| Description |
This study examined preadolescents' and adolescents' narratives about their interpersonal conflicts with parents and friends as a window into the processes of the youths' individuation and connectedness in these close relationships. One hundred eight participants, 18 males and 18 females in each of three age groups (ages 10, 14, and 17), provided three narrative accounts relating to a time when they disagreed with their mother, their father, and their best friend. It was found that the youths' conceptions of their individuation and connectedness increased in complexity with age. Relationship context; differences were also found for both individuation and connectedness: Allusions to individuated desires were more common in the child-parent than the friendship narratives, and allusions to connectedness were more common in the friendship than in the child-parent narratives. Additionally, girls referred to disturbances in their connectedness to others more frequently than boys. The findings contribute to our understanding of the facilitative role of conflicts for individuation and connectedness processes across development as well as the ways in which different relationships provide somewhat different, but to an extent overlapping, context;s for these developmental processes. |
