Thesis advisor: Penny Hauser-Cram / This dissertation involves secondary analysis of data from the Early Intervention Collaborative Study (EICS; Hauser-Cram, Warfield, Shonkoff, & Krauss, 2001), a longitudinal investigation of children with developmental disabilities (DD) and their families. The sample includes 93 children with DD and their mothers who participated in the age 10 and age 18 data collection time points of EICS. The following research questions were addressed: What types of friendships and other relationships do adolescents with DD have in their social networks and what individual characteristics predict the presence of reciprocal relationships within these networks? What individual and family-related characteristics predict their loneliness at age 10 and their friendship quality at age 18? Does loneliness at age 10 predict friendship quality at age 18? Do child/adolescent views of the family predict loneliness at age 10 and friendship quality at age 18? Do loneliness at age 10 and friendship quality at age 18 predict adolescent social-emotional well-being? Do child/adolescent views of the family moderate the relationship between loneliness at age 10 and adolescent well-being, or the relationship between friendship quality at age 18 and adolescent well-being? Results revealed the limited nature of adolescents' friendships and peer relationships, particularly in regard to a lack of reciprocal relationships with same-age, non-familial peers. Behavior problems emerged as a significant predictor of loneliness at age 10, while autonomy emerged as a significant predictor of perceived friendship quality in adolescence. Loneliness at age 10 was not found to relate to friendship quality at age 18. Age 10 loneliness and age 18 friendship quality were found to significantly predict adolescent well-being. Adolescent views of the family were found to significantly predict adolescent perceived friendship quality; additionally, adolescent views of the family were found to relate to adolescent well-being outcomes. Overall, the findings support the notion that both family and peer relationships have an impact on social-emotional well-being for children and adolescents with DD. Implications for practice and future research are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BOSTON/oai:dlib.bc.edu:bc-ir_101865 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Tillinger, Miriam |
| Publisher | Boston College |
| Source Sets | Boston College |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, thesis |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf |
| Rights | Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. |
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