Individuation of female adolescents: Relations with adolescents' perceptions of maternal behavior and with adolescent-mother discrepancies in perceptions

The study examined how individuality and connectedness of female adolescents relate to their perceptions of maternal behavior and to adolescent-mother discrepancies in perceptions of maternal behavior. Seventy 16.5-year-old daughters and their mothers participated in the study. Individuality and connectedness of the daughters were assessed from observed daughter-mother interactions. The perceptions of daughters and mothers regarding maternal behavior were assessed using a video recall procedure. Daughters' negative perceptions of maternal behavior were associated with higher individuality. Daughter-mother discrepancies in perceptions of maternal behavior were related to lower connectedness of the daughters. Finally, daughters who showed high individuality at the expense of connectedness had more discrepancies in perceptions with their mothers compared to daughters that balanced between moderate-to-high individuality and connectedness. These findings underscore the importance of assessing daughters and mothers' perceptions of their interactions at the individual as well as the dyadic levels for understanding daughters' behavior during communication with their mothers. (C) 2011 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.