Friendships: The power of positive alliance

Abstract

Being accepted and having friends is essential to our mental health and well-being and amongst the most significant factors for life quality and enjoyment. From a young age, children need to learn the complex social skills and management of emotions that enable them to gain acceptance from peers and sustain mutually satisfying interactions leading to, in some cases, life-long friendships. The rewards of friendship are immense, but the consequences of not being accepted by peers and failing to develop friendships are also significant in terms of long-term mental health and well-being in later life. This chapter addresses why friendships throughout the life cycle are important and identifies the purposes served by such relationships. Features of friendships in childhood and adolescence are defined along with strategies for establishing and maintaining friendships and providing a context that promotes opportunities for friendships and enables them to flourish.