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Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 1Iol. 15, No. 4, 1986

The Relative Importance of Parents and Friends in Adolescent Decision Making Jeffrey Wilks m

Received December 17, 1985; accepted June 19, 1986

In this study 175 older adolescents (83 males, 92 females) nominated their parents, particularly their mothers, then friends o f the same sex, as people most important in their lives. While parents were rated as more important than friends overall, problems were more frequently discussed with close friends. Using a matched sampling design, the adolescents" own mothers, fathers, and a close f r i e n d o f the same sex also responded to a scale where parents" or friends" opinions might be sought as part o f adolescent decision making. A s predicted, parents were perceived as most important in certain "future-oriented" areas, whereas f o r "'current" decisions, friends" opinions were more valued. Several areas o f possible parent-peer conflict were also identified.

INTRODUCTION In their decision making, adolescents draw on the experience and advice o f different reference groups and significant others. Of particular interest to researchers and educators has been the relative influence of parents and peers during adolescent development. While differences of opinion and disagreements about various issues are to be expected between adults and young people, the stereotype of fundamental conflict between these groups has not been SUlSported by recent studies (Coleman, 1980). Instead, as Biddie and his colleagues suggest, parents and peers may influence adolescent

*Doctoral candidate, Department of Psychology,University of Queensland, St. Lucia, 4067, Australia. Current interest is the role of social and cultural factors in the development and maintenance of adolescent drinking and other drug use.

323 0047-2891/86/0800-0323505.00/0 9 1986 Plenum Publishing Corporation

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behavior in different ways, depending on the relationships a young person has with each and the particular topic area investigated (Biddle et al., 1980). One popular research methodology used to investigate the relative influence of these two reference groups has been to create hypothetical situations or dilemmas involving choices between conflicting parent-peer expectations (Brittain, 1963, 1967; Emmerich, 1978; Larson, 1972; Solomon, 1961). From these studies a number of important observations have been made. First, the type of situation or dilemma in which an adolescent is placed will be an important determinant of whether peers or parents are chosen as a frame of reference. Second, adolescents' perceptions of peers and parents as competent guides in different areas of judgment tend to influence their choices. For example, Brittain (1963) found that adolescent girls saw their peers as more competent guides in current situational dilemmas (e.g., which dress to buy), whereas for future-oriented situations (e.g., which part-time job to take) parents were seen as more competent. Third, the more difficult choices, and those perceived important in the eyes of both peers and parents, tend to elicit parent-conforming responses. Several studies have shown that in difficult and important areas such as those involving vocational and educational decisions (Eme et al., 1979) where parents may be perceived as having some "expert knowledge," high-school students have been found to choose their parents' advice and opinions rather than those of their friends (Sebald and White, 1980). On the other hand, in current situations where decisions about dating, dress, social events and hobbies were to be made, the opinions of friends were perceived as more important (Sebald and White, 1980). Age and sex (Emmerich, 1978; Floyd and South, 1972), and cultural background (Valiant, 1983) have also been shown to influence adolescent choices between parent and peer reference groups. While studies employing hypothetical situations have generated a number of interesting findings, Larson (1972) has concluded that they "provide limited insight into the structure of parent and peer orientations during adolescence" (p. 73). In attempting to understand the complex set of social influences acting upon young people, researchers have more recently extended their investigations to focus on other reference groups such as siblings (Cicirelli, 1980), extended family members, and nonrelated adults (Blyth et al., 1982); as well as measuring the strength and quality of the relationships adolescents have with each and their willingness to approach referent others in particular situations (Valiant, 1983). In addition, since describing both parents together may mask the more important relationship one parent has with a son or daughter, many researchers are now asking questions about mothers and fathers separately. The same rationale applies for peers. Licclone (1980) argues that a distinction should be made between peers in general

Importance of Parents and Friends

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and particular friends. The latter group has been found to exert a stronger, more pervasive influence on adolescent drinking than any other group of significant others. One way to avoid many of the shortcomings of previous studies is not to assume the importance of specific groups a priori, but rather to allow respondents to nominate those others who are important to them (Blyth et al., 1982; Keats et al., 1983; Musgrove, 1967). Across cultures, Keats and his colleagues found that parents were nominated first as most important referent others, followed by friends, adults, and siblings, in that order. These results were based on the responses of adolescents aged 12, 15, and 18 years, but age effects were not discussed. One might hypothesize that for older adolescents who are leaving the family home and developing their own independent life-styles, and particularly for those studying toward higher qualifications, friends of the same age would become a very important reference group. An earlier study of American college students by Denzin (1966) showed that friends were, in fact, mentioned more often than parents as significant others, both for role-specific (evaluation as a student) and orientational (evaluation as a person) situations. In contrast, Musgrove (1967) has reported that among students entering an English technological university, parents were mentioned more often than other family members or friends as people who were important in the students' lives, whose opinions they valued, and whom they did not wish to disappoint in their academic careers. One aim of the present study, therefore, was to clarify the relative importance o f parents and friends for a sample of Australian adolescents beginning their tertiary studies. In contrast to past research where information about the normative standards and behaviors of their significant others was usually obtained from adolescent respondents (e.g., Biddle et al., 1980), the present study also gained the opinions of fathers, mothers, and friends directly. This matched-sampling technique offers a unique perspective for, as Jessop (1981) notes, "examining dyadic agreement within the family is a way of checking the extent and ramifications of the problem o f individuals' differential perception and reporting" (p. 95). By questioning students, both parents, and a close friend of the same sex about situations where the advice and opinions of either parents or friends would be sought, it becomes possible to test for real cross-pressures and to assess the relative importance of each group for adolescents' current and future-oriented decisions. Also of importance was the identification of particular areas where the groups would generally agree that a young person should seek the advice of either parents or friends. For advice about vocational and educational decisions, parents were expected to be particularly important. The last point

