Article Summary Table - Racial Identity

example-Summary_autonomy.pdf

Home >Psychology homework help >Article Summary Table - Racial Identity

BRIEF REPORTS

Autonomy and Relatedness With Parents and Romantic Development in African American Adolescents

Judith G. Smetana and Denise C. Gettman University of Rochester

The influence of adolescents’ autonomy and relatedness to parents on romantic relationships was examined longitudinally over 5 years in 76 middle-class African American late adolescents (mean age � 18.43 years). Relatedness to parents in early adolescence led to longer duration and more supportive romantic relationships in late adolescence, but longer duration was concurrently associated with more negative romantic relationships. Cluster analyses yielded 3 profiles of early adolescent autonomy and relatedness; early adolescents who were high in relatedness and low in autonomy to parents in early adolescence reported longer duration romantic relationships in late adolescence than did adolescents who were moderate or high in relatedness and high in autonomy. The implications for romantic development in African American middle-class youth are discussed.

Keywords: romantic development, African American youth, adolescent–parent relationships, autonomy development, close relationships

There has been a great deal of recent interest in romantic relationships during adolescence (Bouchey & Furman, 2003; Col- lins, 2003). Much of the research has focused on normative changes and individual differences in romantic experience. Al- though there also has been a great deal of interest in the develop- mental antecedents of romantic relationships in earlier parent– child relationships, there has been relatively little longitudinal research examining the influence of earlier parent– child relation- ships on later romantic relationships (Bouchey & Furman, 2003) and virtually no research (either concurrent or longitudinal) ad- dressing these issues in minority families. Rather, most of the research on African American adolescents’ romantic experience has focused on the timing of sexual intercourse, the incidence of teenage pregnancy, and the incidence and consequences of early childbearing. Furthermore, although the African American middle class has expanded considerably in size over the past 2 decades (Billingsley, 1992), there has been little research on normative processes of development and positive adaptation for middle-class youth of color (Garcı́a Coll et al., 1996). We examined the influ- ence of parent– child relationships on late adolescents’ romantic relationships using a middle-class African American sample.

Although it is commonly assumed that early parent– child rela- tionships influence later romantic experience, different mecha-

nisms have been proposed to account for these links. From an attachment theory perspective, representations of attachment to caregivers formed early in life are hypothesized to influence sub- sequent close relationships through expectancies about closeness and intimacy (Collins & Sroufe, 1999; Furman & Wehner, 1997). However, attachment representations of friendships have been found to fully mediate the relationship between adolescents’ work- ing models of their relationships with parents and their views of romantic relationships (Furman, Simon, Shaffer, & Bouchey, 2002). Another view is that adolescents imitate the patterns of communication and conflict resolution observed in their parents’ marital or romantic relationships (Gray & Steinberg, 1999). Others have suggested that parental socialization influences the develop- ment of romantic relationships either directly or indirectly through its effect on social competence. For instance, from a transactional perspective, Collins and Sroufe (1999) have proposed that a his- tory of parental responsiveness and autonomy support leads to increased self-esteem and self-worth, which then leads to more positive romantic relationships. Consistent with this proposition, early adolescents’ strivings for autonomy and relatedness have been hypothesized to be associated with the emergence and quality of romantic relationships (Connolly & Goldberg, 1999) because having successful romantic relationships entails maintaining an appropriate balance between expressing individuality and devel- oping closeness and intimacy with a partner.

Although autonomy and relatedness may vary across cultural and ethnic groups (Phinney, Kim-Jo, Osorio, & Vilhjalmsdottir, 2005), both have been shown to be important for African Ameri- cans. For instance, African American culture strongly emphasizes family obligations, frequent interaction with relatives, extended kin networks, and attachment and loyalty to parents and commu- nity (Cauce et al., 1996; Harrison, Wilson, Pine, Chan, & Buriel, 1990). At the same time, African American child rearing stresses

Judith G. Smetana and Denise C. Gettman, Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology, University of Rochester.

