Love Attitude, Friendship Dimensions as Correlates of Health and Adjustment

Abstract

The link between social relationships (parental, romantic, friendships, acquaintances) and one’s psychological well-being has been investigated deeply in the area of adult psychological adjustment. With respect to this, there has been an increasing emphasis on adolescents and their interpersonal relationships lately. Adolescence, a developmental phase characterized by broadening social networks and changing interpersonal requirements, is a domain of research in which theintricacies of interpersonal attachments is becoming common. It is important to better understand these interpersonal intricacies to contribute to the evolution of attachment theory. Two important aspects of interpersonal relationship during adolescent stage are love and friendship, which may affect overall psychological wellbeing. As adolescents make the transition into young adulthood; love and friendshipattitudes are especially important sources of support and even at times, act as a buffer from stress. The paper aimed to examine the love attitude and friendship dimensions of adolescents in relation to their health andadjustment. Datawas collectedfrom 300 school going adolescents, attending classes 11thand 12th;boys (n=150) and girls (n= 150) in the age group of 16-18 years from Rohtak district of Haryana, India. The results highlighted the significant role of love attitude and different dimensions of friendship in shaping the health & adjustment of school going adolescents.