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. 2015 May;35(4):511-537.
doi: 10.1177/0272431614537116. Epub 2014 Jun 9.

Adolescent-Peer Relationships, Separation and Detachment from Parents, and Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviors: Linkages and Interactions

Justin Jager  1 , Cynthia X Yuen  2 , Diane L Putnick  3 , Charlene Hendricks  3 , Marc H Bornstein  3
Affiliations

Adolescent-Peer Relationships, Separation and Detachment from Parents, and Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviors: Linkages and Interactions

Justin Jager et al. J Early Adolesc. 2015 May.

Abstract

Most research exploring the interplay between context and adolescent separation and detachment has focused on the family; in contrast, this investigation directs its attention outside of the family to peers. Utilizing a latent variable approach for modeling interactions and incorporating reports of behavioral adjustment from 14-year-old adolescents (N = 190) and their mothers, we examine how separation and detachment relate to adolescent peer relationships, and whether peer relationships moderate how separation and detachment relate to adolescent internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Positive peer relationships were both associated with lower detachment and sharply attenuated relations between detachment and higher adolescent internalizing and externalizing. Separation from parents was unrelated to peer relationships, and regardless of whether peer relationships were positive, separation was not related to adolescent internalizing and externalizing. We integrate these findings with those from family-focused investigations and discuss their substantive and clinical implications.

Keywords: detachment; externalizing; internalizing; latent variable interactions; separation.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Confirmatory factor analysis of separation and detachment. All estimates are standardized. All factor loadings are significant at the .01 level or higher. Model fit: χ2(10) = 15.95, p = .10, CFI = .97, RMSEA = .06. * p < .05, ** p < .01.
Figure 2
Figure 2
First-order structural model and full structural model. Latent variable interactions depicted as grey circles. SxP = separation by peer relationships interaction; DxP = detachment by peer relationships interaction The black portion of the figure represents the first-order structural model. The black and gray portions of the figure combined represent the full structural model. All effects are standardized. All factor loadings significant at the .01 level or higher. Model fit of main effects structural model: χ2(89) = 125.91, p = .006, CFI = .96, RMSEA = .05. Model fit of full structural model relative to main effects structural model: 2ΔLL(4) = 10.89, p = .028. * p < .05, ** p < .01.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Peer Relationships by Detachment interaction plots. Low/high Detachment and low/high Peer Relationships = 1 SD below/above the mean.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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