ADOLESCENT FEMALES SECURITY WITH PARENTS PREDICTS THE QUALITY OF PEERINTERACTIONS

This study examined the association between security with parents and the quality of interactions between adolescent best friends. Thirty-si x girls and their best friends, between the ages of 15 and 18 years, w ere recruited to participate in the study. They were videotaped while discussing unresolved problems each adolescent had experienced in her life. Security with parents and peers, self-esteem, and locus of contr ol were assessed with questionnaires, There were three main findings. Girls high in security with respect to their parents had higher positi ve interaction scores in the videotaped task, higher self-esteem, high er internality scores, and less feelings of unknown or powerful others control than those low in security, Dyads in which both girls were hi gh in security with respect to their parents had higher total positive inter action scores than those dyads in which at least one girl was l ow in security. Best friends were significantly concordant with respec t to security with parents and peers as well as their positive interac tion scores during their own task and their friend's task, Findings ar e discussed with respect to attachment theory.