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Maintaining friendships from childhood is good for mental health, study suggests

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Photo: Getty Images
Photo: Getty Images

Solid friendships are one of life’s greatest blessings – your mates are the family you get to choose.

And if you’re fortunate enough to still have your childhood friends form part of your support network, your health could be benefiting.

A new study suggests childhood friends form an integral part in maintaining good mental health.

According to Metro.co.uk, researchers observed a group of 169 teens over a 10-year period and found that those who had fewer friendships but that were of a good quality had better mental health than those with multiple superficial friendships. The latter group were found to be more prone to social anxiety in their adolescent years.

“Being well-liked by a large group of people cannot take the place of forging deep, supportive friendships. And these experiences stay with us, over and above what happens later,” says Joseph Allen, the study’s co-author and University of Virginia psychology professor, in a statement.

He adds that social media has cheapened the quality of friendships. “As technology makes it increasingly easy to build a social network of superficial friends, focusing time and attention on cultivating close connections with a few individuals should be a priority.”

Your childhood friend has been with you through the growing pains of your teenage years, every heartbreak that felt as if it were the end of the world and stuck by you through each awkward phase you found yourself in.

In the light of this study’s findings, it’s clearly best to hold onto that bond. 

Sources: metro.co.uk, livescience.com

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