The present research examined the impact of two dimensions of friends' and parents' influence (relationship quality and deviance) on adolescent deviance. Friends' deviance is a consistent correlate of adolescent deviance, yet the quality of the friendship within which deviance occurs has not been assumed to have any bearing on its incidence. The development of egalitarian relationships at adolescence is theorized to promote social and emotional maturity, qualities that could inhibit deviance. This research examined whether the quality of friendships inhibits adolescent deviance and also whether it modifies the expected association between adolescents' and friends' deviance. The quality of parent-adolescent relations is consistently linked to adolescent deviance, but is considerably less influential if contrasted to friends' deviance. This research sought to determine whether the quality of parent-adolescent relationships modifies the expected correlation between adolescents' and friends' deviance and whether the effect holds if parents themselves are deviant. Subjects were assessed in Grade 7 (N = 173) for general deviance and again in Grade 10 (N = 167) for alcohol use. A subsample of 131 were analyzed for long-term effects. In all analyses, friends' deviance, as expected, emerged as the most significant correlate of adolescent deviance, particularly for males. The quality of friendship was not found to be related to deviance at Grade 7, but was associated with lower drinking at Grade 10 for adolescents who had drinking friends. Additionally, longitudinal analyses showed that adolescents who had deviant friends at Grade 7 and whose friendships were of poor quality were at risk for later drinking. The quality of parent-adolescent relations modified the effect of deviant friends for females at Grade 7, but did not predict drinking at Grade 10. High quality parent-adolescent relations at Grade 10, however, increased the likelihood that adolescents would imitate par
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.70238 |
| Date | January 1991 |
| Creators | Witte, Gertie |
| 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 Psychology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001257439, proquestno: AAINN72210, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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