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Friendship During COVID-19 Sou Jin Kim According to ‘Britannica Encyclopedia’, Friendship is defined as a state of enduring affection, esteem, intimacy and trust between two people. In whole cultures, I believe that friendships are essential relationships throughout a person’s life period. It can’t be argued that friendship is also an important part to the study of adolescence and health. During adolescence, I think that teenagers’ identity comes from their social relationships, and teen friendships give adolescents a sense of acceptance and belonging. If a young person feels liked, supported, and accepted by friends, this can allow a sense of security and self-worth. Adolescents tend to increasingly spend more time with friends and less with family. This developmental trend had to be upended during Covid-19. One of the biggest changes that the Covid-19 pandemic has brought might be the quarantine and ‘stay-at-home’ orders. Many teens had to connect with their friends by talking on the phone and texting or zooming. It was difficult to find an opportunity to spend time with or talk to the friends they would mostly see outside of school. Peer communications moved to virtual spaces, which may have changed adolescents’ time use. While Covid-19 has applied pressure to the friendships, it has also proven their importance. I believe that meaningful social interactions play an important role in health, happiness, and lifespan. A Study ‘Friend Support and Internalizing Symptoms in Early Adolescence during COVID-19 (Bernasco, Nelemans, Van der Graaff, & Branje, 2021)’ observed that adolescents who had secure peer friendships prior to the pandemic, were less likely to manifest the stress of isolation and social distancing. I completely agree that adolescent friendships can be supportive in helping teens to overcome difficult times. As friendships are an essential source of wellbeing for adolescents, having strong friendships may protect against developing issues of depression. Friend support may be a shield against the effects of life issues, such as Covid-19 crisis, on mental health. The study ‘Friend Support and Internalizing Symptoms in Early Adolescence during COVID-19 (Bernasco, Nelemans, Van der Graaff, & Branje, 2021)’ found also that adolescents who maintained more pre-Covid-19 friend support reported notably less internalizing problems during Covid-19. ‘Friend support may directly reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety, for example, by reducing loneliness (Nangle et al., 2003).’ As can be seen from different studies,
