SOCIAL SUPPORT IN ADOLESCENCE

The social support of 141 Bernese scholars is showed. The adapted questionnaire allows the discrimination of the social network and its functional aspects (The Mannheim Interview on Social Support, MISS-MISU). The representative scores can be seen as reference data for further investigation of social support of adolescents. The main results refer to significant differences between boys and girls and the type of school (primary and secondary school). Girls rely more on relationsships than boys do. They use to see their support as more comprehensive and their friends as more important. Pupils of the secondary school report greater networks and get more support. Nevertheless, the factors of sex and schooltype do explain only a minor grade of the received social support. Overall family members are more supportiv in crisis, peers more in day-to-day matters. Family and peers are therefore not competitive but complementary systems.