We are grateful to the William T. Grant Foundation for its support of this project and to the many families who participated in this research.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Judith G. Smetana, Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology, University of Rochester, Meliora Hall, RC 270266, Rochester, NY 14627. E-mail: [email protected]

1347

independence and self-reliance (Cauce et al., 1996), although among middle-class African American early adolescents, too much autonomy has been associated with greater deviance and malad- justment (Lamborn, Dornbusch, & Steinberg, 1996; Smetana, Campione-Barr, & Daddis, 2004). Furthermore, among African American youths, independence is strongly sex differentiated. Af- rican American adolescent boys are permitted more freedom, have fewer rules, and have a later curfew than do African American girls (Bulcroft, Carmody, & Bulcroft, 1996), whereas African American girls are monitored more than are African American boys (Smetana, Crean, & Daddis, 2002).

Thus, the previous research suggests that high relatedness but low to moderate autonomy in early adolescence may be optimal for middle-class African American adolescents’ future adjustment. In the present study, we examined the independent effects of autonomy and relatedness to parents in early adolescence on African American middle-class late adolescents’ romantic rela- tionships, including the timing of onset of romantic activity, the supportive and negative quality of romantic relationships, and the duration of adolescents’ current romantic relationships. As a great deal of previous research has shown that early onset of dating is associated with greater deviance (see Bouchey & Furman, 2003; Collins, 2003 for reviews), we hypothesized that less autonomy and more relatedness in early adolescence would lead to later starting of romantic relationships and better quality romantic re- lationships, including more supportive and less negative romantic relationships in late adolescence.

In contrast, the observational research on autonomy and relat- edness has assumed that high levels of both autonomy and relat- edness are associated with better adjustment (e.g., Allen, Hauser, Bell, & O’Connor, 1994). To further examine these issues, we also adopted a person-centered approach to capture the organization and patterning of autonomy and relatedness in early adolescence. Cluster analysis provides a holistic and phenomenological ap- proach to classifying individuals that yields meaningful patterns regarding the combination of variables. We identified different profiles of African American adolescents’ autonomy and related- ness in early adolescence and then examined whether these clus- ters differentiated romantic relationships in late adolescence. The previous research on autonomy and relatedness in middle class African American youth (Lamborn et al., 1996; Smetana et al., 2004) led us to hypothesize that 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 5 years later than would other youth.

Method

Participants and Sample

The sample consisted of 76 African American late adolescents (mean age � 18.43 years, SD � 1.39), 38 young men and 38 young women, who were participants in the third (and final) wave of a 5-year longitudinal study of African American middle-class families with adolescents. (De- scriptions of the original sample, attrition analyses, and detailed sample demographic characteristics are described in Smetana, Metzger, & Campione-Barr, 2004.) Briefly, most parents had some college education, 55% of the families earned more than $70,000/year, and 51% were two- parent biological families who were stably married over the 5 years of the

study. At Wave 3, adolescents were still in high school (11th or 12th grade, 33%), in transition to college (24%), attending college (36%), or working or serving in the armed forces (10%); 99% reported being single, unmar- ried, and not cohabitating.

Procedures

Families were initially recruited through African American churches, professional and social organizations, and word of mouth (see Smetana & Gaines, 1999). At Wave 1, autonomy and relatedness were assessed during a home visit (or, in a few cases, a visit to the university) conducted by African American interviewers. At Wave 3, which occurred 5 years after the initial wave, questionnaires were distributed and returned by mail.

Measures

Autonomy. On the basis of Dornbusch et al. (1985), we had adolescents rate family decision making on a 5-point scale for each of 12 items ranging from whether parents decide each issue without discussing it (coded as 5), make the decision together (coded as 3), or leave it entirely up to the adolescent (coded as 1). Responses were reverse scored so that higher scores indicated more adolescent autonomy in decision making. On the basis of Smetana, Campione-Barr, et al. (2004), the full 5-point scale was used in analyses. Alpha was .77.

