Adolescents' relationships in a town in the Western Cape, South Africa

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The important role of interpersonal relationships in the adolescent developmental period has beenextensively demonstrated in the literature (e.g. Brown, 1991; Gottlieb, 1991; Larson, Wilson,Brown, Furstenburg, & Verma, 2002). In the present study, adolescents' relationships with theirmothers, fathers, romantic partners, and best friends were investigated. The sample consisted ofmainly White and Coloured late-adolescents from four schools in and around a large countrytown, representing different cultures and socio-economic backgrounds. Their relationships wereinvestigated by assessing in what relationships adolescents reported the most and least of certainrelationship qualities like support and intimacy. This was assessed with the use of two self-reportquestionnaires.The questionnaires used was the Network of Relationships Inventory (NRI), a 33-item Likerttypescale with which intimacy, companionship, affection, nurturance, satisfaction, relativepower, punishment and conflict (C1) was assessed, and the Quality of Relationships Inventory(QRI), a 25-item Likert-type scale with which support and conflict (C2) was assessed (Touliatos,Perlmutter, & Holden, 2001). It was found that adolescents reported the different relationshipqualities differently in all their relationships. The following are the main findings for the differentrelationship qualities:- Support: Support was found to be equally as high for mothers, best friends and romanticpartners, with fathers ranked lowest for support.- Intimacy: Intimacy with romantic partners was reported as being the highest, followed bybest friends and then mothers and intimacy from fathers being the lowest.- Companionship: The highest level of companionship was reported for best friends andromantic partners, who did not differ significantly from each other. This was followed bycompanionship from mothers and companionship from fathers was the lowest.- Affection: The highest level of affection was reported for mothers, followed by romanticpartners and then fathers, with the lowest levels of affection coming from best friends.- Nurturance: Romantic partners were rated highest for nurturance, followed by best friendsand mothers, who did not differ significantly from each other. The lowest level ofnurturance was reported for fathers.- Satisfaction: Adolescents were most satisfied with their romantic relationships, bestfriends and mother-relationships, as they did not differ significantly from each others.Adolescents were least satisfied with their father-relationships.- Relative Power: Adolescents felt most powerful in their mother-relationships, followed bytheir relationships with their fathers. The third most power was reported in romanticrelationships and adolescents felt the least powerful in their relationships with their bestfriends.- Punishment: Adolescents were punished most by their mothers, then their fathers and thentheir romantic partners and they were punished least by their best friends.- Conflict: Conflict reported was equally as high for mothers, fathers and romantic partners,with the lowest levels of conflict reported with their best friends.Apart from the above findings, analyses were also done between the different relationshipqualities, relationships, and certain demographic factors. The results are supported by thedevelopmental-contextual framework, as it emphasizes how the different aspects of adolescents'relationships and lives are interrelated.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University