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European Journal ofPsychology ofEducation /998, Vol. XIII, n° 4,503-5/3 © /998, I.S.P.A.
School achievement and adolescents' interactions with their fathers, mothers, and friends Peter Noack University ofJena, Germany
This article explores effects of parents' and friends' behaviour in verbal interactions with adolescents concerning adolescents' school achievement. The behaviour of adolescents' partners was observed in interactions elicited by a plan-something-together task at first measurement ofa two-year longitudinal investigation. Grades in school and perceived school success at measurement points 1, 2, and 3 were included to capture adolescents' academic achievement. Cross-sectional correlations (n=32) and longitudinal partial correlations (n=24-26) served to analyse contemporaneous associations and directed effects across a one- and two-year time interval. Findings confirmed systematic influences of parents' as well as friends' behaviours on the objective and subjective measures of school achievement. Patterns of effects, however, partly depending on the type ofpartner in interactions, The differential effects are discussed with reference to structural differences between adolescents 'family andfriendship relationships.
Parents and peers have been shown to influence the course of adolescent development. Parents' as well as friends' substance use, for example, seem to provide powerful models for adolescents' own behaviour (Kandel, 1986). Likewise, the quality of family and friendship relationships have been found to influence the way young people master their transition to adulthood. Several studies have revealed variations in adolescents' self-concept and ego-strength as a function of relationship quality in the family and in friendships (e.g., Blyth & Traeger, 1988; Camparo, 1992; Fend, 1990; Robinson, 1995; Walker & Green, 1986). With academic development, there is also ample evidence for parental influences on students' performance in school. Parental expectations, aspirations, support, and child-rearing practices have been found to effect subjective as well as objective indicators of teenagers' academic success (Helmke, Schrader, & Lehneis-Klepper, 1991; Melby & Conger, 1996; Pekrun, 1990; Steinberg, Mounts, Lamborn, & Dornbush, 1991). Findings on the role of peers are less clear. Whereas some studies have suggested that positive peer relations in school go The study was supported by the German Research Council. Correspondence should be addressed to Peter Noack, Institute of Psychology, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Am Steiger 3/1,0-07743 Jena, Germany.
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along with better school performance (Dish ion, 1990; East, Hess, & Lerner, 1987), other scholars have not found any peer influences above and beyond parental effects (e.g., Pekrun, 1990). Fuligni and Eccles (1992) even identified a negative impact of extreme levels of peer involvement on later school achievement. Results of a more recent study (Berndt & Keefe, 1995) which point to interactive effects of friends' behaviours and features of the friendship relationship, underscore the nece:isity of a differentiated approach. Findings concerning family and friendship effects on adolescent development are almost exclusively based on self-reports on close relationships, often elicited from the teenagers themselves. While subjective reports on features of close relationships show a considerable convergence with behavioural data, the pattern of associations is quite complex (Noack, 1993). There is a need to complement existing findings with observational data. Earlier observational studies of social interactions were mostly carried out in the family context and they focused on the impact of such interactions on self- concept and identity development (e.g., Grotevant & Cooper, 1985; Hauser, Powers, Noam, Jacobson, Weiss, & FolIansbee, 1984). Besides providing more objective data on close relationships, further observational studies may also help to identify the micro-mechanisms through which these relationships influence individual development. The major objective of this ~tudy is to investigate the impact of adolescents' relationships with their parents and friends on school achievement. In order to understand better the microprocesses in these relationships, the focus is on parents' and friends' behaviour in interactions with adolescents. Particular interest is paid to the comparison of both types of close relationships and possible differences in their respective influences. There is almost a complete lack of observational research on the impact of close relationships on teenagers' academic success. One exception is a study reported by Bronstein, Fitzgerald, Abrams, Lufkin, Canetto, & Hunt (1990) which investigated the influence of parenting style, as evidenced in family interactions, on early adolescents' school achievement. Parental hostile control, in particular, was found to be associated with children's poor achievement. However, only global measures of parental behavior were included in these analyses. Positive correlations between the quality of family and friendship relationships generally, point to a considerable degree of continuity between both contexts (Noack, 1992), i.e., adolescents who report on sound socio-emotional bonds in the family also seem to get along better with their friends than do their age-mates. Likewise, earlier studies have shown similar types of effects of the two micro:iystems on different aspects of adolescent adjustment. Given these findings, we do not expect compensatory or antagonistic influences to operate on adolescents' school achievement when both types of relationships are compared. It has been argued, however, that there are also fundamental differences. For example, a hierarchical, unidirectional power structure has been shown to be typical of the parent-child relationship as opposed to the reciprocity and equality found in friendships (Youniss & Smollar, 1985). Even though family relationships undergo a certain transformation towards more egalitarian patterns during adolescence, this process of "individuation" does not seems to have been accomplished by the time sons and daughters reach early adulthood. Consequently, the fact that a positive quality of relationships with parents and with friends fosters adolescents' adjustment, does not imply that this equality results from similar behavioural interactions with both types of partners. Given differences in reciprocity of family and friendship relationships, for example, oppositional and challenging behaviours may assume a different meaning in one context as opposed to the other. Krappmann (1991), postulates that - at least moderate degrees of conflict and arguments among age-mates may assist processes of co-construction and, thus, may be beneficial for individual development. Due to the unequal distribution of power and duties in families, criticism, chalIenge, and control attempts by mothers and fathers may have more detrimental effects. They may result in insecurity and lower levels of adolescent adjustment, including the mastery of academic demands. FolIowing a similar line of thought, praise and encouragement may have more positive effects when shown by parents as opposed to friends. The present study examines the impact of different patterns of parents' and friends'
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behaviours 011 adolescents' school achievement. Whereas the majority of earlier research has been cross-sectional in nature, the longitudinal data of the present study provide the opportunity to analyse the directions of possible effects. Dishion's (1990) work underscores the importance of this approach in that it points to bi-directional effects: while the quality of peer relationships did impact on teenagers' school performance, the adolescents' success in mastering academic demands also facilitated their relationships with age-mates.
