A study of interpersonal aspects of personality of pregnant adolescent girls as compared to their peers

O

F

PREG

NANT ADOLESCENT

GI

RLS

AS C

OMPARED T

O

THE

I

R PEERS

by

Girolima Rini Labrecque

A the sis

submitted in partial fulfilment

of reqllir

ements

for

the Master's De

gre

e

in

P

sychology

(M.A.

Psy).

Université

du

Q

ué

oec à Trois-Rivières

Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières

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director, for his til'eless support, unàerstanding, and

guidance.

Also,

to Iv'Ir.

Robert Labarre, computer science

analyst

p

the

author

ex}:n"esses her estimation

of his

valu-able assistance.

undertaken primarily as an attempt to obtain information about a little known subject in view of seeing what can be constructively done about an already existing situation.

In this research, defining the personality of the pregnant adolescent is attempted through the bias of

quali-fying her interpersonal relationships with her boyfriend, father and mother. By means of these qualifications, i t is possible to define interaction patterns indicative of per-sonality types and to measure differences from the peer group.

In order to do this, sixty-five pregnant adolescents from thirteen to twenttwo years were compared with sixt y-six girls of the same ages who were not pregnant,by means of the Terci, a test to measure interpersonal aspects of per-sonality. By measuring the relationships between the subject and her boyfriend, father and mother in terms of dominance, submission, love, and hostility, the following observations were retained concerning the pregnant adolescent group as being significantly different from observations of the peer group.

The pregnant adolescent sees herself as more likeable, friendlier,and easier to get along with than does the girl who is not pregnant. She also differs from her peers in that she sees the boyfriend as cool and dominating. And the relation-ship between them is like the one she perceives between her parents. This parental relationship differs acutely from that of the parents of the glrl who is not pregnant.

Unlike the girl who is not pregnant, the pregnant adolescent also has a strong perception of the mother, and her relationship with the mother is strained and difficult to maintain.

The pregnant adolescent's personality, as defined by. her interpersonal relationships, is influenced by the age of the subject: the older the subject, the more pronounced are the characteristics she attributes to herself and others.

Introduction ••••••••••••••••••••••

• • • • • •

• • • • • • • • c • • • • • 1

C

hapter

one

-

Review of

l

i terature, • • • • •

• • • • • • • • • • • • • •

4

Chapter

I I

_{- Pro cedure ••••••••}

< • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1 • G

15

Chap

ter III

- Presentation of

resul ts.. ••

•••• •••• •• •• •

29

Chapter

IV

Discussion

•••••••••••

•

•• ,

_{• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •}

₅₀

Conclusion •••••••••••••••

•

•• "

, 8 ~ • • ~ • • • • • • • e , • • • • • • • • • $

62

Appendix A

The Terci., .... ~ ... s . . . .

66

Appendix

B

Analysis

of

variance for

role and charac

"te

r variables

••••••••••••

₇₉

Appendix C - Profiles of

means for

roles on the

Terci axes

•••••••••••••••••

86

Appendix D

Analysis

of var

iance

for

relationship

variables

••••••••••••••••••

91

Appendix

E - Profiles of

me&~s

for

relationships

on

the

Terci

axes

•••••••••

96

Appendix

F

Analysis of variance

for

cost variables •••••••••••••••••••••••••• 100

Appendix

G

- Analysis of variance

the

satisfaction, dependence,

and

attitude

towards

ch

ange

variables

••••••• 103

Appendix

H

l'II

eans and

standard

deviations for

the variables of

the Terci

••••••••••••••

106

References . . . • . . . 114

l.

Carte

sian

coor

dinates

illustrating role

and

character o

f

th

e

persans

des

crib

ed

by the

Ter

c

i. • • • • • • • • • • • • •

•

• • • • • • • • • •

•

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

21

2

Cartesian coordin

ates

illustrating

the

com-plementarity or

symmetry of

the S-P

,

S-F

,

S-M, F-

f,1

relatiol1

ships and their

inherent cost

as described

by the

Te

rci (Hould,

R.

1977

)

.

..

•

•

23

J

Carteslan coor

dina

te

s

il

l

ustrating the

indexes of satis

faction

,

dependence

,

and

attitude t

owards

chrulge (Hould,

R.

1977)

••..

•..

26

4

Dist

ribution

of

group means

about the

overall

ffieôn

of the

groups

for

r9J.e-self-affiliation...

32

5

D

i

s

t

ribution of

g

roup

means

about the overal

l

mean

of the groups

for

role-partner-affili~-tian •••• ••••••• •• •••••• " . ••• , •• •• •••••••••••• •• 34

6

Distribution of

g

roup m

eans

about the

over-aI

l

mean of the

groups for

role-father

-dominan.ce. . . • . • . . • . . . • . . • . • . . . . . . . • . . . . . • • . . . . .

