Isn’t that the loveliest thing you’ve read in weeks? It’s the skills learned in friendships with peers of the same gender – skills such as stability, assertiveness, intimacy, and social competence – that correspond most closely to the skills needed for success in adult romantic relationships. And the research gets even more heart-warming when you dig into it a little.

Essentially, teenagers learn different skills through friendship at different stages – and the benefits are felt well into adulthood. Those who could “establish positive expectations of relationships” and “be appropriately assertive” with their peers aged 13 were generally found to have healthy romantic relationships in their late 20s. And those who could establish and maintain close, stable friendships between the ages of 16 and 18 were most likely to be satisfied romantically as adults.

The group of teenage girls who helped create me are women now. Almost all of them are still present in my life, offering wisdom and humour and telling me to shut up when necessary. It comes as no surprise to me that our friendships have made us all more capable when it comes to navigating the choppy waters of romance – but it is rather lovely to have it confirmed by science.

Images: Getty Images / Moya Crockett

“How my teenage friendships impacted my adult romantic relationships”