Behaviors and Attributions

Abstract

This study examined the relationships betweenfamily members'internal images of their hospitalized adolescents and those adolescents' actual pathological behaviors during the months prior to hospitalization. Five categories of pathological behavior were rated for each adolescent. The images held by parents of the adolescents and the adolescents' self-images were assessed along six dimensions of individual and interpersonal functioning. Ratings of actual pathological behavior were correlated with perceived adolescent attributes for each rater (mother, father, and adolescent). In four categories, parent and adolescent correlations diverged markedly. Adolescents who were mostself-destructive or most suicidal saw themselves as alienated from their families and from their peers and as more compromised overall. The parents of these adolescents did not recognize these deficits in their children ' functioning. The parents of substance-abusing adolescents saw their children as markedly more impaired whereas these adolescents did not acknowledge such deficits. Developmental and clinical implications are discussed.