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also has policy implications, for this university allocates considerable resources each year to encourage parents to visit the campus and to become more informed about their children's studies. METHOD Subjects One hundred and seventy-five students enrolled in introductory psychology courses at the University of Queensland participated in this study. Prior to signing up to participate, they were told that the research focused on family and friends, and that both parents and a close friend of the same sex would be requested to complete a short confidential questionnaire. The final sample consisted of 175 fathers, 175 mothers, 83 sons, 83 male friends, 92 daughters, and 92 of their female friends. The fathers' mean age was 50.5 years and most were employed in professional or managerial positions (67~ Over half the mothers were involved with full-time home duties (53o7o), while a further 26o7o held professional or managerial positions outside the home. Mothers were, on average, 47.3 years of age. Sons and their male friends were similar in age (means of 19.1 and 19.3 years, respectively), as were daughters (x-= 17.9 years) and their female friends (x-= 18.0 years). Most male (80o7o) and female (77o7o) friends were also students, though in a variety of courses and institutes throughout the State of Queensland. A number of female friends (13 ~ were also working full-time in white-collar positions. Instruments and Procedures As part of a larger project examining sociocultural influences on the development of young Australians' drinking behavior and attitudes (Wilks, 1985a,b; Wilks and Callan, 1984a,b) students completed a battery of questionnaires that included measures of drinking behavior, attitudes toward drugs and drug users, and perceptions of the importance of parents and friends across a number of situations. Students completed the measures at the university and were given course credit for their participation. Each parent and friend received a separate sealed questionnaire and an introductory letter explaining the aims of the study and requesting their participation. Where the student did not expect to see their parents or close friend in the following two weeks, the material was mailed. Postage-paid, self-addressed envelopes were provided for the return of all questionnaires. Since strict confidentiality was considered essential in this project, the respondents were asked not to attach names to the schedules. Questionnaires were matched using unique identification codes. In addition, the introductory letters requested that


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subjects not discuss the questions until each person had completed his or her questionnaire. Several measures were employed to investigate the relative importance of parents and friends to this sample of older teenagers. First, students were asked an open-ended question: "To some degree all of us are concerned about people's opinions. Whose opinions are important to you personally?" Students could list as many people as they wished. Coding categories were developed for this measure of "saliency." Students were also requested to rank, in order of importance, those people whose opinions were most important to them personally. The ranking was from 1 (most important) to 4 (fourth most important); this provided a measure of "perceived importance" for significant others. Also included in the schedule were questions about how often adolescents talked about problems with their parents and friends (1, never; 4, always), and the number of close friends they have. Parents, their sons and daughters, and friends responded to a scale that consisted of 18 situations where parents' or friends' opinions might be sought as part of adolescent decision making. Sebald and White (1980) have previously administered this scale to American high-school students, and reported acceptable levels of validity and reliability for the measure. For sons and daughters, the scale was introduced by the question: "If you had to decide between friends' and parents' opinions and feelings in the following situations, whose opinion would you consider more important?" For parents the question was written as: "If a young adult (like your son or daughter) had to decide between friends' and parents' opinions and feelings . . . . " T h e wording for friends was: "If a young adult had to decide . . . . " Thus each person was asked for his or her own opinion and responded on a 5-point scale where 1, definitely friends; 2, probably friends; 3, uncertain; 4, probably parents; 5, definitely parents. Subjects were requested to choose between the two groups, but to use the uncertain category if neither group would be influential in a particular situation. Finally, where the original items from Sebald and White (1980) referred to "school," these were changed to "university." Similarly, the original question 1 0 - " W h e t h e r you go to college or not," was rewritten as, "Whether to stay at university or not."

