14 DAY TRIAL // A new study from Concordia University, Florida Atlantic University, and the University of Vermont, concluded that having friends can be a form of protection against sadness, in children.
Kids with no friends tend to become social outcasts, and by their teenage years, they can fall into depression, according to the researchers.
Lead author William M. Bukowski, a psychology professor and director of the Concordia Center for Research in Human Development, said that “the long-term effects of being a withdrawn child are enduringly negative.
“Over time, we found that withdrawn kids showed increasing levels of sadness and higher levels of depressive feelings.”
The scientists conducted a three-year study, involving 130 girls and 101 boys, in the third through firth school grades.
The kids were asked to rate whether they felt shy or preferred solitude.
According to the study, children typically excluded those with poor social skills, who were known to be overly aggressive or immature.
Dr. Bukowski, who is also Concordia University Research Chair in Psychology, said that “friendship disrupts the negative and long-term effects of withdrawal.
“Friendship promotes resilience and protects at-risk kids from internalizing problems such as feeling depressed and anxious.”
This is why, unlike friendless children, those who had friends were less likely to report feeling depressed.
Self isolation can have serious consequences, that can affect a person's life in the long term.
“In much the same was as a snowball rapidly grows as it rolls down a hill, an adjustment problem is thought to amplify as it worsens,” said Dr. Bukowski.
“Being isolated and excluded from the peer group can increase levels of depressed feelings in children and those negative feelings can escalate throughout adolescence.”
The best way to avoid being rejected by others is to make at least one friend, and Dr. Bukowski said that withdrawn or shy kids that have at least one friend are protected from the malice of others.
“Our study confirms the value of having friends, which are like a shield against negative social experiences,” the doctor added.
The study is reported in the journal Development and Psychopathology.