Abstract
Previous research examining adolescent girls'conversations suggests that interruptions may serve dominance and/or affiliative functions. More recent research has offered the alternative interpretation that interruptions in adolescent girls' conversations reflect conversational style similarities or differences. This study extends previous research by exploring these hypotheses regarding the meaning of interruptions by analyzing multiple speech functions for interruptions and simultaneous speech. Fifty-six adolescent girls participated in discussions either with their mothers or with same-gender friends. Successful interruptions and instances of simultaneous speech were coded as confirming, disconfirmning, or rejecting. The results indicated that girls used significantly more confirming interruptions and rejecting simultaneous speech than did their mothers, but the functions of girls' interruptions and simultaneous speech were the same with both mothers andfriends. The results are interpreted to suggest that the apparent increase in interruptions often reported in parent-adolescent interactions may resultfrom a change in the style of interaction during adolescence.
Published Version
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