Relatedness. Adolescents completed the Trust and Communication subscales (18 items) of the Parent–Peer Attachment Inventory (Armsden & Greenberg, 1987) separately for mothers and fathers. This scale assesses adolescents’ closeness and attachment to parents; responses were scored on 5-point Likert scales. Alphas were above .84 for all ratings. Furthermore, the trust and communication subscales were very highly correlated for adolescents’ ratings of both mothers, r(76) � .81, and fathers, r(54) � .80, and, thus, mean ratings of trust and communication were combined to obtain separate measures of adolescents’ perceptions of attachment to mothers and fathers.

Romantic History Survey (RHS; Buhrmester, 2001). At Wave 3, ado- lescents completed the RHS, which retrospectively assesses patterns of romantic experience. The RHS includes 32 items assessing increasingly more advanced forms of involvement. We used the 16-item Romantic Activity subscale (which includes being romantically interested in some- one, having a crush on someone, or telling someone you love them) and added 3 items (holding hands and kissing, making out, and going past kissing) from the Sexuality subscale. One item was never endorsed and was dropped, resulting in an 18-item Romantic Activity scale (� � .83). For each item, respondents indicated all of the grades in which they were involved in the activity. There were five response choices: 6th grade or before (coded as 5), 7th and 8th grade (coded as 4), 9th and 10th grade (coded as 3), 11th and 12th grade (coded as 2), and after 12th grade (coded as 1). If no response choices were checked, responses were coded as 0. Timing of onset was indicated by the youngest grade in which the item was experienced (Buhrmester, 2001); thus, high scores indicated earlier age of onset.

Network of Relationships Inventory (Furman & Buhrmester, 1985, 1992. At Wave 3, adolescents rated the quality of their relationships with their romantic partners on the Network of Relationships Inventory. The Network of Relationships Inventory assesses positive social support and negative interactions on a 5-point Likert scale. Adolescents rated perceptions of social support from their current (or most recent) romantic partner on 15 items assessing companionship, instrumental aid, intimacy, nurturance, and affection (� � .95), as well as perceptions of negative interactions on six items assessing conflict and antagonism (� � .91). We also assessed length (in months) and nature (casual, steady, or engaged) of the current romantic relationship.

1348 BRIEF REPORTS

Results and Discussion

On average, individual item responses on the RHS indicated that adolescents in the present sample reported dating at least once by 9th or 10th grade (M � 2.96, SD � 1.33), dating the same person on a regular basis by 11th or 12th grade (M � 2.16, SD � 1.41), and being in an exclusive relationship in 12th grade or beyond (M � 1.88, SD � 1.39). These descriptive data suggest that middle-class African American adolescents in the present sample began dating in middle adolescence and followed a temporal sequence of greater romantic involvement with age, as has been reported among European American youth (Buhrmester, 2001; Feiring, 1999).

Adolescents currently in a romantic relationship (n � 63, 83%) reported that the average length of that relationship was 10.32 months. One third (32%) of the sample reported dating for 4 months or less, and 45% reported dating the same partner for more than four months. Adolescents’ perceptions of supportive and negative romantic interactions (Ms � 3.14, 1.87, SDs � 0.78, 0.72, respectively) were not significantly associated, r(63) � .10, ns, indicating that these are two separate dimensions of romantic relationships. Unexpectedly, however, longer duration relation- ships were significantly associated with more negative romantic interactions, r(63) � .48, p � .001, and earlier onset of romantic activity, r(63) � .36 p � .05.

