauma they experienced.

Dr Maria Dauvermann, from the University’s School of Psychology and Institute for Mental Health, said: “We expect everyone to have mental health problems after any sort of experience stressful, at least in the short term. defining resilient functioning, we take a more sophisticated and dynamic approach that takes into account a range of different behavioral measures at different times and in relation to the particular severity of the trauma experienced.

“Youth mental health is a complex and nuanced area. One of the things we hope to achieve through research programs like this is to increase both awareness and understanding, which will enable young people to seek help when they need it.

In this longitudinal study, researchers worked with a group of 24-year-olds who had already experienced childhood trauma and who also completed the Cambridge Friendship Questionnaire.

The questionnaire was completed by a cohort of 14-year-olds at four time points, with 1,238 participants completing the initial survey and 436 remaining to complete the final survey at age 24. Of this group, 62 people volunteered to participate in the survey. brain imaging is part of the study.

In this brain imaging part, at age 24, participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging, during which they were asked to perform a virtual activity simulating social exclusion by having participants participate in a team to throw a ball with two avatars.

The results of the brain scan revealed responses in a part of the brain known as the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, an area known to be associated with the generation and regulation of our emotions.

The results clearly showed that better friendship quality, as reported in the Cambridge Friendship Questionnaire at age 14 and better resilient functioning at age 24, were strongly linked to a positive response to social inclusion, and therefore to better resilient functioning.

When it comes to the experience of social exclusion, the results have been less straightforward. Resilient functioning was not associated with altered neural responses to social exclusion.

Additional research is needed to explore how these friendships developed in adolescence contribute to resilient functioning in early adulthood, and also to determine whether enhancing peer support could be an effective intervention for youth with problems. mental health.