Early, Middle, and Late Adolescents' Perceptions of Their Relationships with Significant Others

Abstract

A sample of 1,110 adolescents assessed nine aspects of their relationships with their mother, their father, their best same-sex friend, their most important sibling, and their most important teacher. These aspects were admiration, affection, companionship, conflict, instrumental aid, intimacy, nurturance, reliable alliance, and satisfaction with the relationship. Early adolescents (11 through 13 years of age) gave higher ratings than did middle (14 through 16years ofage) and late (17 through 19years ofage) adolescents for all relationships on most attributes. Except for intimacy and nurturance, middle adolescents' ratings were higher than those of late adolescents but only for some relationships. The observed trends are interpreted with respect to several social, socialcognitive, and cognitive changes taking place over the span of adolescence.