We used hierarchical regressions to examine the longitudinal influence of autonomy and relatedness in earlier parent–adolescent relationships on romantic experience. All variables were centered prior to analyses to reduce problems with multicollinearity. In the first step of the analyses, adolescents’ age, gender, and parents’ marital status (stably married vs. all else) were controlled. Marital status was moderately associated with adjusted yearly family in- come, r(76) � .29, p � .01, thus providing some control for income as well. Wave 1 autonomy and relatedness were entered in the second step. Results are in Table 1. Interactions between Wave 1 autonomy and both age and sex were examined but were not significant in any of the analyses. Thus, they are not discussed further.

African American boys reported that they initiated their roman- tic involvement at younger ages than did girls. This finding is in accord with those of others who have reported that African Amer- ican boys are granted greater freedom than girls (Bulcroft et al., 1996) and hence more opportunity to initiate romantic activity (although it should be noted that the Adolescent Sex � Autonomy Interaction was not significant in our analysis). Consistent with a great deal of research on risk factors associated with early dating (Bouchey & Furman, 2003; Collins, 2003), adolescents growing up in stably married, two-parent biological families also reported later onset of romantic activity. When controlling for background variables, we found that neither autonomy nor relatedness signif- icantly influenced the timing of onset of romantic experience.

Contrary to previous research with European American samples (Feiring, 1999), African American girls in the present study did not report more supportive romantic relationships than did boys. Pre- vious research, however, has shown that Latina and Asian girls (but not African American girls) report more general friendship support than do boys (Way & Chen, 2000). The present findings suggest that these findings also apply to African American ado- lescents’ romantic relationships. A significant association in the T

ab le

1 R

eg re

ss io

n s

o f

A d o le

sc en

ts ’

W a ve

1 A

u to

n o m

y a n d

R el

a te

d n es

s W

it h

P a re

n ts

o n

W a ve

3 R

o m

a n ti

c R

el a ti

o n sh

ip s

S te

ps an

d va

ri ab

le s

M S D

E ar

li er

on se

t S

up po

rt iv

e in

te ra

ct io

ns N

eg at

iv e

in te

ra ct

io ns

L on

ge r

du ra

ti on

� F

R 2

d f

r �

� F

R 2

d f

r �

� F

R 2

d f

r �

� F

R 2

d f

r �

S te

p 1

5. 30

** .1

8 2,

73 0.

11 .0

1 2,

60 �

0. 97

.0 5

2, 60

4. 62

** .1

9 2,

60 A

do le

sc en

t ag

e (y

ea rs

) 18

.4 2

1. 39

.0 2

� .0

4 �

.0 5

.1 1

.1 4

� .0

2 .2

6* .2

7* S

ex (f

em al

e) 0.

50 0.

50 �

.2 5*

� .3

0* *

� .0

1 �

.0 3

� .0

1 .0

9 .1

9† S

ta bl

y m

ar ri

ed 0.

51 0.

50 �

.3 1*

* �

.3 3*

* �

.0 4

� .0

7 �

.1 9

� .1

9 �

.3 3*

* �

.3 0*

S te

p 2-

w av

e 1

0. 95

.2 0

2, 71

2. 63

† .0

9 2,

58 0.

01 .0

5 2,

58 2.

01 .2

4 2,

58 T

1 au

to no

m y

2. 55

0. 55

� .0

8 �

.0 4

� .1

8 .1

6 .0

5 �

.0 1

.1 9

� .0

9 T

1 re

la te

dn es

s 3.

87 0.

70 �

.1 0

� .1

4 .2

5* .2

3* �

.0 2

� .0

1 .1

1 .2

N ot

e. S

ex sc

or ed

as 0

� m

al e,

1 �

fe m

al e.

S ta

bl y

m ar

ri ed

� st

ab ly

m ar

ri ed

, tw

o pa

re nt

bi ol

og ic

al fa

m il

ie s;

T 1

� T

im e

1; n

� 76

fo r

ea rl

ie r

on se

t; n

� 63

fo r

ot he

r an

al ys

es .

B et

as re

fl ec

t th

e fi

na l

m od

el s.

† p

� .1

0. *

p �

.0 5.

