Parent-Adolescent Relations in Adolescents Whose Parents are Divorced

Abstract

Three groups of adolescents, each living with their mothers but not their fathers, were empirically defined through assignment of positive and negative adjectives for parent-self relationships. The same subjects also chose mothers or fathers as the persons with whom they were most likely to discuss six kinds of topics and with whom they were most likely to communicate five qualitative ways. The group that defined itself as positive with mothers and negative with fathers differed from the group that had defined itself as negative to mothers and neutral to fathers on most of the 11 other measures. A third group that was neutral to mothers typically scored intermediately on the 11 other measures. The results potentially represent three types of parent-adolescent relations in adolescents from families of divorce. Results are discussed in terms of the rearing on the development process of individuation.