PERCEPTIONS OF FRIENDSHIPS AND FAMILY-REL ATIONS IN CHRONICALLY ILL AND HEALTHY ADOLESCENTS - QUALITY OF RELATIONSHIPS AND CHANGE OVER TIME

This article is based on findings from the four year longitudinal rese arch project ''Coping with chronic illness in adolescence''. The sampl e for this study consisted of 91 diabetic and 107 healthy adolescents and their families. An important aim was to follow-up and analyse the development of the parent adolescent-relationship as well as relations hips with close friends and peers. Whereas there were no substantial d ifferences in the formal characteristics of the relationships describe d by healthy and diabetic adolescents, we found marked differences in the development of friendships and the quality of parent adolescent-re lationship. Compared to healthy adolescents, the chronically ill adole scents described higher nurturance in their relationship to both paren ts, while they experienced less intimacy, affection and companionship in their friendship relations. Although these differences in relations hip dimensions converged slightly over time, discrepancies could still be traced after four years. The results are discussed with respect to the process of separation from the parents and the reorganisation of the parent-adolescent-relationship.