Family Climate and the Role of the Female Adolescent: Determinants of Adolescent Functioning

Abstract

Two groups of families were compared. In one group each family contained an adolescent girl who scored high on a number of psychological and social measures which reflect general maturity, including Loevinger's measure of ego development, a sociometric questionnaire and selected scales from California Psychological Inventory. The comparison group contained families with an adolescent girl who scored low on these same measures. Families were selected through local high schools, and were middle class, white, intact families with two or three children. Adolescents in the high scoring group came from families more likely to describe themselves as flexible and trusting in their interpersonal lifestyle. The high scoring adolescents were less likely to be triangled into the marital relationship-either as a scapegoat or in a cross-generational coalition with one parent.