FRIENDSHIP CHARACTERISTICS OF ADOLESCENTS REFERRED FOR PSYCHIATRIC-TREATMENT

This study was carried out with 256 adolescents: 56 subjects referred to adolescent psychiatric outpatient clinics and a control group of 209 adolescents from two public high schools in Montreal. Subjects were divided into two age groups: 12- through 14-year-olds and 15- through 17-year-olds. A questionnaire examining the various characteristics of the friendship network and the affective nature of friendships was given to all subjects. The basic hypotheses that guided the present study are confirmed for the older referred subjects. We notice that in comparison to the control group in high school, the group of referred adolescents between the ages of 15 and 17 years possesses a more restricted friendship network. Their relationships are poorer in terms of attachment with close friends and are marked more often by conflictual experiences. The severity of diagnosis is comparable between age groups but the older adolescents have an older psychiatric history. A hypothesis of deterioration of friendship relations was proposed for the referred subjects. The results obtained support a model that suggests that problems in friendship relations and the deterioration of these relations in the course of adolescence constitutes, among other symptoms, the expression of more fundamental psychological difficulties that have driven the referred adolescents to a psychiatric outpatient clinic.