To Befriend or Not: Naturally Developing Friendships Amongst a Clinical Group of Adolescents with XXXX .

@entity1 @entity1118 @entity158
UNASSIGNED: Adolescents with @entity1118 frequently perceive a lack of support from friends. Support from a peer with a shared experience has been found to provide emotional, informational, and appraisal support. We sought to quantify the frequency with which adolescents with @entity1118 want to befriend other adolescents with @entity1118 , and to describe the features of these friendships. Adolescents with @entity1118 who had attended a 10-week structured self-management program from 3 sites were invited to complete an online survey. Forty teens participated, 95% (n = 38) were @entity1 ; 32% (n = 13) befriended another; 52% (n = 21) were interested in befriending another but did not; 15% (n = 6) were not interested in befriending anyone. Over half (62%) of the friendships lasted at least 1 year (n = 8), but only 2 intermingled these with their regular friendships. @entity158 was discussed frequently during interactions. The most common reasons for not forming friendships were no time to exchange contact information during group and not having things in common. Reasons for not being interested in forming a friendship also included not having anything in common apart from @entity158 . The majority of @entity1 were interested in befriending another. Emotional support, by feeling understood and discussing @entity158 without fear that the other is disinterested, was the main peer support provided. Without common interests, this form of friendship may not last and is at risk for being overly solicitous by focusing on @entity158 . It remains unclear whether the benefits of peer support translate into improved function.
