Influence of Close Friends on the Boundaries of Adolescent Personal Authority

Perceptions of close friends' influence on the construction of boundaries between legitimate parental and personal authority were assessed using a semistructured interview with 183 early ( M =11.82 years) and middle ( M =15.72 years) adolescents. Participants described sources relevant to the construction of authority beliefs, processes of friend influence, and justifications for influence and noninfluence. Personal, conventional, prudential, and multifaceted issues were assessed. Friends were most salient sources in the construction of boundaries about personal and multifaceted issues and were more salient for middle than for early adolescents. Parental influence was most significant over conventional and prudential issues. Friend influence was primarily attributed to indirect processes, as adolescents used friends as metrics demonstrating age‐appropriate levels of freedom. Adolescents endorsed moral reasoning when they justified monitoring friends' jurisdictional bounds.