In this study of 120 early adolescents (59 girls, 61 boys), 81 of whom were identified as gifted, overall psychosocial maturity (or social-perspective coordination) was measured and related to academic ability and adolescents' perceptions of friendship quality and self-concept. Gifted status, sex, and grade significantly* predicted overall psychosocial maturity in multiple regression analyses. Conversely, as a group, overall social-perspective coordination, perceptions of one's ability to make and keep friends (close friendship self-concept), academic ability, sex, and grade level predicted the overall quality of adolescents' friendships. Being a female, seventh grader, or adolescent not identified as gifted, significantly predicted friendship quality. In addition, higher developmental levels of psychosocial maturity and close friendship self-concept predicted higher levels of friendship quality. Finally, when a measure of interpersonal negotiation strategies in hypothetical situations was entered into the prediction model in place of overall psychosocial competence, it appeared to be a better predictor of friendship quality. Specifically, higher levels of psychosocial competence were associated with higher levels of help, closeness, and lower levels of social comparison in friendship experiences. Likewise, the ability to think of higher levels of negotiation strategies was associated with higher levels of closeness and help, and with lower levels of social comparison and conflict in friendship experiences. / *Throughout the text, the term significance refers to statistical significance, rather than a meaning of importance.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.84529 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | Masden, Catherine A. |
| Contributors | Shore, Bruce M. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002151535, proquestno: AAINQ98321, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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