Publication Date

1-1-2016

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Mounts, Nina S.

Degree Name

B.A. (Bachelor of Arts)

Legacy Department

Department of Psychology

Abstract

The current study investigated the relationship between mothers’ peer management behaviors (consulting, guiding, prohibiting, rules about peer relationships, and supervising) and adolescent’s social adjustment. Existing observational and questionnaire data from a larger study was used for this study. The sample included 70 mother-adolescent dyads. Adolescent males (48.6%) and females (51.4%) between the ages of 10-15 years (Mage = 12.39, SD = 1.64) participated. Participants completed a series of tasks; questionnaires, video recorded conversations about peers, interviews with the research staff, and a computerized manipulation of social exclusion. During the conversation about peers, participants completed a hypothetical task and a conflict task. In the hypothetical task, dyads were given cards with hypothetical situations and were asked to discuss them as if they were real life situations. In the conflict task, dyads discussed conflicts they previously reported on a questionnaire. The video recorded conversations were later analyzed and coded for management behaviors by trained graduate and undergraduate research assistants. A series of independent-sample t tests examined gender differences in the management behaviors and in adolescent’s social adjustment. The independent-sample t tests showed that mothers engage in more guiding management behaviors with girls than with boys, girls engage in higher levels of prosocial behavior than boys, and girls reported more positive friendship quality than boys. Regression analyses revealed only one significant finding, higher levels of supervising were related to lower levels of friendship conflict.

Extent

22 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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