Linkages Over Time Between Adolescents' Relationships with Parents and Friends

• NCJ Number: 228623
• Journal: Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 38 Issue: 10 Dated: November 2009 Pages: 1304-1315
• Author(s): Irene H.A. De Goede; Susan J.T. Branje; Marc J.M.H. Delsing; William H.J. Meeus
• Date Published: November 2009
• Length: 12 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

A total of 575 Dutch early adolescents (54.1 percent boys) and 337 middle adolescents (43.3 percent boys) participated in a 5-wave longitudinal study of associations over time between adolescents' perceptions of relationships with parents and friends regarding support, negative interaction, and power.

Abstract

The study found that adolescents' perceptions of their relationships with parents and friends were positively associated at age 12 as well as at age 16, indicating overlap between how interactions are experienced in different social worlds. The significant influence of relationships with parents on relationships with friends confirmed a parent-effect model, suggesting that perceptions of relationships with parents generalize to friendships. In the same manner, the significant influence from relationships with friends to relationships with parents validated a friend-effect model, suggesting a generalization from relationship skills and principles of adolescent friendships to relationships with parents. The study also found that the influence of parents decreased over time, confirming that parents become less important in the lives of adolescents as friends become more important. The participating adolescents were recruited from various high schools in the Province of Utrecht, the Netherlands. The support scale measured the amount of support from mothers, fathers, and best friends separately as perceived by adolescents. Support was assessed using the short versions of the Network of Relationships Inventory (Forman and Buhmester, 1985, 1992). The negative interaction scale assessed the intensity of negative interactions in adolescent relationships according to adolescents' perceptions for relationships with their mothers, fathers, and best friends separately. The power scale measured the amount of power the adolescents attributed to their parents and friends. Three different exploratory factor analyses were conducted on the items of the Network of Relationships Inventory, one for relationships with mothers, one for relationships with fathers, and one for relationships with friends. 3 tables, 6 figures, and 58 references