Method Participants and procedure
The present study is part of a longitudinal investigation on adolescents' development and their close relationships with parents and best friends. The study includes three assessments at one-year intervals. The overall sample at first assessment consisted of about 40 adolescents as well as their parents and friends. An additional 20 adolescents and their parents and friends were included one year later, so that there was a total of 60 at second and third assessment. Data collections took place at adolescents' family homes. At each measurement, adolescents, their fathers, mothers and same-sex best friend individually completed extensive questionnaires and participated in family and friendship interactions. Sample. The participants in the present study were 32 (17 boys, 15 girls) early adolescents who were between ages 11.5 and 14.9 (M=13.0, SD=.89) at first measurement. Twenty six participants (14 boys, 12 girls) with complete data for TI and T2 assessments and 24 subjects (13 boys, 11 girls) with complete Tl/T3 data, respectively, were included in the longitudinal analyses. All target adolescents attended the highest track of the German school system (Gym nasium) as did most of their best friends. In view of the parents' educational and occupational backgrounds, the families can be described as middle to upper middle class. Measurements Behavioural interactions. Each adolescent was asked to participate in a family conversation with their fathers and mothers and in a peer conversation with their best friend. The interactions where elicited by a plan-something-together task (cf., Grotevant & Cooper, 1985). The mean duration of interactions was about 15 minutes. Both interactions were audio-recorded and literally transcribed. The transcripts were coded on a tum-by-turn basis employing an adapted version of Powers' (1982) Developmental Environments Coding System. The 24 basic codes (e.g., simple agreement, encouragement, counter-consideration) were devised to capture the functional meaning of an utterance in the course of a conversation. The basic codes were collapsed into eight aggregate categories. Inter-rater agreements based on independent catgorisations of about 10% of the utterances ranged between 81% and 91% (Kappa: .60-.65). For purposes of analysis, the absolute frequencies of behavioural codes were transformed into relative frequencies referring to the total number of utterances of each individual speaker in the course of a given interaction. Guided by the particular research questions pursued in this study, only behaviours of fathers, mothers and friends were considered. Four aggregate codes were included in the present analyses: Challenge and Conflict are seen as confrontational behaviours varying in the degree of emotional tone; Control captures dominance-assuming behaviour; Support summarises :Jartners' responses with a positive emotional quality. The four aggregate codes and subordinated basic codes are shown in Table 1.
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Table I Basic and aggr egat e codes emp loye d in analyses ofinteractions (cf. , Powers, 1982)
Aggregate code
Basic code
Challenge
Simple disagreement, criticism, competitive request, counter consideration, competitive opinion Hostility, threat, refusal, resistance, sarcasm, devaluation Request for change, intent for closure Encouragement, non-competitiv e humor
Conflict Control Support
School achievement. Two measures were employed to address adolescents' mastery of academic demands: Perceived school success, and grades in school. School Success was measured by a sum scale comprised of four items which target adolescents completed on four-point rating scales (e.g., "I think I'm a quite good student"; Schwarzer, 1986). The scale yielded good reliabilities at each assessment (Cronbach's alph as: TI =.83; T2= .85; T3=.83). Sch ool Grades which can be considered as an equivalent to GPA measures were also assessed by way of adolescents' self-reports. Grades in German and Mathematics from the last half-year school record , which were available for all participants at each assessment, were summed up for the purpose of the present analyses. Because school grades in Germany range from I to 6 with I being the best grade, the scale was recoded in order to have high numbers indicate better success in school, thus, parallelling the direction of scores for the subjecti ve reports.
Results Partners' behav iours and schoo l achievement
Prelimina ry analyses served to examine differences in the interactional behaviours of the adolescents' partners . MANGY As were conducted with the focused behaviors of adolescents ' partners in family and friend ship interactions as depend ent variables, gender as between-subject factor, and type of partner (mother, father, best friend) as within-subject factor. The findings point to several systematic differences. With Challenge, a marginal gender effect (F(I ,32)=3.61, p