35

7

Dist

ribution

of

group

means about t

h

e

overal

l

mean of the

groups

for mother-character

•••••

•

••

3

7

8

A summary of l'ole and character findings

on the axes of the

Terci..

....

.

....

.

...

.

...

.

...

3

9

9

Distribution of

g

roup m

eans

about the overall

mean of the

g

roups

for

cost

of

sub,iect-mother

Figure

Page

10

Distribution

of

t;roup

means

about the

overal

l

mean

of

the

groups

for

dom

inance

-father-mother

relationship

..

.

..

.

.

....

•

.

...

.

•

..

.

44

11 A

summary

of

findin[:s

for

relationships

and cost

on the axes of

the Terci ..

.

•

.

.

.

..

.

••

.

•

46

12 A

summar-y of findin

gs

for

the

indexes of

satisfaction

r

dependence

and the attitude

to\var

ds change.

.

....

.

...

.

...

..

.

..

.

...

....

..

.

49

to determine the personality of the pr

egnant a

dolesc

e

nt girl

as weIl as the so

c

iolo

g

ical and p

s

ycholo

gi

c

al prcd

is

p

osin

g

factors of her pregnancy.

Factor

s

such

as

po

ve

r

t

y, broken

homes,

unmoral parents, l

im

ited educa

t

ion, i

gn

o

r

ance, lac

k

of

religious

or

moral trainin

g

,

me

nt

a

l defect, delinquent

companions,

and youth

of

the girls

concerned,

were all found

to be very

frequent

in

any situation

of

adolescent pregnancy.

These

factors, however,

cannot be considered

as causative;

at best can they be seen

as

contributory

factors

towards

preg-nancy in the

adolescent and their

relation

to the personality

is even less certain.

In any

case, one is left with the

ste-reotyped portrait of the adolescent mother as one who is young,

neglected, not

much

educated, psychologically disturbed and

different from other

adolescents who are

not pregnant.

On the basis of this difference,

the

pregnant

adolescent has become

the

object of

well

-

intentioned group

programs which, unfortunately, only

seem

to

emphasize the

fact

that she is different.

Curiously

enough,

in

spite

of

the fact that

the pregnant adolescent group is

defined

as

being very distinct from

other groups,

not one specifie

personality

characteristic 110r set

of

general

It

is

not the purpose

of

this study to make

another

attempt to relate cause and

effect

r

that is to say,

illegiti-mate pregnancy

to a particular pe

rs

onality.

This

study

is

concerned

with explori

ng

a

s

pects o

f

the personality

of

the

pregnant

adolescent

thro~gh

the bias

of

interpe

r

s

onal

rela-tionships she

has with others

.

The

questions

that this research

will

attempt

to

answer are:

a) how can the personality of

the

pregnant

adolescent be

qualified, when seen

throu

gh

the optic of her interpersonal

relationships?

b) does

she

differ from

other girls

of the same

age who are not pre

gnant

?

c)

what are the salient

points

to be kept in

mind when considering interventions with

pr

egnant

adolescents?

In addition

to

explorin

g

the

interpersonal

patterns

of

the pregnant adolescent

group

as compared with girls

of

the same age

who

are not pregnant, the author is also

inter-ested in finding out

if there

is any

significant

difference

in these interpersonal

factors between the

early,

middle

,

and

lat

e

pregnant adolescents.

Differenc

es

may suggest

approaches

applicable

to

a

d

ef

inite

age group, whereas

the

present

tendency

is to base intervention

s

on

gene

rali

zat

ions

concerning all pregnrult

adolescents

re

gardless of age.

The first chéJ.pte

r of

thi

s study comprises a

review of the literatur

e

pertir.ent

to this

research.

The

second chapter describe

s

the

procedure, as weIl as the

theoretical rational

e whi

ch supports this research.

The

results are presente

d i

n

th

f'

third

chapter.

A discussion

of

the

results follow

s

in the Î0urth

chapter.

ent

conce

pts

postulated

as

deteJ'.~rninants

in

adolescen

t pre

g-nancy and in the

personality

of

the

pregnant adolescent.

Mental deficiency

Accordin

g

to

Liben (1969). the factor most

widely

hypothesized in adolescent

pregnancy

before the

1930's

,

was

mental deficiency in

the sutjects.

Lowe

(1927)

was

one

of

the first to

experiment with this postulate.

Her

study

confirmed the

fact

th

a

t

adolescents pregnant

out-of-

we

dlock

were indeed feeble-minded.

Mental deficiency continued to be

matter for

specifie investi

ga

tion

with unwed

pre

gnant

adolescents

until

1956 when Pearson

and

Am

acher

in Intelligence test results

and observations

of personality disorder among

3.594

un

we

d

mothers in

fv'Iinnes

ota

1

finally concluded that

"the

distri-bution of intelligence

among

unwed

mothers in general

is a

very close approximation of the

distribution

f

or

women

in

general"

(p. 20).