** p

� .0

1349BRIEF REPORTS

bivariate analyses, and with family background characteristics controlled, a trend ( p � .07) in the regression analysis indicated that earlier relatedness to parents influenced the quality of later romantic relationships. Adolescents who experienced closer rela- tionships with parents reported more supportive relationships with their romantic partners. That these findings only neared signifi- cance in the regression analysis may be due to the small sample size and the careful controls for demographic background. Never- theless, these findings are consistent with the hypothesis that earlier parent– child relationships influence later romantic relation- ships, although the results do not shed light on the specific mech- anisms (for instance, attachment relationships) that may account for continuity across relationships.

Not surprisingly, adolescents who were older at Wave 3 had longer duration romantic relationships, but greater relatedness to parents in early adolescence also was associated with longer du- ration romantic relationships 5 years later. These results were surprising, given that longer duration relationships were concur- rently associated in late adolescence with more negative romantic interactions and earlier onset of romantic activity and were pre- dicted by living in a single- or stepparent family or in a family experiencing marital transitions (all of which have been associated with poorer adjustment, e.g., Collins, 2003; Hetherington, 1999). Adolescents who experience close relationships with parents in early adolescence may be more likely to remain in romantic relationships, even more negative ones, as they individuate from parents in late adolescence. It is also possible that early adolescents in single-parent, stepparent, or more maritally unstable families report closer but more enmeshed relationships, leading to longer but less healthy romantic relationships in late adolescence. Further research with African American youth is needed to examine this possibility as well as to determine the ages at which longer duration relationships become adaptive for development.

To identify profiles of autonomy and relatedness in our sample, we adopted Davies, Cummings, and Winter’s (2004) two-step analytic strategy for cluster analyses. First, we specified the num- ber of clusters by using a hierarchical agglomerative cluster anal- ysis, which is particularly useful for identifying the number of clusters in a data set. Ward’s method with squared euclidean distance was used to maximize within-group heterogeneity. The results of the cluster analyses indicated that a three-cluster solution fit the data best. Next, we conducted a nonhierarchical cluster analysis using the k-means method, which maximizes the between- clusters variance in relation to within-cluster variance and thus allows a more precise classification of individuals into clusters. We specified a three-cluster solution.

The results are depicted in Figure 1. The profiles differed significantly from each other on scores on both autonomy and relatedness. Previous research has assumed that greater autonomy and relatedness (Allen et al., 1994) or maintaining a balance between them is optimal for adjustment, regardless of adolescents’ age (or ethnicity). The first cluster (24% of the sample, n � 8 boys and 10 girls) consisted of African American early adolescents who were moderately high on both autonomy and relatedness. Other research (Lamborn et al., 1996; Smetana et al., 2004) suggests that greater connectedness but less autonomy might be more charac- teristic and more adaptive for African American early adolescents. There were two different clusters demonstrating this pattern. The second cluster (29%, n � 12 boys and 10 girls) consisted of

adolescents who were high in relatedness but low in family decision-making autonomy. Adolescents in the third cluster, char- acterizing 51% of the sample (n � 18 boys and 18 girls), also were high in relatedness but more moderate in autonomy. The propor- tion of boys and girls in each cluster did not differ significantly.

Next, we used separate 2 (Sex) � 3 (Cluster) analyses of variance to examine whether adolescents who fit these different profiles of autonomy and relatedness in early adolescence differed in their romantic relationships in late adolescence. Cluster mem- bership had a significant effect on the duration of romantic rela- tionships, F(2, 59) � 4.20, p � .05, partial �2 � .13. Post hoc analyses indicated that adolescents in Cluster 2, who were very low in autonomy but high in relatedness at Wave 1, had longer duration romantic relationships in late adolescence (M � 16.11, SD � 2.33) than did adolescents who were either moderate in autonomy and high in relatedness or moderate in both (Ms � 9.77, 6.36, SDs � 1.88, 2.62, respectively). As longer duration relation- ships were associated with more negative interactions, the results suggest that moderate (rather than low) levels of autonomy in early adolescence may be more adaptive for late adolescent romantic relationships.

