Abstract
This study examined relationships between adolescents' self-image and perceptions of these adolescents held by their parents. It was hypothesized that parents would generally agree with their children's self-perceptions and that greater congruence between parents and their children would be associated with greater positive adolescent self-image. One hundred and six normal families participated in this study in the spring of 1981. Results showed that parents accurately perceive their adolescent children's selfimage. Specific areas of disagreement between parents and adolescents are discussed. Other results showed that mother-father agreement is associated with positive descriptions by the adolescents of their family and a positive attitude toward vocational and educational goals. Mother-child congruence scores were more highly correlated with adolescents' self-image than fatherchild congruence scores. Daughters' self-image was more highly associated with parent-child agreement than was sons' self-image.
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Supported in part by the Adolescent Research Fund, in memory of Judith Offer; this study was presented as a paper at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, Toronto, May 21, 1982.
Received M.D. from the University of Chicago. Major interests are concepts of mental health and the developmental psychology of adolescence.
Received Ph.D. in human development from the University of Chicago. Research interests are adolescence and delinquency.
Received Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Chicago. Major interests are psychotherapy research and adolescence.
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Offer, D., Ostrov, E. & Howard, K.I. Family perceptions of adolescent self-image. J Youth Adolescence 11, 281–291 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01537170
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01537170