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Smetana, J. G., & Gettman, D. C. (2006). Autonomy and relatedness with parents and romantic development in African American adolescents. Developmental Psychology, 42(6), 1347-1351. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.42.6.1347
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1. Less autonomy and more relatedness in early adolescence would lead to later starting of romantic relationships and better quality romantic relationships, including more supportive and less negative romantic relationships during late adolescence.
2. Early adolescents with high levels of relatedness to parents and low to moderate levels of autonomy in family decision making would report later starting of romantic careers and more positive romantic relationships five years later than would other youth.
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The study sample involved seventy-six middle-class adolescents (half female, half male) of the African American race of the final wave of the study. These adolescents were in various phases of their lives with some in their junior or senior year of high school, some in the process of enrolling in college, some already enrolled in college, some employed, and some in the military. It is important to note that nearly one hundred percent of these adolescents described themselves as being single. With the middle-class parents who were included, majority of them had some college instruction, over half grossed over seventy thousand dollars a year, and about half were in steady marriages for longer than the time the study was conducted.
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This research was a qualitative method because it gave a thorough understanding of the research topic; it used the population’s point of view; and it focused on the opinions and behaviors of the population.
There were three waves. For the first wave, an interview was given. Wave three involved questionnaires five years after the first wave. No information was specified about wave two.
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Data collected focused on autonomy and relatedness on different levels. Measures that were used during research included interviews and questionnaires/surveys. The type of data that was collected within the interview was the evaluation of autonomy and relatedness. There were numerous questionnaires/surveys given to the subjects.
Those that were used included a scale for family decision making for the autonomy aspect of research, the Trust and Communication subscales of the Parent-Peer Attachment Inventory, the Romantic History Survey, and the Network of Relationships Inventory.
The scale that was used for family decision making assessed just that. The Trust and Communication subscales of the Parent-Peer Attachment Inventory measured closeness and connection to parents. The Romantic History Survey determined romantic involvement. The Network of Relationships Inventory calculated positive social support and undesirable interactions.
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The authors Smetana and Gettman (2006) clarified their results in a cluster profile. The first cluster had similarly high levels of autonomy and relatedness. Clusters two and three had high levels of relatedness, but the second cluster had minimal levels of autonomy and the third cluster had a moderate amount of autonomy. They found that those in cluster two had longer romantic relationship periods than those in cluster one and three. Negative interactions were linked directly to those romantic relationships that have an extended course. Using the information from their results, it was concluded that moderate levels of autonomy during early adolescence can aid in the transition into romantic relationships during late adolescence.
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Because the subjects were younger when they were in wave one; they may not have fully understood what an item had meant on a survey/questionnaire or during an interview. Also, during the interview, the subject may have said something that the interviewer may have interpreted in a different way then what the subject had actually meant. Another factor that could have affected the research is that these individuals had to recollect these experiences. A question that I have about the study’s quality is: did those who gave the interviews explain certain items when the subject did not understand? The previously asked question also leads me to another one: If the questionnaires/surveys were supplied to the subjects and had to be returned by mail, was anyone able to assist those individuals who may have had questions about the items or did not fully understand the items or the scale that was used to score the responses?
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