One criticism of previous work in the field of adolescent development has been
the paucity of research examining the unique and combined contributions of different
developmental contexts on adolescents' functioning. In an attempt to address this
issue, the current study examined adolescents' perceptions of autonomy and
relatedness within parent, peer, and school contexts in relation to school functioning
and psychological adjustment. Adolescents (N = 478) in Grades 8, 9, and 11
completed self-report questionnaires assessing feelings about their relationships with
parents and peers, and perceptions of school. Teachers completed ratings of
adolescents' strengths and competencies. Academic achievement was assessed using
end of year school grades.
Results revealed several significant gender and grade differences. Whereas
girls reported greater deidealization of their parents and peers, and higher quality of
attachment to peers than did boys, boys- reported being less dependent on their peers
than did girls. Overall, adolescents in grade nine were more dependent on their peers
and reported more trust and communication in their peer relationships than did
adolescents in grade eight.
Correlational results indicated that school functioning was positively associated
with school autonomy, parental attachment, peer attachment and school belonging,
and that problems in psychological adjustment were negatively associated with peer
autonomy, school autonomy, parental attachment, peer attachment, school belonging,
and positively associated with parental autonomy. Results of the multiple regression
analyses indicated that autonomy and relatedness variables accounted for significant
amounts of variance in GPA, teacher-rated school competencies, internalizing
problems, and externalizing problems. Analyses also revealed variables which
uniquely predicted areas of functioning across contexts and gender.
This cross-sectional study provides new theoretical insights regarding relations
of autonomy and relatedness to school functioning and psychological adjustment
during adolescence across multiple contexts. The findings contribute to a more
thorough understanding of the dimensions of autonomy and relatedness that may have
important implications for educators and parents of adolescents for improving
educational practice and for promoting school success and positive adjustment.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/11144 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Buote, Carol Anne |
| 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 |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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