Environmental

factors

After

the 1930's, ecological and environmental

factors

were invoked as causes for adolescent

pregnancy

.

In f

a

c

t,

so

st

ro

ngly were poverty and bad home con

diti

o

ns

(such

as

la

ck of

pa

r

ental

c

ontrol, quarreling

,

abu

se, and

i

mm

or

a

li

t

y

in

th

e parent

s

)

equat

e

d with adolescent pr

e

g

-nancy in th

e m

inds of

people

,

th

a

t th

o

se who were

not

mem-ber

s

o

f

th

es

e lo

wer

-cl

ass groups

c

onsidered themse

lves

iin

l1

lUne to beco

ming p

r

egnant o

u

t

-

of-wedlo

c

k.

I

t

was wi th a

great deal of

s

urp

r

i

se tha

t

m

i

dd

l

e and upp

e

r

-c

las

s subjects

began appearin

g

in samp

les

o

f pregnant a

d

oles

c

ent

s all across

the contin

e

nt.

Clearly

then, poverty

and

un

he

al

t

h

y

h

o

m

e c

o

n-ditions, while true for

m

any

subje

c

ts

,

as i

n

Schonholz's et

al., study

(1969),

could not

be

ap

pli

ed to

al

l pregnant

adolesc

e

nts.

Psycho

ge

nic f

a

ctors .

Clothier

(194)),

in stating that unmarried

mother-hood in our culture

represents a distorted and unrealistic

way out of

inner difficulties and is thus comparable to

neurotic

symptoms and delinquent behavior, set the pace

where psychological and psychi

a

trie distu

rb

ances held the

foreground

in subsequent research with pre

gn

ant adolescents.

Pursuing this line of thought, Young

(1945)

tUl~ed

towards

the

home situation to investi

g

ate

t

he possibility

of

psychog

e

nic factors which would valid

a

t

e

t

h

e h

y

pothesis

of

mental perturbat

i

on in pregnant adolescent

s

.

From an

exten-sive study with one hundred subjects, You

ng

in P

erson

alitï

patt

e

rns

i

n

unma

r

rie

d

m

o

the

r

s

(1945),

c

on

c

l

u

de

d t

hat t

he

fundarnental

background factor pre

s

ent in her sarnple

was

domination in the home by one parent

(36%

by the mother,

and

15%

by the

father).

She

goes

on

to say

that the

un-married

mother,

without

exception

"was

overly

dependent

upon

her mother and both resented

and e

m

braced that ten

-dency"

(p.

84).

Without mentioning how

she

arrived

at

her findings,

Young

(1945)

also concluded

that

"aIl these

girls

had

fund-arnental problems in their relationships

with

other people"

(p. 301),

and that

"there

is nothing haphazard

or

accidental

in

the causation

that

brought about this

.

specific situation

with these

~pecific

girls"

(p.

296).

Connell

and Jacobson

(1971)

also suggested from

their study of

forty-eight pregnant adolescents, that poor

inter-farnily

relations were a major factor in these girls'

historiesp

and Littner

(1956)

equally mentioned that the

state of pregnancy

gratified the

girls

'

dependency needs.

Many

other

researchers found that psychopathology

was

a

common

factor with

pregnant

adolescents.

A few of

these studies follow.

Kasanin and Handschin in Psychodynarnic

factors

in

illegitimac~

(1941),

suggested from a study of sixteen

sub-jects "that these

pregnancies represent hysterical

dissocia-tion states in

which the girls

act out their

incest phantasies

as an expression of

the Oedipus situation"(p.

83

).

Loesch

et al.

,

in Sorne specific areas

of conflicts

ob

served

during

pregnancy: a com

p

arative study

cf

rnarried

.§md

unrnarried pregnant

wornen

(

1962

)

found

that

"pregnan

cy

frequently seerns to occur

subsequent

to

object loss" (p.6

25).

They observed that

obj

ect

losses

such as

death

of

a parent or

separation from parents, boyfriends or other significant

per-sons,

or

the loss

of

a

job

or a

position

,

were cornrnon factors

just before conc

eption in

the lives

of

the wornen

they studied.

Kravitz et

al.,

in

Unwed

rnothers

(1966) conducted

an extensive

study

of eighty-thr

ee

subjects.

They

advanced

that the emphasis should be

shifted

"to the

psychic

econom

ic

balance between the

instinctual drives and motivations

on one

hand, and the ego control on the other hand" (p. 461).

They found

that adolescent

pregnan

cy occurred

pri-marily as a result of the

subject's

deficient

ego

control in

the presence of

sexual

drive, ego control

meaning

"the

capa-city to plan, to foresee the con

se

quences of

actions,

to

adequately test reality,

to take responsability

for one's

action

and

to take su

ffi

ci

ent

prec

autionary

measures"

(p.462).

