I Think I ’ m OK, Why Don ’ t You?: The Saga of Disagreeable Youth

1. I Think I’m OK, Why Don’t You?: The Saga of Disagreeable Youth Christopher A. Hafen, Megan M. Schad, Elendra T. Hessel, Joseph P. Allen University of Virginia Introduction The ability to interact competently within intimate relationships gains prominence in adolescent friendships and ideally ultimately culminates in successful adult romantic relationships. Some adolescents, however, form maladaptive patterns in early friendships that then then take into the dating world. Adolescents who are disagreeable appear to represent just such a subgroup. There is ample evidence to suggest that being disagreeable, or low on the personality construct of agreeableness, is association with a lack of peer acceptance, more conduct problems, and depression (Jensen-Campbell et al., 2002; Scholte, van Aken, & van Lieshout, 1997). There is also evidence suggesting that even after accounting for profiles of rejection, aggression, and introversion, there is a sizeable subgroup of disagreeable youth that exhibit extensive adjustment problems (Laursen, Hafen, Rubin, Booth-LaForce, & Rose-Krasnor, 2010). These adolescents are not isolated from their peers, and yet they do not seem to form healthy close relationships that allow for positive development. The current study utilizes observations of adolescents interacting with their friends and romantic partners, along with reports from friends and romantic partners, to describe a perceptual bias that characterizes the perceptions disagreeable youth hold about their close relationships.   Results Table 1 Age 14-15 Disagreeableness Predicting Friendship Quality and Conflict at Age 16 • Hypothesis 1: Disagreeable youth will have more conflictual and poorer quality friendships in adolescence • Table 1 summarizes the results of the regression analyses predicting age 16 friendship closeness and conflict from age 14-15 disagreeableness. • Age 16 Closeness. Disagreeableness did not predict self-reports of friendship closeness at age 16. However, disagreeableness predicted friend-reports of closeness at age 16 (β = -.21, p = .02), such that the friends of disagreeable youth reported having less close friendships than did friends of others. • Age 16 Conflict. Disagreeableness predicted both self-reports of friendship conflict (β = .19, p = .04) and friend-reports of friendship conflict (β = .24, p = .002) at age 16. Both disagreeable youth and their friends reported having more conflict within their friendships than did other youth. • Hypothesis 2: The patterns exhibited by disagreeable youth in adolescent friendships will carry over into their romantic relationships in adulthood. • Table 2 summarizes the results of regression analyses predicting relational aggression, negative autonomy, and negative relatedness within romantic relationships in early adulthood (ages 20-22). • Relational Aggression. Disagreeableness did not predict self-reports of experienced relational aggression within romantic relationships, but there was an effect for gender (β = .24, p = .01), such that females reported more relational aggression from their partner than did males. Disagreeableness did predict romantic partner report of relational aggression (β = .28, p < .001), such that romantic partners of disagreeable youth reported that they were more relationally aggressive toward their partner than did romantic partners of other youth. • Negative Relationship Interaction. Disagreeableness did not predict self-reports of negative relationship interaction. However, disagreeableness did predict romantic partner report of negative relationship interaction (β = .27, p = .002), such that romantic partners of disagreeable youth reported having more negative interactions with targets than did romantic partners of other youth. • Observed Negative Autonomy and Negative Relatedness. Disagreeableness did not predict later observed negative autonomy in interactions between target individuals and their romantic partners. However, disagreeableness did predict later observed scores for negative relatedness (β = .22, p = .03), such that disagreeable youth were observed to have higher levels of negative relatedness with their romantic partner than other youth. ______________________________________________________________ Friendship Attribute β CI ______________________________________________________________ Close Friendship Score Self-Report .03 [-.11, .14] Friend-Report -.21* [-.39, -.05] Conflict and Betrayal Score Self-Report .19* [.04, .33] Friend-Report .24** [.09, .43] ______________________________________________________________ Note. **p < .01. *p < .05. Main effects for gender and interactions between disagreeableness and gender were tested but all were not significant. Method • Participants • Participants included 164 (87 females and 77 males) teenagers along with their best friends (n = 156) and romantic partners (n = 111). • Measures • Observed interpersonal interaction with close friend. At ages 14 and 15, each target adolescent-close friend dyad took part in an 8-min videotaped interaction in which they were presented with a revealed differences task (Strodtbeck, 1951). The Autonomy-Relatedness Coding System for Peer Interactions was used to code these interactions (Allen et al., 1994; Allen et al. 2001). Scores were rated on a 0 to 4 scale, with higher scores indicating greater frequency and intensity of behaviors that are disagreeable and hinder free discussion. • Observed interpersonal interaction with romantic partner. In early adulthood, target individuals and their romantic partners participated in a revealed differences task in which they discussed an issue in their relationship that they had individually identified as an area of disagreement. For this study, information from the undermining autonomy scale and the undermining relatedness scale were used. Scores were rated on a 0 to 4 scale, with higher scores indicating greater frequency and intensity of behaviors that undermine autonomy and relatedness • Close friendship competence. Both target adolescents and their close friends reported on the target adolescent’s competence in close friendships at age 16. Target adolescents completed the close friendship score from the Harter Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents (Harter, 1988). The close friends’ reports were taken from a version of this instrument modified to be used as a peer-report instrument (Chango, Allen, Swedo, & Schad, 2011). Item responses are scored on a 4-point scale and then summed, with higher scores indicating higher levels of close friendship competence. • Conflict and betrayal in friendships. Both target adolescents and their close friends completed the conflict and betrayal scale from the Friendship Quality Questionnaire (Parker & Asher, 1993) at age 16. The scale included seven items, with higher scores indicating more betrayal and conflict within the relationship. • Relational aggression in adult romantic relationships. Targets and their romantic partners each completed a 5-item measure about the levels of relational aggression in their relationship (Morales & Crick, 1998) in young adulthood. The scale measured the reporter’s aggression towards their partner (e.g., ‘‘I have threatened to break up with my romantic partner in order to get him/her to do what I wanted’’), with higher scores indicating higher levels of relational aggression • Negative relationship interaction in adult romantic relationships. Targets and their romantic partners each completed items about the negative interactions in their relationship using the Network of Relationships Inventory (NRI; Furman & Buhrmester, 1985), with higher scores indicating more negative interactions. Table 2 Adolescent Disagreeableness Predicting Interactions within Romantic Relationships in Early Adulthood ______________________________________________________________ Romantic Relationship Measure β CI ______________________________________________________________ Relational Aggression Self-Report .15 [-.02, .26] Romantic Partner Report .28** [.10, .46] Negative Relationship Interaction Self-Report .11 [-.03, .20] Romantic Partner Report .27** [.11, .44] Observed Negative Autonomy .03 [-.11, .15] Observed Negative Relatedness .22* [.01, .45] ______________________________________________________________ Note. **p < .01. *p < .05. Main effects for gender and interactions between disagreeableness and gender were tested but all were not significant. Discussion The findings from this study suggest that an individual’s interaction style with friends in adolescence is directly related to their interaction style years later in romantic relationships. In particular, disagreeable youth form unhealthy friendships in adolescence and continue to have unhealthy relationships in adulthood that seem to stem from their interaction style. As such, disagreeable youth are a subgroup that would benefit greatly from interventions designed to improve social interactions and social awareness. Without intervention, the consequences of this pattern are profound, as these individuals are likely to experience conflictual, relationally aggressive, and unhealthy relationships throughout development because they consistently ignore or rationalize the unhealthy patterns. Support for this study was provided by the National Institute of Mental Health (MH58066) and the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (R01HD058305-11A1) to J.P. Allen, Principal Investigator.