Having Friends Can Be the Best Antidepressant for a Kid

Parents hoping to keep their children from slipping into depression later in life should arm them with friends.

According to new research from Concordia University, Florida Atlantic University and the University of Vermont, friendless kids can become social outcasts who risk spiraling into depression by adolescence.

Yet for most shy and withdrawn children, the study reports friends can be a form of protection against sadness.

"The long-term effects of being a withdrawn child are enduringly negative," says lead author William M. Bukowski, a psychology professor and director of the Concordia Centre for Research in Human Development.

"Over time, we found that withdrawn kids showed increasing levels of sadness and higher levels of depressive feelings."

A total of 130 girls and 101 boys in the third through fifth school grades, took part in the three-year study and were asked questions like whether they felt shy or preferred solitude.

The kids who answered yes to those questions were typically at risk for having no friends.

The research team also found kids with poor social skills were at risk for friendlessness, too, since they're are typically thought of as overly aggressive or immature by their classmates.

Compared with friendless children, those who had friends were less likely to report depressed feelings.

"Friendship disrupts the negative and long-term effects of withdrawal," says Bukowski, who is also Concordia University Research Chair in Psychology.

"Friendship promotes resilience and protects at-risk kids from internalizing problems such as feeling depressed and anxious."

And for many kids, withdrawal can have consequences that extend beyond the near term.

"In much the same way as a snowball rapidly grows as it rolls down a hill, an adjustment problem is thought to amplify as it worsens," says 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 key to avoid peer rejection is as simple as making at least one friend.

"Having one friend can be protective for withdrawn or shy kids," says Bukowski. "Our study confirms the value of having friends, which are like a shield against negative social experiences."