PEER INTERACTIONS, SELF-CONCEPT, LOCUS OF CONTROL, AND AVOIDANCE OF SOCIAL SITUATIONS OF EARLY ADOLESCENTS

Peer relationships of early adolescents have been examined from a numb er of perspectives, but no coherent picture has yet emerged. This stud y presents data obtained from 328 first-year students from four high s chools in three different socioeconomic areas. The use of a week-long diary record to gather information to supplement the more traditional self-report questionnaires provided valuable additional data. The majo r findings were that scores from the three self-report questionnaires clustered on a single factor, with the diary data loading on three oth er factors, labelled Scale, Scope, and Enjoyment with respect to socia l interactions. Canonical correlation analysis revealed two dimensions of peer interaction associated with measures of self-concept. Althoug h the overlap between peer interactions and self-concept was moderatel y high, the amount of variance explained in either direction was moder ately low. Boys and girls who scored high on measures of self-concept had low external locus of control scores as predicted, although a simi lar relationship between self-concept and social avoidance was weaker for boys. The predicted relationship between duration of peer contacts and self-concept did not occur, although girls reported stronger, mod erate relationships between ratings of enjoyment of interactions and m easures of self-concept than boys. In addition, girls were again found to be more anxious and have lower external locus of control, and repo rted interactions with more peers. Adolescents from the Higher-SES sub urbs reported higher self-concept, and had lower external locus of con trol acid less social avoidance, but reported less interaction with pe ers. Interaction effects between sex and SES were only observed for ha ppiness and satisfaction, and enjoyment ratings of social interactions .