Several limitations of the current study should be noted. First, these analyses focused on adolescent reports. However, a great deal of previous research has suggested that adolescents’ percep- tions of their relationships with parents are more strongly associ- ated with adjustment than are parents’ views (Furman & Buhr- mester, 1992). Although the present study was longitudinal, adolescents’ reports of the timing of onset of their romantic activ- ity consisted of retrospective accounts. Future research should obtain longitudinal data from different informants on the emer- gence of dating in larger samples of African American adolescents, including heterosexual as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans- gender African American adolescents. Future research also should examine adolescents’ measures of romantic relationship quality across multiple romantic relationships to increase the reliability of

1.5

2.5

3.5

4.5

Cluster 1 Cluster 2 Cluster 3

R a

ti n

g s

Autonomy Relatedness

Figure 1. Cluster profile: Cluster 1 � early adolescents moderately high on both autonomy and relatedness; Cluster 2 � early adolescents high in relatedness but low in family decision-making autonomy; Cluster 3 � early adolescents high in relatedness but more moderate in autonomy.

1350 BRIEF REPORTS

the ratings as well as include both partners of the romantic rela- tionship to determine whether views of the relationship differ.

Nevertheless, the results of the present study suggest that earlier relatedness to parents influences the positive quality of later ro- mantic relationships and that both relatedness and its patterning with autonomy influence the duration of later romantic relation- ships in African American youths. Future research should further examine the normative trajectory of romantic relationships in ethnic minority youths and their influence on mate selection, marriage, and adjustment in adulthood.

References

Allen, J., Hauser, S. T., Bell, K., & O’Connor, T. (1994). Longitudinal assessment of autonomy and relatedness in adolescent–family interac- tions as predictors of adolescent ego development and self-esteem. Child Development, 65, 179 –194.

Armsden, G. C., & Greenberg, M. T. (1987). The Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment: Individual differences and their relationship to psy- chological well-being in adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adoles- cence, 16, 427– 454.

Billingsley, A. (1992). Climbing Jacob’s ladder: The enduring legacy of African American families. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Bouchey, H. A., & Furman, W. (2003). Dating and romantic experience during adolescence. In G. R. Adams & M. Berzonsky (Eds.), Blackwell handbook of adolescence (pp. 313–329). Oxford, England: Blackwell.

Buhrmester, D. (2001, May). Romantic development: Does the age at which romantic involvement starts matter? Poster presented at the an- nual meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Min- neapolis, MN.

Bulcroft, R. A., Carmody, D. C., & Bulcroft, K. A. (1996). Patterns of independence giving to adolescents: Variations by race, age, and gender of child. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 58, 866 – 883.

Cauce, A. M., Hiraga, Y., Graves, D., Gonzales, N., Ryan-Finn, K., & Grove, K. (1996). African American mothers and their adolescent daughters: Intimacy, autonomy, and conflict. In B. J. Leadbeater & N. Way (Eds.), Urban girls: Resisting stereotypes, creating identities (pp. 100 –116). New York: New York University Press.

Collins, W. A. (2003). More than myth: The developmental significance of romantic relationships during adolescence. Journal of Research on Ad- olescence, 13, 1–24.

Collins, W. A., & Sroufe, L. A. (1999). Capacity for intimate relationships: A developmental construction. In W. Furman, B. B. Brown, & C. Feiring (Eds.), Contemporary perspectives on adolescent relationships (pp. 125–147). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Connolly, J., & Goldberg, A. (1999). Romantic relationships in adoles- cence: The role of friends and peers in their emergence and develop- ment. In W. Furman, B. B. Brown, & C. Feiring (Eds.), Contemporary perspectives on adolescent relationships (pp. 266 –290). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Davies, P. T., Cummings, E. M., & Winter, M. A. (2004). Pathways between profiles of family functioning, child security in the interparental subsystem, and child psychological problems. Development and Psycho- pathology, 16, 525–550.

