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Exploring the Role of Family and Peers in Adolescent Self-Representation: Toward a Dialectical Perspective

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Abstract

This study is a qualitative investigation of the role of family and peer groups in the development of a stable identity in adolescence. A content analysis of the autobiographical accounts of five female and two male participants resulted in the identification of five recurring processes that reflect a dynamic and complex interrelationship between family and peer contexts in the formation of self-representation. The five identified processes were (a) subjective experience/idealized image discrepancy, (b) duplicating and mutually reinforcing evaluations of the self, (c) resolution of discrepancy and acceptable losses, (d) complementarity of gains and losses, and (e) protective mechanisms.

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Routledge, R.B., Mani, P.S., Pence, A.R. et al. Exploring the Role of Family and Peers in Adolescent Self-Representation: Toward a Dialectical Perspective. Child & Youth Care Forum 30, 35–54 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016611503367

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