Abstract
This study explored changes in New Zealand adolescents' perceptions of their attachment relationships with their mothers, fathers, and friends. The main findings revealed that from early to late adolescence: Males and females remained stable in their quality of affect toward their mothers. With increasing age, females utilized their mothers for support and proximity more, whereas males utilized their mothers for support and proximity less. With increasing age, males and females rated their quality of affect toward their fathers as lower and utilized their fathers for support and proximity less. Females had a higher quality of affect toward friends than males regardless of age, but both males and females increased their utilization of friends for support and proximity over age. Further analyses revealed that Pacific Island adolescents utilized their mothers less for support and proximity than European/Pakeha adolescents. Adolescents from one-parent families utilized their fathers less for support and proximity and had a lower quality of affect toward him than adolescents from two-parent families. These findings suggested that substantial changes take place in attachment relationships from early to late adolescence and highlighted the need for research to differentiate between the sex of adolescent and sex of parent dyads in order to examine adolescents' affective relationships effectively.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1989). Attachment beyond infancy.Am. Psychol. 44: 709–716.
Ainsworth, M. D. S., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., and Walls, S. (1978).Patterns of Attachment. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ.
Arend, R. A., Gove, F., and Sroufe, L. A. (1979). Continuity of early adaption: From attachment in infancy to ego resiliency and curiosity at age 5.Child Develop. 50: 950–959.
Armsden, G. C. (1986). Attachment to parents and peers in late adolescence: Relationships to affective status, self-esteem and coping with loss, threat and challenge.Dissert. Abstracts Int. 47: 1751–1752B.
Armsden, G. C., and Greenberg, M. T. (1987). The inventory of parent and peer attachment: Individual differences and their relationship to psychological wellbeing in adolescence.J. Youth Adolesc. 16: 427–454.
Bell, N. J., Avery, A. W., Jenkins, D. Feld, J., and Schoenrock, C. J. (1985). Family relationships and social competence during late adolescence.J. Youth Adolesc. 14: 109–119.
Berndt, T. J. (1982). The features and effects of friendship.Child Develop. 53: 1446–1460.
Blos, P. (1967). The second individuation process of adolescence.Psychoanal. Study Child, 162–186.
Blyth, D. A., Hill, J. P., and Theil, K. S. (1982). Early adolescents' significant others: Grade and gender differences with familial and nonfamilial adults and young people.J. Youth Adolesc. 11: 425–450.
Bowlby, J. (1982).Attachment and Loss: Vol. 1. Attachment (2nd ed.). Basic Books, New York.
Bretherton, I. (1985). Attachment theory: Retrospect and prospect. In Bretherton, I., and Waters, E. (Eds.), Growing points in attachment theory and research.Monogr. Soc. Res. Child Develop. 50: 3–35.
Buhrmester, D., and Furman, W. (1987). The development of companionship and intimacy.Child Develop. 58: 1101–1113.
Burke, R. J., and Weir, T. (1979). Helping responses of parents and peers and adolescent wellbeing.J. Psychol. 102: 49–62.
Connell, W. F., Stroobant, R. E., Sinclair, K. E., Connell, R. W., and Rogers, K. W. (1975).Twelve to 20: Studies of City Youth. Hicks Smith, Sydney.
Cubis, J., Lewin, T., and Dawes, F. (1989). Australian adolescents' perceptions of their parents.Austral. New Zealand J. Psychiat. 23: 35–47.
Douvan, E., and Adelson, J. (1966).The Adolescent Experience. Wiley, New York.
Easterbrooks, M. A., and Lamb, M. E. (1979). The relationship between quality of infant-mother attachment and infant competence in initial encounters with peers.Child Develop. 50: 380–387.
Garbarino, J. (1985).Adolescent Development. Bell and Howell, Columbus, OH.
Greenberg, M. T., Seigal, J. M., and Leitch, C. J. (1983). The nature and importance of attachment relationships to parents and peers during adolescence.J. Youth Adolesc. 12: (5), 373–386.
Grotevant, H. D., and Cooper, C. R. (1986). Individuation in family relationships.Human Develop. 29: 82–100.
Hill, J. P. (1987). Research on adolescents and their families: Past and prospect. In C. Irwin, (ed.),New Directions for Child Development: Adolescent Social Behavior and Health Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
Hill, J., Holmbeck, G., Marlow, L., Green, T., and Lynch, M. (1985). Menarcheal status and parent-child relations in families of seventh grade girls.J. Youth Adolesc. 14: 314–330.
Hill, J., Holmbeck, G., Marlow, L., Green, T., and Lynch, M. (1985b). Pubertal status and parent-child relations in families of seventh grade boys.J. Early Adolesc. 5: 31–44.
Hunter, F. T., and Youniss, J. (1982). Changes in functions of three relations during adolescence.Develop. Psychol. 18: 806–811.
Kandel, D., and Lesser, G. S. (1969). Parent-adolescent relationships and independence in the United Status and Denmark.J. Marriage Family 31: 348–358.
