The impact of perceived developmental norms on adolescents' development goals: The role of the personal valence of parents and peers

Adoleseents' developmental goals not only have to be seen in the light of their capabilities to reach their goals. In addition the developmental norms adolescents perceive from their environment (parents, peers) can be seen as guidelines for their future objectives. It is proposed that the interrelation between developmental norms and personal goals does exist in general but also is influenced by the importance adolescents grant their parents and friends. The more important parents or friends are the higher the correlation between their particular norms and the adolescents developmental goals should be. Empirical analyses of 1.195 adolescents' (aged 12 to 16) questionnaire data indicates that there is a general interrelation between developmental norms of parents and friends and the developmental goals of adolescents. Furthermore, results show that this link depends on the personal importance of parents and friends. The more important parents or peers are, the more adolescents direct personal developmental goals towards the norms of these two microsystems.