Affective quality of family relations and adolescent identity exploration.
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between adolescent pubertal status, the affective quality of family relations, and the early adolescent's exploration of a sense of ego identity. Fifty-one intact families with adolescents in the seventh grade agreed to participate. Each family member completed a battery of questionnaires designed to assess familial adaptation to pubertal growth and identity exploration. The results reveal that the affective quality of parent-adolescent relationships and the pubertal status of the adolescent appear to influence the adolescent's exploration of ego identity. The need to establish the functional significance of familial adaptation to adolescent pubertal growth for identity development is discussed.
Department of Home Economics HE 118, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville 72701.
D R
DR
Papini
R A
RA
Sebby
S
S
Clark
D000293:Adolescent; D000339:Affect; D003657:Decision Making; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007062:Identification, Psychological; D007207:Individuation; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010553:Personality Development; D012741:Sexual Maturation; D012931:Social Environment