Interpersonal Relationships and their impact on mental health

 Interpersonal relationships are a core component of an individual’s overall wellbeing. It is the social connection we experience with others that rely on satisfaction and trust (Stewart-Brown, 2005). They can exist between family, friends, partners, or co-workers.

As social creatures, humans benefit significantly from positive interpersonal relationships, some of which include; social skills, reduced stress, improved emotional wellbeing, and greater overall life satisfaction (Segrin & Taylor, 2007). Positive relationships consist of satisfaction and trust where each partner meets the other needs and has the capacity for empathy and intimacy (Oliveira et al., 2022).

However, when there is a breakdown in these interpersonal relationships, individuals begin to experience deficits in their psychological, as well as physical wellbeing. Poor interpersonal relationships occur when there is an imbalance, where one or both parties do not contain the capacity or empathy or intimcity. One may exploit the other for their own benefit, or individuals’ needs are not being met which can lead to a lack of trust and safety (Segrin & Taylor, 2007).

Poor interpersonal relationships or isolation can result in inadequate social skills, increased stress, lower life satisfaction, higher risk of depression, and shorter life expectancy (Oliveira et al., 2022). 

Some warning signs of poor interpersonal relationships or isolation:

• Loneliness
• Persistent sadness
• Low self-confidence
• Unstable moods
• Reluctance to engage in conversation
• Self-doubt
• Lack of trust
• Feeling unsafe
• Poor listening skills – speaking over the other or dismissing the other person’s opinions or beliefs
• Heavy criticism 
• Chronic stress
• Boundaries are not respected

Strategies to build or improve interpersonal relationships:

• Active listening
• Find common interests
• Be open to differences
• Establishing your boundaries 
• Respecting others boundaries
• Understanding the limitations of others capabilities in meeting your needs, knowing one person cannot meet them all
• Know your own limitations in meeting their needs
• Respecting yourself and your needs
• Allow room for vulnerability to cultivate trust
• Show appreciation and gratitude
• Enjoy the time you spend together
• Communicate honesty
• Disagreement and arguments are natural

Ultimately, interpersonal relationships are necessary for our overall wellbeing. The relationships where there is a mutual understanding and respect offers the biggest reward. It is a basic human necessity, which provides a sense of safety, hope, and belonging. 

During adolescence individuals' relationships with their parents undergo change. As they struggle to develop autonomy, they spend a decreasing amount of time with their parents and throughout this period a moderate degree of parent–adolescent conflict is normal (Montemayor, 1983; Santrock, 2003). Research suggests that conflict with parents is at its highest in early to middle adolescence and then decreases as adolescents mature (De Goede, Branje, & Meeus, 2009; Furman & Buhrmester, 1992). Older adolescents tend to report less support (Cheng & Chan, 2004; Helsen et al., 2000; Scholte, Van Lieshout, & Van Aken, 2001) and more autonomy (Mayseless, Wiseman, & Hai, 1998) in their relationships with their parents than younger adolescents, however studies have suggested that overall emotional closeness with parents remains stable across age (Mayseless et al., 1998; Smetana, Metzger, & Campione-Barr, 2004).

Girls generally report better quality, more supportive relationships with their mothers than boys (Branje et al., 2010; Furman & Buhrmester, 1992; Paterson, Field, & Pryor, 1994; Smetana, Metzger, Gettman, & Campione-Barr, 2006). There is also evidence to suggest that boys perceive their relationships with their fathers to be closer and more supportive than girls (Furman & Buhrmester, 1992; Starrells, 1994) and young people generally identify with their same-sex parent more than their opposite-sex parent (Starrells, 1994). Interestingly, in terms of conflict, previous research has suggested that both boys and girls report higher degrees of conflict with their mothers than with anyone else in their social network (Laursen, 1995; Montemayor, 1983).