They

sugge sted early emotional depri vation,

broken home s, lack

of

control on

the part

of

the parents, absence

of one orboth

parents, double-bind

relationships, and impoverished

object

relations

as

causes of

deficient

ego control.

Deficient

ego

fun

ctioning

was also

the

common

factor drawn

from

two

hundred

subjects

interviewed

by

Friedman, in

Unwed motherhood:

a continuing

problem

(1972).

The ego is

"that

part of the p

ersonal

ity

which med

iates

between inst

incts

and

reality and which

is

aware

,

remembers,

plans, acts

and

avoids"

(p

.119)

.

Babikian and Golrun

an

(

1971) also

concluded from

th

ei

r

findings

that

their subject

s

lacked

adequate

ego and

super ego structures.

Contrarily,

Kin

ch

et al

., in

Sorne aspects

of

pediatrie

illegitimacy

(1969)

concluded that

pregnant

ado

-lescen

ts were not psychopathological

crippl

es

.

In

a

study

of

one hundred

and

forty-nine pregnant adolescents, they

found that "these young patients

are

not

pathologically

,

emotionally or psychiatrically disturbed" (p. 28).

They even

suggested

that "the fascinating pastime

of

probing into the

emotional

background of these young

peo-pIe

•••

may be

an

example of the 'self-fulfilling prophecy'

"

(p.

29).

In other

words,

if one

sees adolescent

pregnancy

as a symptom of pathology,

one

is likely to interpret the

pregnant

adolescent's

behavior in pathological terms.

In

this way one contributes

to

the

very

disturbance

one tries

to avoid.

of

women: a psychoanalytic internretation

(1945)

stated

that

"conce

ption

is followed

by

a trem

en

dous upheaval in

the

fe-male

o

rganism as

a

whole"

(p.

126)

.

He

raised the question,

is the unwed

mother

really different

from

that of the married

mother?

By means of clinical illustrations,

Deuts

ch

describ-ed

symptoms of pathology

in

many pregnant,

married

women

that

were often presented as peculiar te unwed mothers

only.

Im-plicit in

his

findings

is

that the

unwed

mother

does

not

di

ffer

from the

p

regnant

,

marri

ed

woman.

In

answer to

to

the

unspoken opinion

that

ille

gi

-timate pregnancy

was necessarily

deleterious

in

itself,

Bar

glow et

al.,

(19

68)

believed

that for

certain individuals

in their study

group

the

pregnancy, far from

being

the

be

-gil:ll1ing of a downhill

spiral, was

an

important

factor

lead-ing to an increased depth of understandlead-ing between the

preg-nant adolescent and her

family

of origine

They added that,

for their sample of seventy-eight pregnant

girls

between the

ages

of

eleven and sixteen,

they found

it impossible to apply

psychiatrie diagnosis to their

patients'

difficulties and

could

not even determine

whether these girls

were emotional··

ly disturbed.

Following this

line

of

reflection,

von

Der Ahe,

in

The unwed teen-

age mother

(1969),

while

not i

gn

oring certain

factors such as broken homes

and

inadequate

supervision

by

the parents,

remarked from his study of

on

e

hundred

and

fifty

pregnant adolescents,

t

hat the

Erea

t majority of these girls

were perfectly normal

healthy

girls

and

"their

pregnancy

re-sulted because they

ar~

deeply e

müt

ion

all

y involved with the

boy and this is interpreted as

being

in love"

(p.

284).

Commenting on von

Der

Ahe

's

study,

Dr. Charles

Kimball added

"they

have reacted

in a perfectly normal way

to

their

innate

biolo

g

ical feelin

g

s of need for intimate

physi cal con

tact and pro crea

ti

ve acti vi

ty"

(p. 286).

Munt, in Sorne social i

m2li

cations of teenage

out-of-wedlock

~regnancy

(1967)

summarized the situation when

she said

the old

generalizations

about

poverty,

neglect,

and low social status as causes

of

i

ll

egitimacy no lo

nge

r are adequate.

Neither

can we conclude that any

out-of-wedlock

pregn

a

ncy

must

be due to sorne

deep-seated

emotional problem, although

it

would be comfortin

g

to think so

(p.41).

Develo2mentalfactors

While

sorne

researchers investigated psychogenic

factors

as possible keys to

understanding

the personality

of the pregnant

adolescent, others postulated that the

age

of the pregnant

subjects was

related

to particular behavior

patterns in the

subject within her family.

Liben

'

s

(1969)

study is

an example

of

this.

She

observed

that the youngest

pregnant

girls

(under

fifteen years) demonstrated severe

primary predisposing factors which she defined as very

unstable

family situations,

(suc})

as their mothers'

chaotic

marital

and

sexual patterns which had become models for

the

girls). With the

older

girls, (

s

ixteen to twenty years) as

the primary

predispo

s

in

g

factors diminished, the secondary

predisposing

factors increased.

