The Spectrum of Friendships: Teachers' Perceptions, Children's Perceived Experiences, and Long-term Outcomes

Close friends are critical in adolescence and are an important predictor of resilience in areas such as
psychiatry and mental wellbeing. However, adolescents who are victimised by friends can be negatively
impacted in these areas too. Emotional abuse involves behaviours such as denigration, dominance, and
intimidation, and is intended to cause harm to the victim. There is suggestion that friendships can be
emotionally abusive. However, empirical research on this topic is extremely limited.
Adolescents may develop their expectations in later relationships through their close friendships,
potentially leading to further victimisation if their friendships in young adolescence involved emotional
abuse. The new school subject, Relationship and Sex Education, aims to teach students what healthy
relationships (of all kinds) look like and how to identify unhealthy relationships. It is expected that this
new subject will affect students' help-seeking behaviours and will affect teacher and student perceptions
of friendships. Teacher perceptions are important to explore as evidence suggests that they can influence
student perceptions of other forms of victimisation. Teachers have also previously minimised or
invalidated students' victimisation, leading to students not reporting their experiences.
This PhD aims to investigate how supportive and emotionally abusive friendships in young adolescence
affect the quality of friendships, romantic relationships, and mental health over time. Additionally, it aims
to investigate how Relationship and Sex Education affect teacher and student perceptions on adolescent
friendships and romantic relationships.