The psycho-educational value of friendship amongst adolescents
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Authors
Burton, Colleen Marcelle
Issue Date
2011-12
Type
Dissertation
Language
en
Keywords
Friendship , Adolescent , Psychological factors , Social skills , Loneliness , Attachment styles , Parental relationship styles , Alternatives to friendship , Friendship difficulties , Psychological functioning
Alternative Title
Abstract
The focus of this dissertation revolved around the phenomenon of friendship, specifically amongst
adolescents. Friendship is a universal phenomenon, that occurs in every race, culture and religion.
Within friendship there are some universal aspects that were investigated. The research attempted to
understand the phenomenon of friendship amongst the developmental phase of the adolescent.
Furthermore, the effect of friendship on the adolescent’s general psychological functioning had been
investigated.
The research came to the conclusion that friendship does have a positive influence on an adolescent’s
general psychological functioning but that some psychological factors, such as communication skills,
social skills and self confidence need to be developed to a certain extent in order for friendship to have
a positive influence on the adolescent’s psychological functioning. If these psychological factors are
however not in place, friendship may to a certain extent highlight an adolescent’s weaknesses and
reinforce his/her social inadequacy, inferiority, lack of self confidence and negative self talk.
Description
Citation
Burton, Colleen Marcelle (2011) The psycho-educational value of friendship amongst adolescents, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/7065>