These included

the

parental

relationship, the subject's

relationship to the members

of

her family,

and early narcissistic in jury.

Young women

of

twenty to twenty-four

years showed mostly what Liben

cal

l

s

precipitating

factors:

object

losses, narcissistic

injuries,

intolerable home situations,

a.."1d/

or

identi ty problems.

W

i th

her oldest group (twenty ta thirty-six years), exciting

fac-tors such as the availability of

the partner

and early

sex-ual stimulation seemed to be the predominating pattern.

Hatcher, in The adolescent

experience

of pregnancy

and abortion: a developmental

analysis

(1973)

also advanced

that developmental factors had a bearing on illegitimate

pregnancy in young

girls.

She

observed

that

"chronological

age and

d~velopmental

age are not necessarily related in

adolescence" (p.

64).

She added that the three stages of

adolescence (young, middle and late) were also independent

of demography and personality style. From her study of

thirteen subjects, she concluded that the young adolescents

(young as determined by her scale) became pregnant because

they lacked information about

pregnancy,

acted out of a

desire to

get

attention

from their

mothers, or becausethey

experienced

sexual

identity confusion.

~Vi

th the

middle

adolescents (again as

calculated by

her

scale

),

the central

dynamic

was involvement

in

a reactivated

oedipal

relation-ship.

Whereas with the late adolescents the

illegitimate

pregnancy

was

utilized

to

obtain

increased affection

and

commitment

from

their

boyfriends

.

Sociolo

gical factors

In the 1960's, yet

another

concept

was

postulated as

bearing on

adolescent pregnancy.

This time, sociological

fact-ors

were investigated.

Vincent (1962)

especiru.ly

brought out

the incompatibility that existed between society's attitude

to illicit coition which

was

a part of the "fun morality" it

condoned,

and its result, an illicit pregnancy,

which

it

cen-sorede

Waters'

(1969)

study

appeared to calI society's

approach

in question.

He advanced what he called a syndrome

of

failure: that pregnant adolescents

were

failures socially,

vocationally,

educationally, psychologically and medically.

Were these girls really failures or had society failed to

deal

with them

constructively?

A review of the literature has shown that attempts

to

find causative factors for adolescent pregnancy and to

de-termine

the

girl

's

personality have

thus

far resulted in

pro-ducing an imposing

list of

suppositions.

None

of the concepts

postulated (mental deficiency,

environmental

factors,

psycho-pathology, or

sociological factors)

can be related to aIl

pregnant adolescents.

Clearly

then, the

complexity of human

behavior and the

influence

of

possible

contributory factors

create the necessity

for

research

to be

more specifie in its

approach to

quaI if

y the personality of the pregnant adolescent

.

the us

efulne

ss

of the data

obtai

ne

d by means

of

the Terci, and

the

influence of age

and pregnancy

on

the

personality of pre

g-nant

adolescents as compared to

a peer group of

girls who are

not

pregnant

.

The

population

In order

to explore

t

he

influence

of age and

preg-nancy on interpersonal aspects of

personality,

a sample of

65

preenant,

French-speaking

g

irls

CU)

between the ages

o

f

13

and

22,

from unwed mothers' homes in

two

large Quebec

citi

es

,

was tested.

From

local

secondary

schools and colleges, a

peer

group sample

C

p)

of

66

girls

was obtained.

The total

sample was possible only because it was available.

No attempt

was made to equalize the number of subjects of each age

within

each group especially as some subjects had to be eliminated

during the statistical processing of the data because

of

in-validatin

g

test answers.

The intergroup a

ge

levels for the

sample were formed as follows:

early adolescence, 13 to 15 years;

middle adolescence, 16 to 19 years;

late adolescence, 20 to 22 years.

The

independent

v~q.l:iables

Liben

(1969)

and

Hatcher

(1973)

found that

age

was

an important

factor

in

each

of

their

respective studies with

pregn

ant

adolescents.

It

i

s

not unreasonable to

expe

ct

that

age,

speaking from

apurely developmental

point

in

view,

in-fluences the

personality.

For this

reason,

the

factor

age

has been

retained as

an important

variable

in

this

stud

y; it

will

be of

interest to explore

its

e

ffect withi

n

an

interper-sonal

relationship

design.

The

preceeding review of

lit

erature

suggests

very

strongly that

adolescent pregnancy

is

indicative

of

some sort

of

ano

m

aly or patholo

gy.

Deutsch

(1945)

on

.

the other

hand

suggests that

many symptoms

of

pathology,

often presented as

particular to

the adolescents pregnant out-of-wedlock

are

,

in

fact, present in

many pregnant married

women.

The

factor

pregnancy th

e

n has been retained for this investigation in

order

to measure if it is

related

to differences in

the

per-sonality of the adolescent in any

significant

way.

