1. Early Adolescent Parent and Peer Predictors of Early Adult Social Functioning
Laura M. Sylke & David E. Szwedo
James Madison University
Introduction
Measures
Like v. Dislike by Peer Group (age 13) Assessed using a Sociometrics procedure. Peers are given a list of classmates and asked to rank his/her peers in order of likeability.
Social Support from Best Friend (age 13) Assessed using the Supportive Behavior Task that had adolescents participate in an 8 minute interaction task in which they asked their friend for help or support. Behaviors indicating support from friends were observed and coded.
Secure Attachment with Parents (age 14) Assessed using the Adolescent Attachment Interview to investigate teen’s attachment representations
Firm v. Lax Parental Behavioral Control (age 14) Assessed using the Childhood Report of Parenting Behavior that asked the teen about parents’ behaviors.
Social Provisions Scale (age 23) Self-report measure assessed characteristics of social attachment, social integration, turning to others for guidance, and seeking support.
Overall Loneliness (age 23) Assessed using the UCLA Loneliness Scale which is a self-report of loneliness using responses on a 4-point Likert scale.
Social Anxiety (age 23) Assessed using the Social Anxiety Scale, a 22-item self-report scale with measures of negative evaluation and social avoidance.
Peer relationships have been accorded great influence in the development of social competence in children. Children who are disliked and rejected tend to develop differently than those who are rated as “popular.” Later in life, rejected children were reported to have higher cases of drug abuse and conduct problems (Ollendick, 1992).
These sociometrics also have a great deal to do with the amount of social support that these individuals get. For example, being bullied with no social support had adverse effects on overall well-being; however, being bullied while also having social support had less negative effects (Rigby, 2000).
In addition, positive parental relationships can be very beneficial in the development of children. It has been more likely for securely attached children to have better mental health later on, as well as high academic success and peer trust (Meeus et al., 2002).
Another concept that feeds into the parent-child relationship is the parenting style. In past studies, authoritarian and permissive parenting styles were found to be negatively associated with a youth’s performance in school as well as in peer relationships. It was found that the child-reports of the mother’s parenting styles were inversely correlated with anxiety and depression (Wei & Kendall, 2014).
The purpose of this study is to investigate more in depth how early life peer relationships and parent-child relationships impact social competence later in life.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figures 1. & 2. Heuristic representation of regression analyses finding unique predictions from different aspects of social behavior from peers and parents to later social functioning.
Results
Correlations between primary variables are presented in Table 1 below.
Regression equations examined peer relationship and parent-child relationship predictors of youths’ later social competence, loneliness, and social anxiety, controlling for gender and family household income.
Analyses revealed several positive associations between being liked by one’s larger peer group and later social competence, and between support from one’s best friend and lower future social anxiety (see Figure 1).
Analyses with parent predictors found that a secure parent-child attachment predicted greater future social competence and that firm parenting behavior predicted lower social anxiety (see Figure 2).
Interactions were also found between attachment security and behavioral control predicting future attachment and loneliness (see Figures 3 & 4).
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figures 3. & 4. Interactions between parental attachment and behavioral control predicting future attachment and loneliness. The pattern of results suggests that individuals with high attachment security with their parents and firm parental behavior control tend to have higher levels of attachment in later social relationships as well as lower levels of loneliness.
Hypotheses
Adolescents who are liked by a large peer group and have a significant amount of social support from a best friend will have a higher social competence as well as less likely to develop social anxiety in early adulthood.
Adolescents who have high attachment security and firm parental behavioral control will have positive social relationships and have higher social competence in early adulthood.
Discussion
Teens who are both liked by a larger peer group and have social support from their best friend tend to develop social integration later in life due to the social support gained at an earlier age.
Interestingly enough, those who received social support from their best friend are less likely to develop social anxiety when they are older than teens who don’t have a single, identifiable social support system. It was found that being liked by a larger peer group does not have an affect on later social anxiety, likely because the social support from a single person gives the teen more confidence in their social skills.
Teens who had a highly secure relationship with their parents will also exhibit higher attachment in social relationships as well as feel more socially integrated, likely because of the strengthened relationship between the parents and feeling comfortable pursuing other successful relationships.
Teens who had parents with firm parenting behaviors also had less social anxiety when they were older, most likely because of the strong support system the teens had with their parents, and comfortability pursuing other relationships.
Table 1. Univariate statistics and inter-correlations between primary constructs
Method
Mean (SD) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
1. Gender
47% male -
2. Income
43,618 (22,420)
-.11
3. Liked by Larger
Peer Group (13)
0.96 (1.35)
.04
.32***
4. Social Support
from Best Friend
(13)
(22.81)
.24***
.20**
.21**
5. Secure
Attachment with
Parents (14)
0.25 (0.42)
.11
.28***
.31***
.26**
6. Firm Parenting
Behavior (14)
19.89 (3.83)
-.01
.07
-.07
-.16*
-.05
7. Close Attachment
in Relationships
(23)
13.45 (2.30)
.12
.17*
.13
.08
8. Turning to Others
for Guidance (23)
14.12 (2.22)
.14
-.14
.78***
9. Social Integration
13.60 (1.97)
.03
.19*
.65***
.74***
10. Seeking Social
Support (23)
14.55 (4.30)
-.02
.22**
.06
.02
11. Loneliness (23)
12.33 (12.54)
-.08
-.04
.01
-.49***
-.41***
-.44***
12. Social Anxiety
33.63 (12.16)
-.09
.15*
-.13
-.24**
-.20**
.09
.57***
Participants
N = 184
Gender Race/ethnicity Income
86 males Caucasian Median = $40,000 - $59,000
98 females African American
24 Mixed/Other
Note. * p ≤ .05, ** p ≤ .01, *** p ≤ .001