The following is excerpted from an online article posted by StudyFinds
Adults who felt connected to their families as teenagers were more than twice as likely to have strong social bonds with others two decades later, according to research that traces America’s loneliness crisis back to the dinner table.
Researchers tracked over 7,000 Americans from age 16 into their late 30s to find the pattern. Teens with the strongest family bonds had a 39.5% chance of high social connection as adults. Those with the weakest family ties? Just 16.1%. That gap held even after accounting for income, education, and childhood trauma.
The research, published in JAMA Pediatrics, arrives as the country grapples with epidemic loneliness. In 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General called social isolation a public health crisis comparable to smoking 15 cigarettes daily. The damage is everywhere: rising rates of depression and anxiety, increased heart disease risk, even premature death. These findings suggest the solution actually lies in the past. The relationships teenagers have at home may be the best predictor of whether they’ll feel connected or alone at 40.
Source: StudyFinds
https://studyfinds.org/teens-family-bonds-social-life-as-adult/