Is peer adversity in childhood and adolescence linked to interpersonal functioning in adulthood? A meta-analytic review

This meta-analysis synthesizes research on longitudinal associations between child and adolescent peer adversity and various domains of adult interpersonal functioning. Meta-analyses were conducted on 240 effect sizes from 39 studies published between 1998 and 2024, unadjusted and adjusted for gender, socioeconomic status, and childhood family adversity. Participants (Ntotal = 51,139, proportion of girls = 54.3%, average duration to follow-up = 11.6 years) come from 28 samples that were primarily based in Europe or North America. Peer adversity was linked to adult interpersonal functioning in unadjusted (r = -.15) and adjusted models (r = -.15), but no robust moderators were found. These findings highlight the importance of mitigating a broad range of peer adversity to foster healthy relationships in adulthood.