The dep

en

dent

variables

The

following

variables

will be used in this

inves-tigation: the

subject's

perception of

the

role

she

attributes

to herself and others, her perception of each person's

charac-ter,

the

nature of her relationships with the others and the

has upon her

in

terms of

satisfaction

,

dependence,

and

her

attitude towards

change with

in

the

relationship with

the

partner.

Each

of

these variablE;s

vdll

be

elaborated

upon

in the

description

of

the Terci.

The Terci

This study

is concerned

with interpersonal aspects

of personality;

that

is to say,

by

taking

inventory of

a

per-son

'

s

interpersonal behavior, one

rnay

infer certain

personal-ity characteri

s

tics to that

person.

Leary

(1956)

was

o

ne of

the many researchers

to

study

in

terpersonal

behavior as a

theory of personality.

In order

to measure Leary's

concept,

Laforge and

Suczek

(1955)

developed

a checklist by

means

of

which one can

establish

fro

m

the

responses a

subject gives,

the roles this subject designates to herself

as

weIl as t

o

o

thers in terms of dominance and affiliation traits.

H

o

uld

(

1976)

inspired by this

model

and by Carson

'

s

(

1969

)

subsequent work on

interpersonal

concepts, created a

c

heklist for a French-speaking

population.

The

checklist is

called the Terci (see Appendix A).

It

permits

one to

inven-t

ory a subject's perception of herself, her partner

,

her father

and her mother in terms of dominance-

submission and

affiliat

i

on-hostility.

From

this,

one can determine

each person's

role

,

character and the quality of

·

the relationships

formed

by the

subject

with

the

partner

or boyfriend,

with

the father and

with the mother,

and

betw

een

the father and

mother.

The

inherent cost of each relationship can then be obtained, as

weIl as an index of the degree of satisfaction a subject feels

within her relationship with the partner or boyfriend.

One can

also determine a subject's degree of dependence upon the

rela-tionship and her attitude towards any change necessary on her

part in order to maintain the relationship.

The Terci, as with other tests of interpersonal

rela-tionships, cannot possess the objectivity and precision of

mea-surements used in exact sciences (Cronbach,

1960).

However,

the Terci has the advantage of supplying us with descriptions

of behavior which can be operationalized, and for this reason

the Terci is a very useful instrument in providing us with

in-formation as to interpersonal aspects of personality.

The Terci has a construct validity of

.76

and a

re-liability test-retest, of

.85

for dominance and

.90

for

affi-liation (Hould,

1976).

The Terci was administered collectively to each of

the two groups of subjects.

The term partner was redefined

for the peer group to be a boyfriend that the subject had

frequented for a period of not less than three months.

Perception of roles and character

A first operation with the Terci data provides one

with the subject's perception of the role she designates to

herself (8), the partner or boyfriend (p), the father (

F

),

and

the mother

(

NI), in terms

of

d.ominance

and

affiliation

.

A

role is defined in

this stud.y,

in

terms

of

the

degree of

àominance and affiliation

that a subjec-,:;

attributes to

an-other.

Role corresponds to the

mean for each group

plotted

on

the respective

dominance-submission

and

affiliation-hos-tility Cartesian coordinates of the Terci

(

see

Figure

1).

The point of interEection of the

axes

represents neutrality

on

each dimension.

Primary

processing of the data also supplies

infor-mation about the diversity and flexibility of each person's

repertory of

behavior within a role, and the intensity with

which

the behavior is

exercised~

This is

called the character

of the

person described and is represented by the distance

bet-ween the

center

and the point designating the role

(see

Figure

1).

It is calculated

as follows:

.

Car

= \/ Dom

2 +

Aff

2

Perception

of relationship

and

inherent cost

Watzlawick, Beavin, and Jackson

(1972)

maintained

that a relationship between

two people was either

complement-ary or

symmetrical.

Hould's

(1976)

research with the Terci

permits one

to explore the

complementarity

or symmetry

of the

interpersonal relationships

that exist in the

mind of the

sub-ject between

the subject-partner

(S-P), the

subject-father

-45

-30

Hostility

Do

minance

x M

45

30

-30

-45

Submission

p

30

Je S

45

Affiliation

Fig

.

1

-

Ca

rte

sian coordinates

ill

ust

rating

role and

cha-racter

of the persons described by

the Terci.

The

co

mplementarity and symmetry of a

relationship is

ex-pressed

in terms of

dominance and affiliation

.

Complementa-rit y exists

when

the b

eha

vior

of

A

raises

the

op

posite

beha-vior in

B.

Operationally, compl

ementa

rity is the

ne

gati

ve

result o

f

At s

dominance or affiliation score

multiplied by

Brs

dominance

or affiliati.on

sc

o

re.

A

symmetr

ic

relationship

is one

wherein At s and

B

ts

behaviors

are

the

same and

it

cor-responds

to

a

posi ti ve

resul

t from

the

same calculations.