Dornbusch, S. M., Carlsmith, J. M., Bushwall, S. J., Ritter, P. L., Leider- man, H., Hastorf, A. H., & Gross, R. T. (1985). Single parents, extended households, and control of adolescents. Child Development, 56, 326 – 341.

Feiring, C. (1999). Gender identity and the development of romantic relationships in adolescence. In W. Furman, B. B. Brown, & C. Feiring (Eds.), Contemporary perspectives on adolescent relationships (pp. 211–232). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Furman, W., & Buhrmester, D. (1985). Children’s perceptions of the personal relationships in their social networks. Developmental Psychol- ogy, 21, 1016 –1024.

Furman, W., & Buhrmester, D. (1992). Age and sex in perceptions of networks of personal relationships. Child Development, 63, 103–115.

Furman, W., Simon, V. A., Shaffer, L, & Bouchey, H. A. (2002). Adoles- cents’ working models and styles for relationships with parents, friends, and romantic partners. Child Development, 73, 241–255.

Furman, W., & Wehner, E. A. (1997). Adolescent romantic relationships: A developmental perspective. In S. Shulman & W. A. Collins (Eds.), Romantic relationships in adolescence: Developmental perspectives (pp. 21–36). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Garcı́a Coll, C. G., Lamberty, G., Jenkins, R., McAdoo, H. P., Crnic, K., Wasik, B. H., & Garcia, H. V. (1996). An integrative model for the study of developmental competencies in minority children. Child Develop- ment, 67, 1891–1914.

Gray, R. B., & Steinberg, L. (1999). Adolescent romance and the parent– child relationship: A contextual perspective. In W. Furman, B. B. Brown, & C. Feiring (Eds.), Contemporary perspectives on adolescent relationships (pp. 235–265). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Harrison, A. O., Wilson, M. N., Pine, C. J., Chan, S. Q., & Buriel, R. (1990). Family ecologies of ethnic minority children. Child Develop- ment, 61, 347–362.

Hetherington, E. M. (1999). Social capital and the development of youth from nondivorced, divorced, and remarried families. In W. A. Collins & B. Laursen (Eds.), Relationships as developmental contexts (Vol. 30, pp. 177–209). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Lamborn, S. D., Dornbusch, S. M., & Steinberg, L. (1996). Ethnicity and community context as moderators of the relations between family deci- sion making and adolescent adjustment. Child Development, 67, 283– 301.

Phinney, J. S., Kim-Jo, T., Osorio, S., & Vilhjalmsdottir, P. (2005). Autonomy–relatedness in adolescent–parent disagreements: Ethnic and developmental factors. Journal of Adolescent Research, 20, 8 –39.

Smetana, J. G., Campione-Barr, N., & Daddis, C. (2004). Developmental and longitudinal antecedents of family decision-making: Defining healthy behavioral autonomy for African American adolescents. Child Development, 75, 1418 –1434.

Smetana, J. G., Crean, H. F., & Daddis, C. (2002). Family processes and problem behaviors in middle-class African American adolescents. Jour- nal of Research on Adolescence, 12, 275–304.

Smetana, J. G., & Gaines, C. (1999). Adolescent–parent conflict in middle class African American families. Child Development, 70, 1447–1463.

Smetana, J. G., Metzger, A., & Campione-Barr, N. (2004). African Amer- ican late adolescents’ relationships with parents: Developmental transi- tions and longitudinal patterns. Child Development, 75, 932–947.

Way, N., & Chen, L. (2000). Close and general friendships among African American, Latino, and Asian American adolescents. Journal of Adoles- cent Research, 15, 274 –301.

Received October 8, 2004 Revision received June 26, 2006

Accepted July 17, 2006 �

1351BRIEF REPORTS