Relationships during adolescence: a cross‐national comparison of New Zealand and United States teenagers

The present study was designed to test Coleman's focal model of adolescent development in a further cross-national context. American adolescents, comparable in age, socio-economic status, sex, and urban residence to Coleman's original sample, were given the London Sentence Completion Test. Results were compared to those from a similar sample in New Zealand; few significant differences in sentence outcomes emerged. Support is provided for the focal model, which suggests that changes in interpersonal relationships resulting from the individuation process in adolescence are not dealt with all at once, but rather issue by issue. Furthermore, a similar sequence for issues over time of peak concern was observed for British, New Zealand, and United States samples.