Kenny, M. E. (1987). The extent and function of parental attachment among first year college students.J. Youth Adolesc. 16: 17–27.
Kon, I. S., and Losenkov, V. A. (1978). Friendship in adolescence: Values and behavior.J. Marriage Family 40: 143–155.
Kroger, J. (1983). Relationships during adolescence: A developmental study of New Zealand youths.New Zealand J. Educat. Studies 18: 115–126.
LaGaipa, J. J. (1979). A developmental study of the meaning of friendship in adolescence.J. Adolesc. 2: 201–213.
Matas, L., Arend, R. A., and Sroufe, L. A. (1978). Continuity of adaption in the second year: The relationship of quality of attachment and later competence.Child Develop. 49: 547–556.
Musgrove, F. (1964).Youth and the Social Order. Indiana University Press, Bloomington.
Papini, D. R., Farmer, F. F., Clark, S. M., Micka, J. C., and Barnett, J. K. (1990). Early adolescent age and gender differences in patterns of emotional disclosure to parents and friends.Adolescence, 15: 959–1001.
Papini, D. R., and Sebby, R. A. (1987). Adolescent pubertal status and affective relationships: A multivariate assessment.j. Youth Adolesc. 16: 1–15.
Parkes, C. M., and Stevenson-Hinde, J. (Eds.). (1982).The Place of Attachment in Human Behavior. Basic Books, New York.
Pipp, S., Shaver, P., Jennings, S., Lamborn, S., and Fischer, K. W. (1985). Adolescents' theories about the development of their relationships with parents.J. Personal. Social Psychol. 48: 991–1001.
Powers, S. I., Hauser, S. T., and Kilner, L. A. (1989). Adolescent mental health.American Psychol. 44: 200–208.
Resnick, G. (1989). Attachment in adolescence and its relationship to family cohesion and adaptability: An exploratory study (doctoral dissertation, Tufts University, 1989).Dissert. Abstracts Int. 50: 2647B.
Rosenberg, M. (1965).Society and Adolescent Self Image. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
Rosenberg, M. (1979).Conceiving the Self. Basic Books, New York.
Rosenthal, D. (1982). The influence of ethnicity on parent-adolescent conflict. In Cross, T. G., and Riach, L. M. (eds.),Issues and Research in Child Development Institute of Early Childhood Development, Melbourne.
Ryan, R. M., and Lynch, J. H. (1989). Emotional autonomy versus detachment: Revisiting the vicissitudes of adolescence and young adulthood.Child Develop. 60. 340–356.
Sharabany, R., Gershoni, R., and Hoffman, J. E. (1981). Girlfriend, boyfriend: Age and sex differences in intimate friendship.Develop. Psychol. 17: 800–808.
Snoek, D., and Rothblum, E. (1979). Self disclosure among adolescents in relation to parental affection and control patterns.Adolescence 14: 333–340.
Sroufe, L. A., and Waters, E. (1977). Attachment as an organizational construct.Child Develop. 48 1184–1199.
Steinberg, L. (1981). Transformations in family relations at puberty.Develop. Psychol. 17: 833–840.
Sullivan, K., and Sullivan, A. (1980). Adolescent-parent separation.Develop. Psychol. 16: 93–104.
Vaughn, B., Egeland, B., Stroufe, L. A., and Waters, E. (1979). Individual differences in infant-mother attachment at twelve and eighteen months: Stability and change in families under stress.Child Develop. 50: 971–975.
Weiss, R. S. (1982). Attachment in adult life. In Parkes, C. M., and Stevenson-Hinde, J. (eds.),The Place of Attachment in Human Behavior Basic Books, New York.
Wiebe, B., and Williams, J. D. (1972). Self disclosure to parents high school seniors.Psychol. Rep. 31: 690.
Wright, P. H., and Keple, T. W. (1981). Friends and parents of a sample of high school juniors.J. Marriage Family 43: 559–570.
Youniss, J. (1983). Social construction of adolescence by adolescents and parents: Individuation to mutuality. In Grotevant H. D., and Cooper, C. R. (eds.),Adolescent Development in the Family: New Directions for Child Development. Jossey Bass, Chicago, IL.
Youniss, J., and Ketterlinus, R. (1987). Communication and connectedness in mother and father adolescent relationships.J. Youth Adolesc. 16: 265–280.
Youniss, J., and Smollar, J. (1985).Adolescents' Relationships with Mothers, Fathers and Friends. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This research is based on the first author's doctoral dissertation at the University of Auckland.
Received Ph.D. from the University of Auckland. Research interests are in life span developmental psychology and in the parenting of children and adolescents.
Received Ph.D. from the Australian National University. Research interests lie within life span developmental psychology and early cognitive development.
Received Ph.D. from the University of Canterbury. Her main interests are in life span developmental psychology and the development of low birth weight babies.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Paterson, J.E., Field, J. & Pryor, J. Adolescents' perceptions of their attachment relationships with their mothers, fathers, and friends. J Youth Adolescence 23, 579–600 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01537737
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01537737