Personal Relationships with Parents and Peers in Adolescence

The current chapter focuses on the development of adolescents’ relationships with parents, friends, and romantic partners, and their role in youth’s psychosocial adjustment. The chapter describes how relationships with parents in adolescence go through a period of transition toward a more egalitarian and reciprocal relationship, with temporary decreases in connectedness and increases in conflict in the process. Adolescents’ relationships with friends become more supportive and acquire a more optimal balance between intimacy and respect for each other’s individual needs over the course of adolescence. Positive experiences of adolescents in relationships with parents and friends predict healthy romantic functioning and satisfaction later in adolescence and emerging adulthood. Romantic involvement and relationship quality typically progresses towards increased attachment and intimacy functions in late adolescence and young adulthood. Satisfactory romantic relationships and a healthy sexual development tend to go hand-in-hand. High-quality relationships with parents, friends, and romantic partners are typically associated with positive socioemotional outcomes.