Parent Child Connectedness

Parents send their children to schools in the hopes of having them acquire hard skills such as knowledge about the world, logic, and comprehension. However, at present, the focus of parents, along with other concerned institutions such as the school and the workforce, have extended to also consider the "soft skills" of the individual. These are the abilities to evaluate, communicate, and adapt effectively to the social environment collectively known as social competence (West, 1996).One manifestation of social competence, particularly in adolescents, is being accepted within the peer group, or acquiring a desired peer group status (East, 1991).

Perhaps no other stage in human development puts emphasis on peer status as much as in adolescence, as peer groups become the center of the adolescents' concerns and activities (Barrocas, n. d. ). A major task of the adolescent is to be well-adjusted and skillful at meeting the norms within their peer groups (Santrock, 2001).

For parents, the challenge may also increase as their children grow from childhood to adolescence.Unlike infants and young children, adolescents are exposed to physical and emotional changes in themselves, as well as social situations outside their homes that may challenge their bond with parents (Bean, Lezin, Rolleri, ; Taylor, 2004). The unique bond, the sense of security or the attachment between the parent and the child, appeals to families and the researchers alike as it has implications on family life, adolescent interactions and potential development or adaptation of interventions in psychology.This quality of mutual bond between the parent and the child can be summed as parent-child connectedness or PCC (Bean, Lezin, Rolleri, ; Taylor, 2004). It is in this study that links of group status and parent-child relationships are discussed. Of particular interest is the parent-child connection in early adolescence, a period of emotional, physical, and social changes in the child, and its relations to the adolescent's status in the peer group.

Background of the StudyAs early as 1969, the idea that a child's first attachment greatly impacts the shaping of many areas in development was introduced by Bowlby (Bean, Lezin, Rolleri, ; Taylor, 2004). The introduction of the attachment theory made way for several studies to pursue and examine parent-child relationships throughout the lifespan. The theory of attachment is at the root of the current concept of parent-child connectedness, in which there is a mutual attachment or bond between the parent and the child.It is in the adolescence stage that patterns of attachment are found to shift greatly from parents to peers (Barrocas, 2008).

The peer group gradually becomes the focus of the adolescent's social world in his or her search for autonomy (Nickerson & Nagle, 2005, cited in Barrocas, n. d. ). In effect, adolescents may become more concerned about being accepted in their respective peer groups.

Popularity among adolescents, more than any peer status, represents acceptance within a peer group as popular adolescents are frequently nominated as a best friend and are rarely disliked by their peers (East, 1991).Other group statuses distinguished in a study conducted by East (1991) include amiable or acceptable, isolated or neglected, rejected, and controversial. Although the shift of focus from parents to peers is evident in adolescence, parents are still present in the daily lives of the adolescent. Rooting back to the theory of attachment, it is possible that the connection between the parent and the child may even be predictive of the child's social functioning within his or her peer group. Thus, it is the interest of this study to find the relations of parent-child connectedness to the adolescent's peer group status.

Review of Related LiteratureIn the field of social psychology much has been said on the existence of and changes that occur in human relationships. Even in the primitive years of human development, children develop fundamental relationships with members of their family and, as they get older, with their peers (Burgess, Dawyer, Kim, & Rubin, 2004).Recent research looks into human relationships and how experiences within and outside the family influence psychosocial functioning (Burgess, Dawyer, Kim, & Rubin, 2004). This study is specifically interested in whether adolescents' connectedness with their parents is associated with the adolescent's status in the peer group. Due to the instability generally associated with adolescence, this stage seems like a suitable point to examine parent-child relationships (Garcia, 2003).

As a period of major transitions, adolescence may be a particularly critical period for bonding relations (Barrocas, n. . ).Ten to twelve-year-old children, specifically, often experience rapid physical changes, as well as emotional changes (Greenspan,1993). As such, early adolescence (11 to 13 years old) has been an interest to Western researchers in adolescent development.

Dela Cruz, Liwag, and Pena-Alampay (2003) pointed out the reason for this interest, "It is at this momentous crossroads that puberty commences, formal thinking crystallizes, and peer relationships become more important in expanding the world of the high schooler" (p. 0).However, limited studies in the Philippines explore early adolescence mainly because of the notion that members of this age group are considered as "children" rather than teenagers or a part of the adolescent group (Dela Cruz, Liwag, & Pena-Alampay, 2003). Among the various changes in the adolescent, the transformation that marks this stage of development is a psychological change that mandates the adolescent to turn away from childhood, a stage marked by the domination of parents (Fox, 1991).It is in the adolescence stage that a strong need to be with peers and become independent is shown (Santrock, 2001). At home, early adolescence is crucial as the child considers creating a distance between him or her and the parents (Greenspan, 1993).

