With Marlow High School providing students opportunities to get out of their comfort zones and meet people from all walks of life, friendships blossom annually across the campus.

Friendships are defined as positive, long-lasting relationships consisting of stability, reciprocation and cooperation, according to Lydia Denworth, a science journalist and author, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

Demonstrating Denworth’s description of friendship, freshmen Gavin Cain and Michael Weston have been friends nearly their whole lives and can be seen daily in the MHS hallways attached at the hip.

“Our friendship means a lot to me,” stated Cain. “I feel like life would be a lot harder without him because he helps me with school and other things.”

The pair’s friendship is likely helping in more ways than Cain and Weston are aware of; according to a 2017 study conducted by the University of Virginia, the quality of one’s friendships in high school impacts one’s mental health in young adulthood.

The study followed 169 students over a ten year period,  discovering that those who prioritized close friendships at fifteen had lower social anxiety, an increased sense of self worth and fewer symptoms of depression in comparison to their peers upon reaching the age of twenty-five.

The university’s researchers described the observation as a result of positive experiences with adolescent peers bolstering feelings about oneself amidst the development of personal identity. 

Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia and co-author of the study, Joseph Allen focuses his research on development, relationships, behaviors and outcomes.

“Our study affirms that forming strong close friendships is likely one of the most critical pieces of the teenage social experience,” noted Allen in the study. “These experiences stay with us, over and above what happens later.”

As more information arises surrounding adolescent development, Marlow High School will continue to provide students the opportunity to impact their futures through their relationships.