Individual Adolescents' Perceptions of Interactions with Friends and Parents

Abstract

Two patterns of interactions adolescents experience with friends, mothers, and fathers were examined. They were (a) commands based on greater authority and experience (unilateral) and (b) negotiation and mutual understanding (mutual). 180 subjects aged 12-13, 14-15, and 18-20 years reported, by a paper-and-pencil questionnaire, the frequencies of these patterns in their own experiences. Friends were perceived to interact more mutually than parents who in turn interacted more unilaterally than friends. Correlations of interactions were examined by pairs of relationships (father-mother, father-friend, mother-friend) to determine the individual differences in the interplay among these relationships. In general, adolescents reported interactions with fathers and mothers to be highly concordant, and friends' interactions to be relatively independent of parental interactions. Individual adolescents seemed to experience interactions with both parents as either highly involved or aloof; the degree of involvement with parents did not predict the level of interactions with friends.

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