Confirmation From Family Members: Parent and Sibling Contributions to Adolescent Psychosocial Adjustment

Two studies examined the relationship between confirmation (i.e., validation, acceptance) by family members and adolescent psychosocial adjustment (i.e., self-esteem, strength of self-concept, and autonomy). Study 1 showed confirmation by parents was positively related to mid-adolescents' psychosocial adjustment. Study 2 showed that although late-adolescents perceived mothers as exhibiting greater confirmation than both fathers and siblings, a simultaneous assessment of mother, father, and sibling confirmation revealed that confirmation from both mothers and siblings significantly predicted psychosocial adjustment. Further, specific results from study 2 revealed that individual family members' confirmation may be related to different dimensions of adolescents' psychosocial adjustment.