Why Is Intimacy An

Adolescent Issue?
 Intimacy: not necessarily have a
sexual or physical component
 True intimacy: characterized by
openness, honesty, self-disclosure, and
trust Insert DAL photo
 Intimacy becomes an important
concern because of changes
including puberty, cognitive changes,
and social changes
 Not until adolescence do truly
intimate relationships first emerge

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 Theoretical Perspectives
on Adolescent Intimacy
Sullivan’s Theory of Interpersonal
Development
 Emphasized the social, rather than the
biological aspects of growth, and that
psychological development can be best
understood in interpersonal terms
 Theory focuses on transformations in
relationships over the lifespan

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 Theoretical Perspectives
on Adolescent Intimacy
 Sullivan’s Developmental Progression
 Infancy: need for contact and for tenderness
 Early childhood: need for adult participation
 Middle childhood: need for peers and peer acceptance
 Preadolescence: need for intimacy
 Early adolescence: need for sexual contact and
intimacy with opposite-sex peer
 Late adolescence: need for integration into adult
society

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 Theoretical Perspectives
on Adolescent Intimacy
 Erikson’s View of Intimacy
 Crisis of Identity vs. Identity Diffusion is prominent
during adolescence
 Crisis of Intimacy vs. Isolation is prominent during early
adulthood
 In a truly intimate relationship, two individuals’
identities fuse, YET neither person’s identity is lost
 Adolescents must establish a sense of identity
before intimacy, or else they will experience
pseudo(false)intimacy in their relationships
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 Theoretical Perspectives
on Adolescent Intimacy
 Erikson and Sullivan: Conflicting Views?
 Sullivan: the development of intimacy leads to the
development of a coherent sense of self in late
adolescence
 Erikson: one must have a clear sense of who one
is in order to avoid becoming lost in a relationship
with someone else
 Contemporary research shows that these are
complementary, not competing tasks during
adolescent development
5

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 Attachment in Adolescence
 Attachment is defined as a strong and
enduring emotional bond (usually formed
first in infancy)
 Three types of attachment based on
security
 Secure – characterized by trust
 Anxious-avoidant – characterized by
indifference
 Anxious-resistant – characterized by
ambivalence
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 Attachment in Adolescence
 An “internal working model”
of relationships develops
during childhood
 Do we feel trusting or
apprehensive in relationships
with others?
 Do we see ourselves as
worthy of others’ affection?
 Working models provide a set
of expectations we draw from
when forming close (intimate)
relationships
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 How Does Intimacy
Develop in Adolescence?
 Changes in the Nature of
Friendship
 Companionship appears
before adolescence
 Intimacy emerges later
 Early adolescence
 Self-disclosure and trust
emerge as dimensions of
friendship

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 How Does Intimacy
Develop in Adolescence?
 Changes in the Nature of
Friendship
 Conflicts that adolescents
have with friends
 Older adolescents typically
have conflicts over private
matters
 Younger adolescents typically
have conflicts over public
disrespect

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 How Does Intimacy
Develop in Adolescence?
 Changes in the Display of Intimacy
 Adolescents become more
knowledgeable about their friends
 Adolescents become more
responsive to close friends and less
controlling
 Friends become more interpersonally
sensitive and show more empathy
 Friends resolve conflicts more
frequently by negotiation or
disengagement, not coercion

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 How Does Intimacy
Develop in Adolescence?
 Sex Differences in
Intimacy
 Girls’ relationships are more
intimate than boys’ across
many different indicators
 Girls disclose more to their
friends
 Girls are more sensitive and
empathic to friends
 Girls are more concerned with
trust and loyalty
 Sex differences in intimacy
differ across ethnic groups 11

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 How Does Intimacy
Develop in Adolescence?
 Changes in the “targets” of
intimacy
 Sullivan hypothesized that
 intimacy with peers replaced
intimacy with parents
 Intimacy with peers of the
opposite sex replaced
intimacy with same-sex friends
 However, research shows
that new targets of
intimacy are added to old
ones
12

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 How Does Intimacy
Develop in Adolescence?
 Changes in the “targets” of
intimacy
 Teens experience different types
of intimate relationships with
parents and peers
 Parent-adolescent relationships
 Imbalance of power, teens receive
advice
 Adolescent peer relationships
 Mutual, balanced, equal exchanges

13

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 Dating and Romantic
Relationships in Adolescence
 High school dating no longer
functions as mate selection,
now recreational
 Romantic relationships are
very common, in the past 18
months
 25% of 12-year-olds reported
having one
 50% of 15-year-olds reported
having one
 70% of 18-year-olds reported
having one
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 Dating and Romantic
Relationships in Adolescence
 Dating and the Development
of Intimacy
 Dating can mean a variety of
things
 Group activities involving boys
and girls
 Casual dating in couples
 Serious involvement in a steady
relationship
 Transitions into and out of
romantic relationships can be
difficult for adolescents
 Breakups are the leading
cause of depression
15

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 Dating and Romantic
Relationships in Adolescence
 Four Phases of Adolescent Romance
Infatuation – discover an interest in socializing with
prospective romantic partners (focus on learning about
oneself)
 Status – focus on establishing, improving, or maintaining
peer group status
 Intimate – focus on beginning to establish true and
meaningful attachments to romantic partners (become
involved in the emotional side of romance)
 Bonding – focus on commitment (not necessarily
marriage) and caring more than passion and pleasure
 These stages may not apply to sexual-minority youth
because they are less likely to have a public relationship
16

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 Dating and Romantic
Relationships in Adolescence
 Impact of Dating
 Serious dating before age 15 has a
stunting effect on psychosocial
development
 Adolescent girls who do not date at
all show
 retarded social development
 excessive dependency on parents
 feelings of insecurity

17

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 Intimacy and Adolescent
Psychosocial Development
 During adolescence, friends
 serve as sounding boards for future plans
 provide advice on a range of identity-related matters
 contribute to adolescents’ self-esteem
 Individuals with satisfying close friendships do better
than those without them, in adolescence and in
adulthood
 Psychologically healthy adolescents are better able to
make and maintain close relationships with others

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