High-quality friendships were defined as close friendships that involved attachment and support, and that enabled young people to talk about personal issues with one another. Popularity, on the other hand, was identified by the number of peers in the teenagers’ year group who said they would like to spend time with them.

The study authors concluded that strong, intimate teenage friendships can help foster long-term mental health. This is potentially because our sense of personal identity is still being formed in adolescence, and so positive experiences with friends can help us shore up positive feelings about ourselves.

Good friendships at school may also mean that adolescents learn to expect and encourage positive friendship experiences in future.

“Our study affirms that forming strong close friendships is likely one of the most critical pieces of the teenage social experience,” says Joseph Allen, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, who co-authored the study.

“Being well-liked by a large group of people cannot take the place of forging deep, supportive friendships. And these experiences stay with us, over and above what happens later.

“As technology makes it increasingly easy to build a social network of superficial friends, focusing time and attention on cultivating close connections with a few individuals should be a priority.”

Images: Rex Features

How being popular at school affects mental health in adulthood