Adolescents' perceptions and standards of their relationships with their parents as a function of sociometric status

This study examined adolescents' cognitions of their relationships with the ir parents as a function of sociometric status. The adolescents' subjective views of their relationships with their mothers and fathers were assessed with respect to seven relationship qualities (general warmth, displays of w armth, intimate self-disclosure, parental monitoring, conflict, instrumenta l aid, and provisions of autonomy) across two cognition types: perceptions (beliefs about "how things are") and standards (beliefs about "how things s hould be"). The participants were sixth-, eighth-, tenth-, and twelfth-grad e students. Peer sociometric status was determined based on unlimited peer nominations completed by 462 participants. The 190 adolescents classified a s average, popular, or rejected were included in the analyses. Perceptions and standards were shown to be distinct but related cognitions. Rejected ad olescents differed from their more accepted peers in their perceptions of r elationships with both mothers and fathers, specifically with regard to war mth from both parents and autonomy from mothers. Rejected adolescents also reported lower standards for parental monitoring and a range of support qua lities from both parents. In addition, rejected adolescents' reports demons trated greater perception-standard discrepancies, indicating unmet standard s. Overall, sociometric status group differences were more pronounced and c onsistent for standards than for perceptions, and most status group differe nces occurred primarily among older adolescents. Findings are discussed in terms of social cognitive patterns associated with peer rejection and devel opmental changes in family-peer linkages across adolescence.