title: Adolescents and adults at the mall: dyadic interactions.
abstract: The purpose of this descriptive study is to examine differences in interpersonal engagements between teen-teen dyads and teen-adults dyads in a mall setting. It was expected that behavioral patterns between teen-teen and teen-adult dyads would differ as a function of age, gender, and racial composition. Participants included 865 teen-teen dyads and 190 teen-adult dyads. Observations were conducted in a large mall over four weeks. Observers recorded behavioral activity, physical proximity/position, emotional expression, conversation, and evidence of shopping. Teen-teen dyads differed from teen-adult dyads on two variables, conversation and shopping evidence. Within teen-teen dyad comparisons yielded several gender and racial differences, but only one age difference. Implications of these findings are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family and Child Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee 32306-2033, USA.
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Readdick
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Mullis
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D004644:Emotions; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010553:Personality Development; D012929:Psychological Distance; D012931:Social Environment; D012963:Sociometric Techniques