EARLY ATTACHMENT AS A PATHWAY TO ADOLESCENT PEER COMPETENCE

Citation
Ns. Weinfield et al., EARLY ATTACHMENT AS A PATHWAY TO ADOLESCENT PEER COMPETENCE, Journal of research on adolescence, 7(3), 1997, pp. 241-265
Citations number
23
Categorie Soggetti
Psychology, Developmental","Family Studies
ISSN journal
10508392
Volume
7
Issue
3
Year of publication
1997
Pages
241 - 265
Database
ISI
SICI code
1050-8392(1997)7:3<241:EAAAPT>2.0.ZU;2-9
Abstract
Forty-one adolescents ages 15-16, a subset of participants from an ong oing longitudinal study, were observed and interviewed during a 2-day- long camp reunion. Early attachment information was available for all participants. Counselors rated them on several personal and interperso nal characteristics after the reunion, including social competence. Th e participants were also interviewed regarding their experience and th eir thoughts about friendships and romantic interests of themselves an d other campers. The interviews were coded for the extent to which the adolescent was willing to discuss people and relationships during the interview and the degree to which the participants were aware of the patterns of interaction in the social network around them. Results sho w that concurrent interest in relationships is a stronger predictor of social competence for participants with anxious histories, although p articipants with secure histories are more socially competent overall. This may indicate that participants with anxious histories must put i n the effort of being interested in relationships in order to achieve social competence, whereas the skills of social competence come more e asily to secure participants, whether or not they are explicitly inter ested in relationships in the given context.