This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Barber, B. K. Articles by Erickson, L. D. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Adolescent Social Initiative

Antecedents in the Ecology of Social Connections

University of Tennessee

Lance D. Erickson

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

This article reports on an investigation of adolescent social initiative, a particular form of adolescent social competence. Specifically, the study explored the extent to which variations in this form of social competence can be understood as a function of the history of interpersonal relationships in the lives of adolescents. The sample (N = 750) consisted of two age cohorts (ages 11-13 and 14-17) that were assessed annually for 3 consecutive years (1995-1997) by way of a mailed self-report survey. Findings indicated that positive aspects of the parent-adolescent relationship (support, behavioral control) measured 2 years previous predicted adolescent social initiative directly or indirectly through the quality of interpersonal relationship with best friend, school officials, and community adults measured 1 year previous to the assessment of social initiative and/or through adolescent individual characteristics (self-esteem, antisocial behavior) measured concomitantly with social initiative. Although significant variance in the change in social initiative across the 3-year period was accounted for in both cohorts, a larger set of predictors was associated with social initiative among the younger cohort, suggesting that the social identity of younger adolescents was still dependent on their recent experiences in a variety of social relationships, whereas the parental relationship was the primary predictor for the older cohort.

Journal of Adolescent Research, Vol. 16, No. 4, 326-354 (2001)
DOI: 10.1177/0743558401164003


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?