[The role of friendship on the development and mental health of adolescents.].

Making friends plays a major part in one's adolescent social life. This article profiles peer influence and friendship evaluation during adolescence. A pilot research program conducted on 195 adolescents aged 14 to 18 shows a number of significant correlations between quantitative and qualitative aspects of friendships and various aspects of mental health, the number of friends and of close friends as well as the quality of interactions and the degree of intimacy lead to positive correlations with various signs such as emotional wavelength, control of one's environment and absence of psychopathological symptoms.