The Relation of Attachments and Supports to Adolescent Well-Being and School Adjustment

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between adolescents 'adjustment and their supportive relations with significant others. It linked the Bowlby concept of social attachment with that of social support (derived from social network theory) in describing the exchange content of adolescents' interactions with parents, peer-friends, and adult nonkin. Within each of these three support systems, only moderate relationships were found between adolescents' number of supports and the strength of attachments to members of the respective support systems. Fewer relationships were found between supports and adjustment than between attachments and adjustment. For both sexes, the strength of attachments to parents and to teachers was associated with young people's positive feelings about themselves. Network ties providing informational support (encouragement, guidance, and advice) were related to girls'and boys'academic outcomes in different ways: among girls, support from parents and adult nonkin was related to academic self-concept, whereas among boys, support from friends was negatively related to self-concept and educational plans.