PERCEPTIONS OF FAMILY DIFFERENTIATION, INDIVIDUATION, AND SELF-ESTEEMAMONG KOREAN ADOLESCENTS

The relationships between family differentiation and adolescent indivi duation and between adolescent individuation and self-esteem were test ed with 170 adolescents in Korea. To measure family differentiation, t hree dyadic interaction patterns were examined (i.e., parents' marital , father-adolescent, and mother-adolescent). Results revealed signific ant relationships between adolescent individuation and differentiation in adolescent and same-sex parent pairs. For male adolescents, father -adolescent differentiation was the strongest predictor of individuati on, and for female adolescents, mother-adolescent differentiation was most strongly related to individuation. Also, for both male and female adolescents, individuation was negatively associated with self-esteem , a finding that is not consistent with research in the U.S.