Perceived interpersonal relations in adolescents

Abstract: The general objective of this thesis was to examine aspects of adolescents perceived interpersonal relations, in view of the association between adolescents’ interpersonal problems and self-concepts, and considering influential factors such as behavioural problems, depression, perceptions of parental rearing styles, type of relationships and sex. All of the studies examined participants from the four-year longitudinal research project in Umeå, which was designed to investigate the psychic health and social context of adolescents with psychological and antisocial problems (Armelius & Hägglöf, 1998), except for the normal adolescents in study I, who took part in a project with purpose to determine norms for an intake interview that is used for adolescents in different settings in Sweden. Study I addressed the impact of type of relationship on adolescents interpersonal behaviour, and the results were discussed in terms of interpersonal theory and the complementarity principle. Study II investigated the association between self-concept and interpersonal problems in normal adolescents. Different interpersonal problems were systematically related to three self-concept patterns, and showed the importance of considering the combination of self-love and self-autonomy to understand interpersonal problems in adolescents. In study III the associations between self-concept, and interpersonal problems were investigated, also considering depression as a factor, in a group of adolescents with conduct problems. This study revealed sex differences: boys’ interpersonal problems mainly were associated with self-control, an imbalance between self control and autonomy, and depression, whereas girls’ interpersonal problems mainly were associated with low self-love and depression. Study IV examined the relationship between memories of perceived parenting styles and interpersonal problems. Also in this study, sex differences were shown. It was found that for boys the perceived parenting styles of the fathers had the strongest associations to interpersonal problems, and for girls the perceived parenting styles of the mothers had the strongest associations to interpersonal problems.