Positive qualities in parent–adolescent relationships such as high levels of support (Helsen et al., 2000; Jenkins et al., 2002; Meadows, Brown, & Elder, 2006; Sheeber et al., 2007; Vazsonyi & Belliston, 2006), warmth (Greenberger, Chen, Tally, & Dong, 2000) and approval (Vazsonyi & Belliston, 2006) are associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms in young people. While some degree of conflict with parents is considered to be normal during adolescence (Smetana, Campione-Barr, & Metzger, 2006), prolonged, intense and repeated conflict is frequently associated with poor psychological adjustment (Barber & Delfabbro, 2000; Branje et al., 2010; Jenkins et al., 2002; Sheeber et al., 2007; Vazsonyi & Belliston, 2006). Other negative qualities such as high levels of over-intrusive and authoritarian parental control (Rigby, Slee, & Martin, 2007), and low levels of perceived parental communication (Ackard, Neumark-Sztainer, Story, & Perry, 2006) have also been significantly associated with negative well-being in adolescence. Furthermore, a concerning finding by Wedig and Nock (2007) was that high levels of parental criticism were associated with self-harm behaviour in young people. To date there is a lack of research examining the relationship between parental criticism and symptoms of emotional distress in adolescents and further exploration of this relationship in needed.

Close friendships are regarded as the most important peer relationships formed during adolescence (Bukowski, Hoza, & Boivin, 1993; La Greca & Harrison, 2005; Rubin et al., 2004) and the majority of young people report having at least one close friend (Brown & Klute, 2003). Girls generally attribute higher quality to their relationships with friends than boys, reporting higher levels of support (Furman & Buhrmester, 1992; Helsen et al., 2000; Jenkins et al., 2002), closeness (Johnson, 2004) and disclosure (McNelles & Connolly, 1999; Pagano & Hirsch, 2007) in these relationships. Some studies suggest that qualities in close friendships in adolescence vary with age. For example, levels of support from peers have been found to initially increase in early adolescence before declining in mid to late adolescence (Furman & Buhrmester, 1992; Helsen et al., 2000), which may reflect the increased amount of support older adolescents receive from romantic partners (Furman & Buhrmester, 1992; Markiewicz, Lawford, Doyle, & Haggart, 2006). Furman and Buhrmester (1992) found that conflict with close friends is less frequent in older adolescents than younger adolescents. This is one of the few studies looking at age differences in peer conflict during adolescence. Interestingly, La Greca and Harrison (2005) found no age differences in overall levels of positive or negative friendship qualities during adolescence which highlights the importance of looking at individual relationship components when examining friendship quality across adolescence.

Taken together, there is evidence to suggest that age and gender difference in peer friendship qualities exist during adolescence. However there is a need to identify the relative influence of peer positive and negative friendship qualities during adolescent, and whether age and gender differences in these qualities exist.

While there is a body of research suggesting the importance of good quality peer relationships for psychological well-being in young people (Brown & Klute, 2003; La Greca & Harrison, 2005; La Greca & Lopez, 1998; Steinhausen & Metzke, 2001), studies examining how specific relationship qualities are linked to mental health outcomes are lacking. To date only a small number of studies have examined this, such as Buhrmester (1990) who found higher levels of intimacy in peer relationships were linked to better psychosocial outcomes and La Greca and Lopez (1998) who found that lower levels of perceived intimacy, support and companionship in close friend relationships were linked to higher levels of social anxiety. However, La Greca and Harrison (2005) found that while the presence of positive qualities in best friend relationships protected against social anxiety, they did not protect against depressive symptoms. They postulate that positive qualities such as support and disclosure in these relationships may allow adolescents to continually discuss problems and focus on negative feelings thus maintaining depressive symptoms. They found that higher levels of negative qualities significantly predicted both social anxiety and depression, suggesting the presence of negative qualities in peer relationships may be more salient in predicting mental health outcomes than the presence of positive qualities. Further research examining specific positive and negative qualities in close peer relationships and their links to emotional distress would be useful to help expand on these findings.

