Adolescents' interactions with the opposite sex: influence of attachment style and gender.

The present research assessed attachment style and gender differences in adolescents' relationships with the opposite sex, using questionnaire and diary methodologies. In Study 1, 193 unmarried undergraduate subjects completed questionnaire measures of attachment style, relationship history and attitudes to sex. Relationship history data supported previous findings: avoidant subjects reported fewer and less intense love experiences; anxious/ambivalent subjects reported frequent but less enduring love relationships; secure subjects reported more loving and satisfying relationships. As hypothesized, avoidant subjects were more accepting of casual (uncommitted) sex than other attachment groups. In Study 2, 85 subjects from the previous study used a diary format to record their interactions with members of the opposite sex, classifying each interaction according to intimacy level and partner type. Avoidant subjects engaged in fewer interactions overall, fewer chats, and interacted with a smaller number of friends. Anxious/ambivalent subjects engaged in fewer interactions with strangers than did secure subjects. Female avoidants and male anxious/ambivalents were the least likely to report engaging in sexual intercourse during the course of the study, suggesting that attachment style and gender role expectations jointly influence relationship development.

Parent and adolescent perceptions of family functioning: a comparison of clinic and non-clinic families.

In this paper two studies are reported which compare (a) the perceptions of family functioning held by clinic and non-clinic adolescents, and (b) the perceptions of family functioning held by adolescents and their mothers in clinic and non-clinic families. In Study 1, matched group of clinic and non-clinic adolescents were compared on their responses to a 30-item scale (ICPS) designed to measure three factors of family functioning: Intimacy (high vs. low), Parenting Style (democratic vs. controlled) and Conflict (high vs. low). Clinic and non-clinic adolescents were also compared on their responses to a multi-dimensional measure of adolescent self-concept. Although there was little difference between the two groups of adolescents in terms of their perceptions of family functioning, there were strong relationships between the self-concept variables and the family functioning variables. In Study 2, comparisons were made between the perceptions of family functioning held by mothers and adolescents for both clinical and non-clinic families. There were no differences between the two groups of adolescents in terms of their perceptions of family functioning, although there were clear differences between the two groups of mothers. In addition, clinic adolescents and their mothers did not differ in their perceptions of the family, whereas adolescents in the non-clinic group saw their families significantly as less intimate and more conflicted than did their mothers.

The family and the unemployed adolescent.

The present study explores the relationship between adolescent unemployment and family functioning. Adolescents and their parents completed the Family Adaptability and Evaluation Scales (FACES III) initially when the adolescents were in the final year of compulsory schooling, and then again at yearly intervals for 2 years. During this time the adolescents had either returned to school, or become employed or unemployed. Differences in perceptions according to employment group of the adolescent were found for both adolescents and their parents, highlighting the effect of an unemployed adolescent on adolescent and parent perceptions of family functioning. Unemployed adolescents and their parents saw the family as less cohesive at all three times of the study. Parents of employed and unemployed adolescents wanted more cohesion, as did unemployed males and females, and employed males. Greater dissatisfaction about family cohesion was expressed by unemployed adolescents and their parents than by the other groups.

Role dissatisfaction and the decline in marital quality across the transition to parenthood.

PIP: In the examination of role dissatisfaction and decline in marital quality across the transition to parenthood, it is postulated that 1) there would be a decline in the mean level of marital quality particularly among females, and 2) that the level of perceived inequity in postpartum allocation of marital roles would moderate the effects of the transition. A background review of pertinent literature pertaining to role dissatisfaction is presented, and found to be complex. Role inequity was measured as the level of dissatisfaction with a partner's contribution to a range of different role activities postpartum. The Australian sample was comprised of 59 primiparous couples who reported levels of marital satisfaction during the last trimester of pregnancy (Time 1) and then 3 months after the birth of the baby (Time 2). Couples were recruited from a variety of sources: private physicians, childbirth classes, and public hospitals. Average marriage duration was 3.5 years. Mean female age was 23.85 years and mean male age was 26.71 years. Most had completed at least 12 years of formal education. Marital quality was measured by a 32 item Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) comprised of units on dyadic satisfaction, consensus, cohesion, and affectional expression. Time 1 mean correlation of subscales was .43, and Time 2, .36. Dissatisfaction with partner's role performance was measured with an instrument of 18 items developed by Noller and Callan. Alpha coefficients were .69 and .71 for males and females respectively. Multivariate analysis of variance was used to assess marital quality scores by sex and time period and changes in marital quality due to level of postnatal role dissatisfaction by sex and time period. The Bonferronni procedure was used to control the Type 1 error rate for all analyses after the initial analysis of variance. The results revealed that the decline in marital quality reported in the literature may be a reflection of a decline in affectional expression. There was no support for the expectation that females experienced greater declines in marital quality than males, although it is possible that those experiencing greater dissatisfaction may not have provided followup data. There was support for the notion that females' levels of role dissatisfaction account for declines in marital quality; i.e., there was a decline in scores of affectional expression of women only who were also dissatisfied with a partner's role performance. When females perceived partner's performing a fair share in household tasks, marital quality increased. Future research on causation should explore the inequity model and use an objective measure of 1 or both variables. The link between role relations to the extent of change in new mothers' levels of marital quality suggests prenatal counseling on marital roles. Role inequity had no effect on male levels of decline in marital quality. Independent processes may account for these results, but there is a promising direction.^ieng

Adolescents' perceptions of the nature of their communication with parents.

