Family processes and the competence of adolescents and primary school children

Abstract

Associations were examined between 12 measures of family process and 6 measures of personal and social competence for 102 adolescents aged 15-16 and 99 children aged 8-9. Canonical correlations analysis revealed that general competence among primary school children was associated with high levels of support from parents, a high allocation of household responsibility, a high level of parental control, and a low level of parental punishment. Among adolescents, general competence was associated with a high level of support from parents, a low level of parental control, a high allocation of household responsibility, parental use of induction, a low level of parental punishment, high-quality sibling relationships, and high family cohesion. The findings suggest that as children enter adolescence, general competence becomes more closely bound up with the quality of sibling relations and the degree of parental control, and less closely bound up with support from parents.