Furthermore, children at this stage often feel entangled between longing for parental closeness and growing up to be young adults (Greenspan, 1993).In a study on patterns of attachment in adolescents, Barrocas (n. d. , using the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) questionnaire, found that adolescents rated attachment to peers, especially on the communication dimension, higher than attachment to parents. This suggests that, indeed, there is a rise in the importance of peers in adolescents. For parents today, the challenge of rearing competent children may increase as changes in the society occur both locally and internationally.

In the Philippines, modern social modifications such as migration, single-parent households, and other changes in the traditional Filipino family are prevalent as observed in the volume of research onducted on adolescent adjustment within the context of family relationships (Dela Cruz, Liwag, & Pena-Alampay, 2003). There is also a change in the way adolescents interact with their parents. They are generally less automatically obedient, and more fearless and outspoken in comparison to earlier generations (Wolf, 1991). Saarni (2007) adds that the dangers of the stage are that, during this period of changes, the child may either overly depend on the parents or become more risk-taking and rebellious to deny their dependency.

It is also alarming to observe social dilemmas that involve the Filipino youth, such as school drop-out, drug addiction, sexual risk-taking, and delinquency, as mentioned in recent surveys, youth profiles and situationers published by the government, and research institutions (Dela Cruz, Liwag, & Pena-Alampay, 2003). Adolescents are greatly concerned about being accepted by their peers (Atwater, 1996). How much adolescents are accepted by the group (e. g.

, popular or rejected) determines their peer group status.Sociometric techniques that include peer nominations, peer ratings, peer rankings, and popularity ratings, provide a quick view of interactions (West, 1996). In a study on measurements of social competence, the most valid predictor for evaluating socio-emotional development of children older than eight years old is said to be sociometric peer nominations, wherein each person nominates a number of peer members (usually three) whom they like (positive nomination) and the same number of peer members whom they do not like (negative nomination).Reliable sociometric nominations can be acquired when the peer group has been together for at least eight months (Howes, 1988).

Furthermore, Peery (1979) presented social impact and social preference as two important dimensions of social status in peers in a study on group status. Social impact is measured by the total of both negative and positive nominations while social preference is obtained by deducting the number of negative nominations from the positive nominations.Five types of peer status distinguished in adolescence are the following: popular (high impact, highly preferred), amiable or acceptable (low impact, but preferred), isolated (low impact, non-preferred), rejected (high impact, highly non-preferred), and controversial (high impact, and both highly preferred and highly non-preferred) (East, 1991). Skills that are positively correlated with popularity, such as the ability to begin and respond to riendly relationships, value peers, and display appropriate affection, friendliness, sociability, leadership capabilities, moderately high self-esteem, intellectual ability, and academic performance, are considered important for social competence (Guralnick, 1986; Hartup, 1983).

Other than the skills already mentioned, youths that are popular may generally possess qualities such as physical attractiveness, extroversion, cooperativeness, and leadership skills, as well as having good sense of humor and being fun to be with (Atwater, 1996).In contrast, negative behaviors such as withdrawal and aggression negatively correlate to acceptance in the peer group (West, 1996). Popular youth are also more likely than unpopular ones to communicate clearly, attract peer attention, and maintain conversation with peers (Kennedy, 1991). According to East's (1991) study, the amiable or acceptable adolescents are those who are nominated and preferred by members of the peer group, but not as much as their popular counterparts.

This group accounts for most of the adolescent population (Atwater, 1996). The isolated or neglected are youths who tend to be shy and withdrawn, they are infrequently nominated as a best friend but are not disliked by the group. Rejected adolescents are those who are low in both social impact and social preference (East, 1991). Lastly, the controversial adolescents are those who are high in both negative and positive peer nominations.The family, being the first socialization experience of children, is the most influential to their social competence (Cohn, Patterson, ; Christopolous, 1991).

Although the social focus of adolescents turn to their peers, Barrocas (n. d. ) pointed out that parents are still present in their children's life. It was mentioned earlier that Barrocas (n. d.

) found that patterns of attachment change as relationships with parents are altered and those with peers advances.Studies on attachment, or bonds between parents and children, are the roots of PCC (Bean, Lezzi, Rolleri, & Taylor, 2004). However, unlike the unilateral nature of attachment, PCC is mutual as it focuses on the interaction of parents and children as a part of a dynamic relationship and not as individuals (Kuczynski, 2003). Connectedness consists of two dimensions: mutuality or sensitivity to and respect for the other's views and permeability or the openness to the other's views.