PARENTAL CHILD-REARING PRACTICES AND ADOL ESCENT PEER RELATIONS

The aim of this study was to examine which aspects of parent-adolescen t relations contribute to the quality of adolescent-peer relations. Fi ve hundred and eight families participated in the study. The sample co nsisted of 969 parents (502 mothers and 467 fathers) and 508 children (254 females and 254 males), 12 to 18 years old. Parents were administ ered questionnaires measuring parent-child relationship, while adolesc ents completed questionnaires measuring their relationship towards pee rs. Several aspects of the quality of parent-child relations were asse ssed: parental acceptance, attachment, involvement, responsiveness, lo ve withdrawal and monitoring of the child. The indicators of the quali ty of peer relations were: degree of peer activity, having a best frie nd, perceived acceptance by peers and attachment to peers. The finding s suggested that a distinction should be made between two aspects of a dolescents' relationship with peers: involvement with peers (defined a s the degree of activities with peers and friendships which are more s uperficial in nature) and the quality of the relationship with peers ( defined as perceived social acceptance and attachment to peers). Diffe rent aspects of the parent-adolescent relationship predicted involveme nt with peers and the quality of peer relations. Parental acceptance a nd monitoring of the child appeared to be the most important predictor s of the adolescent-peer relations. Parental acceptance of the child w as associated with a higher quality of the relationship with peers, wh ile low monitoring of the adolescents' activities was associated with a higher involvement with peers. Results also indicated that mothers' and fathers' child-rearing practices related in a similar way to the a dolescent-peer relations.