RESULTS

Nomination of Important Referent Others In response to the open-ended measure about important referent others, the 175 students in this study mentioned 1,773 people whose opinions were important to them personally. Male ( ~ = 10.3, SD = 4.6) and female (510.0, SD = 4.7) students were similar in the mean number of nominations

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Wilks Table I. Nominations of Important Referent Others: Percentage of Respondents by Sex Referent other

Males (N = 83)

Females (N = 92)

All respondents '(N = 175)

Mother Female friends ~ Father Male friends ~ Sister(s) Brother(s) Boyfriend or girlfriend Grandmother Aunt Grandfather Uncle

95 82 90 98 42 46 30 18 16 16 12

93 97 86 70 54 46 34 26 24 12 14

94 90 88 83 49 46 32 22 20 14 13

*Friends of the same age.

t h e y m a d e (t = 0.4, 173 df, n.s.). A s c a n be seen in T a b l e I, the p a r t i c u l a r referent o t h e r s c h o s e n were a g a i n fairly s i m i l a r for b o t h sexes. Overall, m o t h e r s were n o m i n a t e d as the most i m p o r t a n t referent other. In c o m p a r i s o n , fathers were m e n t i o n e d less o f t e n , especially b y their d a u g h t e r s . A n o t h e r interesting, b u t n o t u n e x p e c t e d finding, was the m o r e f r e q u e n t n o m i n a t i o n o f s a m e - s e x friends a m o n g these y o u n g m e n a n d w o m e n . T a k e n as a g r o u p , friends were m e n t i o n e d b y m o r e s t u d e n t s (98o7o) t h a n were p a r e n t s (95o70), siblings (75~ o r the s u n d r y g r o u p called " a d u l t s " (63o/0). H o w e v e r , it is a p p a r e n t t h a t the use o f such b r o a d c a t e g o r i e s o f referent others m a y m a s k i m p o r t a n t r e l a t i o n s h i p s . F o r e x a m p l e , within the a d u l t c a t e g o r y p a r t i c u l a r e x t e n d e d f a m i l y m e m b e r s such as g r a n d p a r e n t s , a n d a u n t s a n d uncles, are c o n s i d e r e d i m p o r t a n t b y m o r e y o u n g p e o p l e t h a n are teachers, clergy, inlaws, cousins, o r w o r k m a t e s .

Perceived Importance A second w a y o f investigating the relative i m p o r t a n c e o f referent others for this g r o u p o f a d o l e s c e n t s is by e x a m i n i n g the o r d e r in which t h e y are r a n k e d . T a b l e II presents these results. A g a i n , the i m p o r t a n c e o f p a r e n t s a n d Table II. Average Rank for Perceived Importance of Referent Others Referent other Parents Friends Siblings Adults

Males (N = 83)

Females (N = 92)

All respondents (N = 175)

1.6 2.1 2.8 3.5

1.5 2.2 2.9 3.5

1.5 2.1 2.8 3.5


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Table III. Frequency of Talking About Problems with Parents and Closest Friend: Percentage of Respondents by Sex Males (N = 83) Frequency

Females (N = 92)

All respondents (N = 175)

Parents

Friend

Parents

Friend

Parents

Friend

Never Sometimes Usually Always

13 63 22 2

4 53 34 10

9 41 36 14

0 29 40 30

11 51 29 9

2 41 37 21

Mean rating

2.1 (0.7)

2.5 (0.7)

2.6 (0.8)

3.0 (0.8)

2.4 (0.8)

2.8 (0.8)

(SD)

friends is highlighted, with male and female respondents very similar in their nominations. Of the 141 cases where these three groups were rank-ordered together, mothers (~= 1.7) and fathers ( ~ = 1.9) were fairly similar and received higher ratings than friends (x-= 2.4). There were few sex differences for this student group in their perceptions of important others in their lives. Males (x-= 7.3, SD = 4.0) and females ( ~ = 6.2, SD = 3.7) did not differ significantly in the number of close friends they reported having (t = 1.8, 173 df, n.s.); however, as Table III shows, differences were apparent in how often they talked about problems with their parents and closest friend. Female students, compared to males, reported talking more frequently about problems with their parents (t = 3.7, 173 df, p < .001) and their friend (t = 4.6, 173 df, p < .001). However, both males (t = 3.4, 164 df, p < .001) and females (t = 3.8, 182 df, p < .001) indicated that they talked more often with their friend about problems than they did with their parents. Thus, parents' opinions were generally considered more important to this group of young people (as measured by their nominations and rank-ordering of importance), but when problems arise they were more frequently discussed with the closest friend. This would suggest that adolescents might seek parents' and friends' advice and opinions in quite separate areas, and furthermore, that strong cross-pressures may be exerted as both groups expect to be consulted as part of any decision making.

Relative Importance of Parents and Friends To identify those areas of decision making where parents' or friends' opinions and feelings would be most important, a multiple discriminant analysis (Cooley and Lohnes, 1971) was conducted on ratings made by all

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