Typology and psychological effects of adolescents' interpersonal relationships in Taiwan

Abstract

The present research explored Taiwanese adolescent students' interpersonal relationships and examined whether teachers' evaluations of these students' health and academic performances varied with the students' interpersonal relationship patterns. Data (n = 2310) were based on a panel study conducted by the Taiwan Youth Project in 2001 (eighth grade) and 2002 (ninth grade). Latent class models and hierarchical linear models were used to analyse the data. Adolescent students' interpersonal relationships were categorized as Multiple Contacts, Parents‐ and Peers‐Close, Peers‐Close, and Few Contacts. The research results showed that not only adolescents' self‐reports of self‐esteem and depressed mood but also teachers' evaluations of adolescents' health and academic performances varied with adolescents' interpersonal relationship patterns. An influence of teachers' character and work environment on their evaluations of students was found. Teachers who had more years of teaching and higher job satisfaction rated their students as having better health, and teachers who felt greater respect from their students reported that their students had better academic performance. The connection between adolescents' psychological well‐being and the roles of parents, peers and teachers is also discussed.

Effects of Family Context on Adolescents’ Psychological Problems: Moderated by Pubertal Timing, and Mediated by Self-Esteem and Interpersonal Relationships

“…Therefore, being compassionate to oneself and to others will increase one's ability to be self-soothing, to create inner warmth, eliminating interpersonal boundaries, and feeling connected to outsiders (Gilbert and Procter 2006). Generally, supportive peer relationships are likely to predict better psychological health (Jou 2009;Raboteg-Saric and Sakic 2014). To promote a healthy life trajectory, adolescents should be equipped with appropriate selfrelating and interpersonal skills to cope with social and developmental challenges.…”

“…Moreover, factor analysis with principal axis factoring suggested that one item (Your family likes to do things together; factor loading=0.245) of the family context should be deleted, and that all the retained items were unidimensional (eigenvalue=4.108; factor loadings= 0.514-0.730). The construct of interpersonal relationships based on previous TYPderived research (Jou 2009) were used to describe an overall profile of ties with parents, teachers, and peers. Self-esteem was assessed using the Rosenberg SelfEsteem Scale, which has been validated for measuring adolescent self-esteem in this local context (Rosenberg 1965;Jou 2009).…”

“…The construct of interpersonal relationships based on previous TYPderived research (Jou 2009) were used to describe an overall profile of ties with parents, teachers, and peers. Self-esteem was assessed using the Rosenberg SelfEsteem Scale, which has been validated for measuring adolescent self-esteem in this local context (Rosenberg 1965;Jou 2009). Factor analysis with principal axis factoring suggested deleting one item (I do not have many things to be proud of; factor loading = 0.321) of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and dividing the retained 8 items into three dimensions: Problem solving: Items S1 to S3 (eigenvalue=3.101; factor loadings=0.623-0.793; α=0.772), Positive feelings: Items S4 to S6 (eigenvalue=1.784; factor loadings=0.566-0.760; α=0.737), and Negative feelings: Items S7 and S8 (eigenvalue=1.093; factor loadings=0.769-0.812; α= 0.815).…”

The Psychological Well-Being of Taiwanese Youth

“…Depression is further specified by different trajectories and factors accounting for its developmental patterns are shown to vary by different family dyadic relations (Jou, 2005;Wu and Li, 2001). In addition, family support, with its expected buffering effect, is found to intervene between stressors and the well-being of the youth (Jou and Hsieh, 2004).…”

The Psychological Well-being of East Asian Youth

“…It has been documented that patterns of interpersonal relationships (including ties with parents and siblings, ties with school teachers, and ties with peers and neighbors) of Taiwanese adolescents can be categorized as Multiple Contact (20%), Parents-and Peers-Close (30%), Peers-Close (16%), and Few Contacts (35%) (Jou 2009). In other words, half of adolescents reported being close to their parents.…”