Abstract
Connections with peers play an important role in adolescent mental health, but their lasting impact is unclear. This study examines whether structural status and support in adolescent networks predict depressive symptoms years later. Using data from the PROSPER Peers study (n = 1017), I find that the persistent effects of networks differ based on the mental health of teens and their friends. Structures of status and support relate to young adult mental health only for individuals who experience depressive symptoms as teens. Among depressive adolescents, popularity predicts lower subsequent depressive symptoms, while high prestige predicts higher depressive symptoms in young adulthood. Embeddedness among depressed friends also predicts higher young adult depressive symptoms. Overall, findings suggest relationships with peers can set the stage for mental health for adolescents who experience depressive symptoms or have depressive friends.
Highlights
Popularity in the peer network as a teen predicts depressive levels for young women across adolescence and into adulthood (Kamis and Copeland 2020). While these patterns suggest that experiences among adolescent peers can have lasting effects on mental health beyond adolescence, the developmental salience of peers may be limited to adolescence, so that associations between mental health and teen network position do not persist as youth age into the new roles, environments, and experiences of young adulthood
Peer social networks play a vital role in healthy social development in the sensitive period of adolescence (Cotterell 2007; Johnson et al 2011)
Structures of status and support in peer networks may relate to mental health beyond adolescence, as these features foster psychosocial traits and social skills that may persist to shape long-term mental health (Cook et al 2016; Ohannessian et al 2018)
Summary
Social relationships are critical to mental health (Durkheim [1897] 2006; Cohen 2004), and for adolescents in the United States, peer relationships affect health and health behaviors (Valente 2010; Umberson et al 2010). Any association of adolescent mental distress with structural status and support depends in part on the mental health of youth and those to whom they are connected (Cheadle and Goosby 2012). Adolescents’ peer experiences may affect mental health or psychosocial skills to have a persistent effect on young adult mental health (Costello et al 2008). The developmental importance of peers may be limited to adolescence, with any impact waning as teens transition into young adult environments. Understanding how connections with peers in the sensitive period of adolescence relate to young adult well-being can clarify the importance of peers for long-term mental health
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