According to the United States research, when people spend time with their friends in adolescence can have a massive beneficial effect on their health, later in life. Childhood gives people the best of the opportunities to let themselves free to be happy for various reasons. The research has shown that having close relationships in adulthood can boost physical health, lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease and reducing high blood pressure.
To verify this research, whether relationships during childhood had a similar effect, the researchers of Texas Tech University and the University of Pittsburgh observed the data from 267 boys which were 56% black and 41% white. These boys were between the ages of 6 followed to 16.
In between the study, the researchers from Texas Tech University questioned the parents of the participants to report how much time their children spent with their friends during an average week.the researchers then collected all the data upon each participant's individual characteristics, like outwardness in childhood, socioeconomic status in childhood, and physical health in both childhood and adulthood.
After analyzing all the data and research, they explored that fellows who usually spend more time with their companions in their childhood and adolescence had a healthier blood pressure and body mass index (BMI) at age 32.
The research still held true in stand, even after all the other regulating factors such as physical health in childhood and social integration in adulthood, had been taken into consideration. The black participants and white participants both showed similar results. “These findings suggest that our early social lives may have a small protective influence on our physical health in adulthood, and it’s not just our caregivers or financial circumstances, but also our friends who may be health protective,” says psychological scientist Jenny Cundiff of Texas Tech University.
Cundiff also added that as the measurements were taken over a 16-year period, and could not be explained by other potentially regulating factors, she has assurance in the power of the results.
“This wasn’t an experiment, it was a well-controlled longitudinal study in a racially diverse sample — so it provides a strong clue that being socially integrated early in life is good for our health independent of a number of other factors such as personality, weight in childhood, and the family’s social status in childhood,” she explains.
The results can be found published online in the journal Psychological Science.
From this research its shown how important relationships are to be handled in whatever age!