Carte

sian

coordin

ates

are

used

t

o illustrate the

nature

of the relationship.

T

he

middle point

indicates a

perfect balance between comple

menta

rity

and symmetry.

The

upper, vertical

axis

,

at its

extremity, represents

the

strong-est symmetry in relation to domin

ance

,

whereas

the extreme

point on

the

lower, vertical axis,

again in

terms of

dominan-ce,

represents the strongest complementar

it

y.

The strongest

symmetric affiliation is repre

sente

d by

the extreme

point on

the right horizontal

axis,

whereas

the

ex

trem

e

point

on the

left horizontal

axis

corresponds

to the strongest

com

plement-ary affiliation (see

Figure

2).

The inte

ns

ity of the couplets

char

acteristic behavior

is

translated

in

ter

ms of absolute

scores.

Carson

(1969)

exposed Thibautts

an

d

Kelleyts

(1959)

theory of cost

to

an individual

in a

rela

ti

onship.

A

good

relationship,

whether

complementary or

symmetric, is

charac-terized

by an absence

of

malaise.

Tension arises

when

a

Symmetric

as

to dominance

RelationshiD

symmetric

as

to dominance

and

complementary as

to

affiliation

x

Complementary

as to

affiliation

1

-160

-120 -80

x

Relationship

doubly

comple

mentary

1

160f

120t

80

80

120

-80

-120

-160

x

Complement

ary

as

to dominance

Relationship

doubly

symmetri

c

Symmetric

6

as to

1 0 affiliatio

x

Relationship

symmetric as to

affiliation and

complementary as

to do

m

inance

Fig. 2- Cartesian coordinatesillustratin

g

the

complementarity

or symmetry of

the S-P,

S-F

.

,

S-M, F-M relationships

and

their

inherent cost

as described by the Terci

(Hould,

R

.,

1977).

complementary or

symmetric relationship becomes

extreme, and

this tension implies

a

cost

for the person who experiences

the relationship (Carson,

1969).

In the

Terci~

cost is

pro-portional to

the

distance

from the

center

and

is obtained by

calculating

the mean

of the

hypotenuses

of

all

of the

indivi-dual triangles whose height

is the degree of complementarity

or

symmetry on the dominance

axis

and

whose base

is the

de-gree of

compleme

ntarity

or

symmetry

on the affiliation axis

(see

Figure 2).

By means

of

the Terci, then, the relationships

formed

by

the

subject with the partner, with the father, with

the

mother, and the father with the mother, will be examined

in view of

their complementarity, symmetry and

cost.

Perception

of affects and

attitude

towards change

The degree

or intensity of cost tells

how

a subject

feels

in

the

relationship

that is to say,

wh

ether

the subject

is

satisfied

or dissatisfied

with the relationship,

a~d

if

she is dependent upon, or

independent

of,

the relationship.

In order to reach

an

index of

satisfaction and dependence,

the cost

must

be

compared with an exterior

criterion

and

an

alternative

situation

(Carson,

1969).

This operation

is

ins-pired

by Thibaut's and

Kelley

's

work on evaluating the

out-comes of

cost and reward

(1959).

To calculate the

index of

satisfaction with the Terci,

~he

exterior criterion is said

to

be the

.parental

relationship (Hould,1977).

The index

of

satisfaction then, is the cost

of the father-mother

re

lati

on-ship

minus tpe

cost

of the

subject-partner

relati

on

ship

:

Sat

=

(Co

st F-M

) - (

Cost

S-P).

A

positive result

corresponds to satisfa

ction

and

a ne

gative

result indicates dissatisfaction on

the part

of

the subject

.

The

de

gree

of d

ependence

is

obtained

by

oppo

s

in

g

the

cost of

the subject-partner relationship

with

an

alternative

situation,

the

cost of

the

sub

j

ect-father relationship

plus

the subject-mother relation

ship

(

Houl

d,

1977).

Thus,

Dep

=

C<

Cost S-F) : < Cost

S-M)

~

- < Cost S-p).

A positive result

indicates dependence, whereas

a negative

result qualifies the subject as independent

.

These results are transposed on

Cartesia~

coordina-tes

(see

Figure

3).

The upper pole of th

e

vertical

axis

cor-responds to satisfaction, the lower pole

to

dissatisfaction.

The right and left horizontal poles repre

se

nt dependence and

independ

ence

respectively.

Having obtained the

indexes

of

sat

isfaction and

dependence,

the Terci

permits one to calculat

e

the

subject's

attitude towards change in

regard

to her

re

lationship

with

the partner.

Figure

3

illustrates this concept. The vertical

axis

corresponds to openess towards change,

whereas

t

he

Perso

n is

satisfied

but ind

ependent

x

Independence

-200 -150 -100

Person is

dissatisfied

and independent

Satisfaction

200 -100 -150 -200

Dissatisfaction

100 150 200

Person is

sati

sf

ied

and

depen-dent

Dependence

Pers

on

is

dependent

but

dis-satisfied

Fig.

