Teens who are lonely and those who experience conflict in their home life are more likely to act aggressively toward peers or become victims themselves. These are some of the findings in a new University of California, Davis, study that creates a detailed picture of children's social lives by identifying patterns and predictors of adolescent social health.
"Because new peer relationships are a key characteristic of the teenage years, assessing this developmental period is crucial for understanding social health at its foundation," said Myles N. Arrington , the study's lead author and a post-doctoral fellow at the Teen Experiences, Emotions & Neurodevelopment (TEEN) Lab at UC Davis.
The study was published this month in the journal Developmental Psychology. Co-authors, all from UC Davis, include Adrienne Nishina , professor and chair of human ecology; Camelia E. Hostinar , associate professor of psychology; and Amanda E. Guyer , professor of human ecology and principal investigator at the TEEN Lab in the Center for Mind and Brain .
Prior research has shown that teens who have positive relationships tend to have better mental health in adulthood and even manage negative stress better. In this study, researchers have expanded the understanding of teens' social lives by looking at multiple variables of teens' social health. This may help future research uncover ways to improve their social health, researchers said.
Key drivers of social health
Social health — a way to describe whether people have enough meaningful relationships to meet their social and emotional needs — can be especially difficult for teens, researchers said. This is a time when youth are vulnerable to loneliness and social disconnection, according to the study.
In the study, researchers analyzed 2016-2021 data collected from 10,050 adolescents from 10 to 13 years old. The data was obtained from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, a large-scale study on brain development and child health supported by the National Institutes of Health. Researchers focused on early adolescence, when youth form many of the friendships that define their social health.
Researchers identified three social profiles that grouped teens by a mix of factors that included their number of friends, who was in their friend group, and how much conflict they had with peers. The analysis found that teens described as "lonely" were less likely to have a high number of friends and were more likely to be aggressive. They were also more likely to be victims of aggression.
Family conflict also was associated with high levels of both aggression and victimization in the study. Active conflict played a much stronger role than prior conflict.
Boys and girls showed differences in their social profiles. Girls were more likely to have fewer friends than boys. On the other hand, boys were much more likely to be aggressive with their peers or to be victims of peer aggression.
"It's important to consider multiple variables together to accurately characterize social health during adolescence," said Guyer. "These findings are an important step in identifying the various facets of how adolescents begin to build close relationships with peers."
The research was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, both part of the National Institutes of Health.
