During adolescence and emerging adulthood, the emotional centre of people’s lives shift from their immediate families to people outside of the family (i.e. friends). Friends provide a bridge between the close attachment to family members and the close attachments of a romantic partner.Peers refer to people who have certain aspects of their status in common (e.g. both playing the same sport; both approximately the same age). Peers become more important during adolescence across cultures, although gender differences in adolescent relationships are more pronounced in traditional cultures. However, compared to Western culture, more time is spent with the family. In adolescence, time spent with same-sex friends remains stable and time with other-sex friends increases. The relationships with family and friends during adolescence change in both quantity and quality. Adolescents start to depend more on friends than on parents or siblings for companionship and intimacy. Parents are preferred to discuss topics related to education and future occupation but friends are preferred for personal topics. The direct influence of parents decreases during adolescence but parents shape adolescent peer relationships in indirect ways by influencing their social network (e.g. choice of residence; school) (1), encouraging or discouraging contact with some peers (2) and through their parenting practices (3). Adolescents typically feel happier with friends than with family because friends mirror emotions and because they feel free and open with friends that they rarely do with parents. Adolescents’ attachment to friends and their strong reliance on friends leave them vulnerable emotionally (e.g. a lot of worry about whether they are liked). Intimacy refers to the degree to which two people share personal knowledge, thoughts and feelings. Adolescent friendships are characterized by intimacy more than friendships in childhood. The need for intimacy with friends...