A: Friendships

JUNIOR HIGH FRIENDSHIPS CAN AFFECT ADULT RELATIONSHIPS: A recent study published in Child Development found that how a person handles junior high friendships would affect their behavior as adults. For the study, researchers followed 184 middle-school kids for three-years, when they were between the ages of 13 and 16. Researchers interviewed the teens’ parents and other adolescents that the teen identified as their closest friends for the three years. The researchers also followed up with these people when the participant reached age 20 and again at age 23. Researchers found that middle schoolers who managed to remain open to peer influence, but did not get swept up in pressures to conform were most likely to have strong interactions as an adult. One resaercher notes that teens seems to preoccupied with these seemingly trivial early relationships because they are precursors for how they will function in life socially for the rest of their lives. (Time)