Adolescence is typically a time when young people begin to engage in romantic relationships and likelihood of having a romantic partner during this period increases with age (Shulman & Scharf, 2000; Zimmer-Gembeck, 1999). These relationships may play an integral role in the lives of adolescents and are thought to have an influence on many aspects of adolescent development such as family relationships, peer relationships, identity development, academic performance and the development of sexuality (Furman & Shaffer, 2003).

Girls tend to report higher levels of positive qualities such as intimacy (Connolly & McIssac, 2011) and satisfaction (Haugen, Welsh, & McNulty, 2008) in their romantic relationships than boys. Research concerning gender differences in perceived conflict remains inconclusive. Some studies suggest that boys perceive higher levels of conflict in romantic relationships (Haugen et al., 2008), however, Pagano and Hirsch (2007) found that girls reported higher levels of hurtful conflict, while Furman and Buhrmester (1992) found no gender differences in conflict in romantic relationships. Older adolescents generally perceive their romantic relationships as more supportive (Furman & Buhrmester, 1992), however there is also an increase in romantic conflict with age (Vujeva & Furman, 2011), perhaps due to increased involvement in romantic relationships and increased time spent with romantic partners that occurs as adolescents get older (Zimmer-Gembeck, 1999). These findings suggest it is important to consider specific qualities in romantic relationships during adolescence and how they may vary with age.

While it is evident that romantic relationships are important in adolescent development, it is only over the past decade that researchers have begun to investigate the link between romantic relationships and mental health in young people. A number of studies have reported that the presence of a romantic partner is associated with higher levels of depression in young people, particularly in girls (Davila, Steinberg, Kachadourian, Cobb, & Fincham, 2004; Joyner & Udry, 2000). However, a key flaw in these findings is that they generalise as to the effects of the presence of a romantic relationship in adolescence without examining the quality of that relationship. Qualities in romantic relationships are likely to vary from person to person and the psychological impact of a romantic relationship in adolescence is likely to depend on the quality of that relationship. For example, positive qualities in romantic relationships have been linked to increased social competence in young people (Zimmer-Gembeck, Siebenbruner & Collins, 2001), while high levels of negative qualities in these relationships have been linked to depressive symptoms (La Greca & Harrison, 2005). However, there have been significant gaps in research to date on romantic relationships in adolescence. Firstly, the majority of studies examining romantic relationships have been conducted almost exclusively with North American samples of adolescents, thus knowledge of cultural variations in romantic relationships during adolescence is limited. Furthermore, there has been a distinct lack of research which examines the links between specific qualities in romantic relationships and mental health in adolescents. Given the importance of these relationships for adolescent development there is a need for research to establish links between qualities in these relationships and mental health outcomes in young people.

The school environment has been identified as an important social context for adolescent development (Eccles & Roeser, 2011; Roeser, Eccles, & Sameroff, 2000). In the Irish school system, there are differing social experiences associated with each school year and the ages of students within these year groups can vary substantially. In Ireland, second level education consists of six school years, where first, second and third year (ages 12–16) are comprised within the Junior Cycle and fourth, fifth and sixth year (ages 15–18) are comprised within the Senior Cycle. Two major state examinations are taken during this period; one at the end of the Junior Cycle in third year and one at the end of the Senior Cycle in sixth year. As the experiences of third year and sixth year students are dominated by preparations for these exams, it is likely that students in these year groups may experience increased stress. Fifth year is also likely to be a time of stress as this is when students are expected to make important decisions about their future academic and career paths. In contrast, fourth year is seen as a year of transition in which there is an emphasis on promoting personal, social and vocational development (Jeffers, 2011). Unlike other years in school, academia is not the main focus and students are not usually required to take exams. The age range within these year groups may vary substantially. For example, the age of students in fifth year can range from 15 years to 18 years depending on whether or not the student completed fourth year, which is optional in some schools (Department of Education and Science, 2004). Thus school year group may be considered a more homogenous social grouping that biological age to examine differences in interpersonal relationships across adolescence.

BY- KAMAL SHUKLA 

SEC-B 

ENROLLMENT NUMBER--- A20405222045