Ka. Black et K. Mccartney, ADOLESCENT FEMALES SECURITY WITH PARENTS PREDICTS THE QUALITY OF PEERINTERACTIONS, Social development, 6(1), 1997, pp. 91-110
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.