Linkages Over Time Between Adolescents' Relationships with Parents and Friends

• Published in: Journal of youth and adolescence Vol. 38; no. 10; pp. 1304 - 1315
• Main Authors: De Goede, Irene H. A., Branje, Susan J. T., Delsing, Marc J. M. H., Meeus, Wim H. J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.11.2009; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescent Attitudes; Adolescent Behavior - psychology; Adolescent Development; Adolescents; Attachment; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child and School Psychology; Child development; Clinical Psychology; Cognitive Development; Cognitive models; Developmental psychology; Egalitarianism; Empirical Research; Families & family life; Female; Friends - psychology; Friendship; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Generalization; Health Psychology; History of Psychology; Hostility; Humans; Influence; Interpersonal Relations; Law and Psychology; Learning Theories; Lifetime; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Males; Parent Child Relations; Parent Child Relationship; Parent Influence; Parental Influence; Parents & parenting; Parents - psychology; Path Analysis; Peer Influence; Peer Relations; Peer Relationship; Peer tutoring; Peers; Perceptions; Personal relationships; Power Structure; Power, Psychological; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Social Perception; Social Support; System theory; Teenagers; Time Factors; Young Adult; Linkages; Adolescence; Friendships; Longitudinal analyses; Parent–adolescent relationships; Social environment; Human; Affect affectivity; Peer relation; Parent child relation; Friendship; Affective attachment; Social interaction; Follow up study; Adolescent; Family environment; Parent-adolescent relationships
• ISSN: 0047-2891; 1573-6601
• DOI: 10.1007/s10964-009-9403-2

This 5-wave longitudinal study examines linkages over time between adolescents’ perceptions of relationships with parents and friends with respect to support, negative interaction, and power. A total of 575 early adolescents (54.1% boys) and 337 middle adolescents (43.3% boys) participated. Path analyses mainly showed bidirectional associations between adolescents’ perceptions of parent–adolescent relationships and friendships with a predominantly stronger influence from parent–adolescent relationships to friendships than vice versa in early to middle adolescence and an equal mutual influence in middle to late adolescence. The findings support the theoretical ideas that perceptions of relationships with parents generalize to perceptions of relationships with friends and that relationship skills and principles of adolescent friendships generalize to relationships with parents. Furthermore, the results indicate that the influence of parents decreases, whereas the influence of friends increases, and that both social worlds become equally important and overlapping towards late adolescence.