Adolescent support seeking as a path to adult functional independence

Abstract

The potential importance of depending on others during adolescence to establish independence in young adulthood was examined across adolescence to emerging adulthood. Participants included 184 teens (46% male; 42% non-White), their mothers, best friends, and romantic partners, assessed at ages 13-14, 18, 21-22, and 25. Path analyses showed that associations were both partner and age specific: markers of independence were predicted by participants' efforts to seek support from mothers at age 13, best friends at 18, and romantic partners at 21. More important, analyses controlled for support seeking from these partners at other ages, as well as for other potentially confounding variables including attachment security, scholastic/job competence, and physical attractiveness over time. Moreover, analyses suggested the transfer of support seeking behavior from mothers to best friends to romantic partners over time based on support given by the previous partner at an earlier age. (PsycINFO Database Record

Figure 1

Overall path model of associations between support-seeking and support-giving behavior during different developmental periods and markers of adult functional independence in young adulthood. The model includes attachment, scholastic/job competence, and physical attractiveness at each time period, as well as calls for support to best friends at age 13, mothers and romantic partners at age 18, and best friends at age 21 (not pictured).