RELATIONS OF COHESION AND POWER IN FAMILY DYADS TO SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL ADJUSTMENT DURING EARLY ADOLESCENCE

This study examined family cohesion and power in relation to depressiv e affect, social self-concept, and behavioral restraint. Based on a sa mple of 99 young adolescents, cohesion and power were examined within the context of mother-child, father-child, and mother-father relations hips. Correlations indicated that parent-child cohesion had a more con sistent relation to adjustment for girls than for boys. In contrast, p ower differences in both of the parent-son dyads were related more con sistently to boys' adjustment than to girls'. Egalitarian power relati ons in the marital dyad were related to the most optimal outcomes for both boys and girls. However, in comparison to girls, boys who perceiv ed mothers to have more power than fathers reported significantly more depressive affect. The role of family functioning in young adolescent boys' and girls' social and emotional development and the use of fami ly systems perspectives for studying adolescent adjustment are discuss ed.