Antecedents and outcomes of teen dominance: Links with popularity, relationship security, and romantic jealousy

• In Event: Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Topic - Social Relationships

Abstract

Adolescent friendships may mark the first model of an equal relationship developmentally. The horizonal nature of friendships may promote perspective taking and self-esteem, abilities that could have a long-term impact on the qualities of later relationships (Brown, 2004; Ruben et al, 2006). However, research is lacking about the potential importance of the degree to which close friendships in adolescence are actually equal. The current study aims to close gaps in this understanding by exploring predictors and outcomes of teen’s dominance during a conversation with a close friend. We explored the role of both being high impact (both liked and disliked by many peers) and reporting low relationship security on teen dominance, two metrics of social insecurity that could motivate conversational control. We also explored the impact of teen dominance on relationship satisfaction through relationship jealousy, a factor tied to low perspective taking and low self-esteem (Clanton & Smith, 1977; Constantine & Constantine, 1973). We hypothesized that A) high impact teens will display more conversational dominance B) teens who report less security in their friendships will display more dominance C) dominance will predict lower adult relationship satisfaction, and this association will be mediated by relationship jealousy.
As part of a larger study, 168 ethnically diverse individuals were assessed at ages 13 (T1), 16 (T2) between ages 20 and 22 (T3) and again between ages 23 and 25 (T4). At T1, students from the target teen’s school were asked to rate people in the school that they like and that they dislike, and the sum of nominations of being liked and disliked were used to generate an impact score. Participants also completed the IPPA (Cite). At T2, Participants engaged in conversations with a close friend about a shared disagreement during. These discussions were coded for the dominance on a continuum assessing the relative dominance of the target teen and their friend using the Autonomy and Relatedness (AR) Coding System (Allen et al., 2003). At T3, a subset of 94 participants completed the Multidimensional Jealousy Scale (Pfeiffer & Wong, 1989) to assess cognitive jealousy in their current romantic relationship. At T4, participants reported on their relationship satisfaction using the Relationship Assessment Scale (Hendrick, Dicke, & Hendrick, 1998).
To assess hypotheses, linear regressions and mediation models were run using Process (cite). Teen dominance was associated with impact (b = .17, p < .05), with reported relationship security(b = .20 , p < .01), and with jealousy (b = .26, p < .01). Finally, jealousy mediated the relationship between teen dominance and adult relationship satisfaction (95% CI[.04, .68]).
Results indicate that as predicted the two metrics of social insecurity both predicted higher levels of teen dominance. Further, teen dominance influences felt jealousy in romantic relationships, and subsequently impacts later relationship satisfaction. Friendship dominance is tied to important constructs and thus merits further exploration.

Authors

• Corey Pettit, University of Virginia - Charlottesville
  Presenting Author

• Meghan A Costello, University of Virginia - Charlottesville
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jessica Kansky, University of Virginia - Charlottesville
  Non-Presenting Author

• Joseph P Allen, University of Virginia - Charlottesville
  Non-Presenting Author