This study examines the effects of the age and sex of adolescent and the sex of parent upon adolescents' perceptions of the nature of their communication with each parent. Two hundred and ninety-six adolescents aged 13-17 years completed a communication schedule, rating 14 content areas along six process dimensions: frequency of conversation, initiator, levels of recognition of adolescents' opinion, self-disclosure, domination, and levels of satisfaction. Multivariate analyses of variance were conducted separately for each process dimension. Frequency ratings revealed that adolescent females of all ages reported talking more often with mothers than did adolescent males. Adolescent males, however, believed they talked more often than did females with fathers about interests, sexual issues, and general problems. Mothers were seen to initiate more conversations than fathers on a wide range of topics. Mothers were also perceived as more likely to recognize and accept the adolescents' opinions. Adolescent females believed they disclosed more to mothers than fathers, but males believed they disclosed equally to both parents. Males disclosed more to fathers than did females about their sexual or other problems, while females disclosed more often overall to their mothers than did males. Adolescent males were equally satisfied with their discussions with both parents, but females were more satisfied about conversations with mothers rather than fathers. In sum, the results suggest that mothers' more frequent initiation of discussions with their younger adolescents and their greater recognition of their opinions lead to older adolescents interacting more with mothers than fathers.

Eyseneck Personality Inventory Item Factor Structure.

The Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) was administered to a sample of 583 Australians. Responses to the 57 items were intercorrelated and factor analyzed by three different methods: (a) extract two principal factors and rotate them by varimax; (b) extract as many factors as possible by the minimum residual method, determine the correct number of factors using the Tandem Criteria method and then rotate that number of factors by the Tandem Criterion I method; (c) using ones in the diagonals, extract all factors with positive eigen values and rotate these factors by varimax. All three methods obtained major Neuroticism and Extraversion factors but the third method gave the poorest confirmation of the expected factor structure for these items. Of the remaining two methods, the second is preferred for testing the expected underlying factor structure for these items since it permits items to remain on the same factor only if they are correlated with each other and it reveals what other constructs may be required in addition to those hypothesized to account for all the common factor variance.

Factor Analysis of the Comrey Personality Scales in an Australian Sample.

The Comrey Personality Scales (CPS) were administered to a sample of 669 Australians. The 40 subscales that define the eight CPS factors were intercorrelated along with two validation scale scores, age and sex. This matrix of correlations was factor analyzed to determine if the same structure of personality traits previously found in other groups would also hold for Australians. All eight CPS personality factors appeared as expected, showing excellent agreement with past findings in other groups. This agreement in factor structure occurred despite many significant differences in personality factor score means between this sample and the normative group sample. These findings lend additional support to the premise that the eight personality factors measured by the CPS have considerable stability across cultural boundaries.

Adolescent and parent perceptions of family cohesion and adaptability.

This study examined across 281 families of different aged adolescents the similarity of parent-adolescent perceptions of levels of adaptability and cohesion in families. Compared to parents, adolescents of almost all age groups (13-17 years) were less satisfied with levels of adaptability in families and so the ability of the family to change its roles and rules in relation to stress. Adolescents judged the present state of the family as more inflexible to changes in its structure than did parents. Asked about ideal levels of adaptability, fathers with 14 and 16 year old adolescents of both sexes, and fathers with 17 year old sons were least flexible about changes to the power and role structure of families. Scores on cohesion or the emotional bonding in families indicated that across family types parents judged the family as more cohesive than did adolescents. Adolescents, however, still showed fairly high levels of cohesion, although below their parents. Adolescents desire changes to power and roles in the family system, but still want a relatively cohesive and supportive family environment.

Parent-adolescent communication.

This project involved the development of a questionnaire for measuring parent-adolescent communication on both process and content dimensions. The six process dimensions, chosen on the basis of available literature, were: frequency, initiation, recognition, self-disclosure, domination and satisfaction. Six-point scales with clearly defined scale points were designed for each dimension. Fourteen content areas were also chosen and these were selected to include areas representative of two dimensions: general principles vs. specific issues, and external social reference vs. intrafamily references. First-year university students rated their interactions with their mothers, fathers and both parents together on each of the six process dimensions for each of the fourteen content areas. Parents were asked to rate the same items in the way they thought their adolescent son or daughter would rate them. Results were analysed separately for each process dimension using discriminant analysis, with sex of parent and sex of adolescent as independent variables. Overall, adolescents of both sexes tended to communicate more with mothers than with fathers over a wide range of areas. In fact, politics was the only area on which subjects talked more with fathers than mothers. Also, more self-disclosure occurred to mothers than to fathers, with daughters disclosing more to mothers than did sons. Mothers were also more accurate than fathers at predicting adolescents' responses. The usefulness of the questionnaire for exploring this important area of parent-adolescent communication will be discussed.