"For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack."
Friendships have the strength to make or break our school years. We know what a powerful influence our peers can be in our formative years, with both positive and destructive behaviours being 'contagious'.
Not only that, our friends can make our health, a new study has found.
The research, published in Psychological Science, found that our future health can be predicted by our close friendships in high school.
The study also found that being a part of the pack in high school made for stronger health down the track.
"These results indicate that remaining close to – as opposed to separating oneself – from the peer pack in adolescence has long-term implications for adult physical health," said lead researcher Joseph Allen, a psychological scientist at the University of Virginia. "In this study, it was a robust predictor of increased long-term physical health quality."
To come to these conclusions, Allen and his team followed 171 13-year-olds until they were 27.
From 13 to 17, the teens and their nominated best friend filled out questionnaires about the quality of their relationship, including trust and communication. They also answered questions about how much they attempted to fit in amongst their peers.
"Peer relationships provide some of the most emotionally intense experiences in adolescents' lives, and conformity to peer norms often occurs even when it brings significant costs to the individual," the researchers explained.
"Cross-cultural research has found that an approach to social interactions that emphasises placing the desires of one's peers ahead of one's own goals – much as adolescents do when they conform to peer norms – is linked to reduced life stress."
Between the ages of 25 and 27, they participated in annual health checks that also evaluated BMI, mental and emotional health.
Those with high-quality friendships and more drive to fit in were found to be healthier, mentally and physically.
"Although autonomy-establishing behaviour is clearly of value in modern Western society, in which daily survival threats are minimal, it may have become linked to stress reactions over the course of human evolution, when separation from the larger human pack was likely to bring grave danger," Allen writes.
"From a risk and prevention perspective, difficulty forming close relationships early in adolescence may now be considered a marker of risk for long-term health difficulties."
