Relational support and person characteristics in adolescence

In this paper, an heuristic model of the personality characteristics of ado lescents and the supportive dimensions of interactions, relationships and g roups is presented. The model takes the concept of developmental tasks as i ts starting point and it is assumed that developmental tasks can be charact erized in terms of four modalities: intentions, behaviour, cognitions and a ffect. The same four modalities can also be used to characterize dimensions of personality and aspects of interactional and relational support. The re sults of several empirical studies are presented to illustrate the model. T ogether, these studies present a transactional picture of the personality o f adolescents and their relationships in which personality and relationship s influence each other and jointly determine psychosocial functioning. (C) 1999 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents.