ABSTRACT

This longitudinal study is aimed at investigating whether friend support and conflicts with friends in adolescence have direct and/or moderation effects on some developmental tasks: a) personal tasks like the acquisition of autonomy in the organization of leisure time; b) social-institutional tasks, in terms of school success; c) relational tasks, in terms of constructing relationships with the other gender (dating). The sample consisted of 622 adolescents of both genders, aged 14 to 20 years, attending different types of high-schools in the northwest of Italy. The findings showed that there was a direct positive effect of support by friends on all the abovementioned developmental tasks. Conflict with friends is negatively related to school success and positively related to dating only in the youngest group. Furthermore, support by friends is able to moderate the effect of conflict with peers, helping adolescents to face their developmental tasks.

KEYWORDS: friendship, peer relationships, developmental task, adolescence.

PAGES: 183-203