3

-

Carte sian coordinates illustrating the indexes of

satisfaction, dependence,

and

attitude

towards

chan

ge

(Hould,

horizon

tal axis

corresponds to

a closed attitude

.

According

to

the rationale of the test, one

may say that

a subject

wh

o

is

satisfied

ru1d

dependent

is very

open

to a chru1ge

in

atti-tude in orde

r

to maintain

her existing relationship.

A

dis-satisfied

independent

subject

on

the

other

hahd,

is very

mu

ch

closed

ru1d unyielding to chru1ge.

The

satisfied,

independent

subject,

as weIl as

the

dissatisfied,

dependent

subject are

ambi valent

in their

atti-cud

e

towards

c

hru1ge

.

The attitude tow

ards

chru1

g

e is calculated:

Chru1ge

=

Sato

+

Dep.

V

2

The intensity or the quality of being open, closed,

or ambivalent

to

chru1ge corresponds to the length of the

per-pendicular line drawn

from

the

diagonal

line which joins the

two points previously

determined for satisfaction

ru1d

depen-dence (Hould,

1977).

The ru1alys

is

.

ru1d statistical ru1alysis

In view of the fact that the independent variables

(age ru1d pregnru1cy) cannot be controll

e

d or

mru1ipulated,

the

author proposes ru1 ex post

facto research

as described by

Kerlin

ge

r

(1973).

The

retrospective nature o

f

the

study

is

such that cause ru1d effect cannot be

established.

However,

the advru1tage of this type of research is

that

its controlled

inquiry permits one

to explore ru1 area

which w

ould

othe

rwise

be impossible

to

expcriment.

The results

for

the p:!:'e

gnant

adolescent

gr

oup

CU)

and the

peer group (p) were submitted to a 2xJ analysis

of

variance to

test for significant differences between groups

for

each

variable.

A t test

was applied as weIl, to establish

if any

significant

difference

existed between the different

varia-bles.

The test of

significance for the analysis was set

at

.10

level because

this study is an exploratory research.

used

will be presented.

Special attention

will be

given

to

those

significant relé'

.

tionships established in

this

study

between

the variables of the

Ter

ci,

the age of

the

subjects.

and wheth

e

r the

gir

ls

are pregnant

or

note

The

s

ignificant

findings

will

be

illustrated by

figures

showing the

distri

bu-tion of

the group means about the

overall

mean of th

e

groups.

The interested reader

is referred

to the speci

fie

~ppendices

for a breakdown of all the variables tested.

Perception of

roles and

charac~er

It is to be recalled that a tabulation of the

inter-personal behavior attributed to self and to another by the

per-son examined, enables one to deterrnine the role and character

of that person.

A role is defined in this study in terms of

the degree of dominance and affiliation that the subject

at-tributes to others; the character is defined in terms of

diversity of behavior

and

the

intensity

or rigidity b.y which

it is exercised.

Self role

and

charact

er

Keeping in mind the Cartesian model used to

illus-trate the role and character (see Figure

1),

the rationale of

represents

the type of

person who is

competitive, organized,

and able to take others

in charge

.

The

negative pole,

on the

other

hand, is indicative of the type of person

wh

o

is

suspi-cious, incompetent,

docile

anà submissive

.

In this study,

no

relation

was found to

exist between the degree

of

dominance

that

the subjects attributed to

themselve~i

their

ag

e

,

their

pregnancy, or

the interaction

of the two

together.

On the affiliatio

n

axis, the positive

pole indicates

an attitude of conformity,

submissiveness,

and the ability to

take others in charge.

Con

tra

rily,

the negative

pole

corres-ponds to a tendency to

be different

from

others,

suspicious

and overbearing.

Taken

separately,

neither age nor pregnancy

creates a significant difference on the

affiliation

axis.

However, if one considers age

and

pregnancy together,

one observes an asymmetric interaction (see Figure 4).

In

other words, the three a

g

e levels within

the

peer

group

show

practically the same degree of affiliation as those presented

by the pregnant adolescent

group,

with the exception of the

youngest pregnant adolescent.

These youn

g

girls

see

themsel-ves as occupying a less amiable role than

the

whole

peer

group

and the

·

older pregnant adolescents.

No significant difference exists between

groups

with

the variable, self character.

CI) Q) ~ H 0 0 .r-l C) op CI) (1j .r-l N r-l

s::

·ri ct-! ·n ct-! CI) (1j 1 ~ ct-! al. r-l Q) Q)

s

ID 1

-Q) CI) r-l Pi 0 ;:s p:: 0 H t:..'J

3.00

2.83

Age p). 10 Group p>.10 Interact ion p=.10

2.66

2.50

2.33

2.16

2.00

_{---------------------~--------}

-1.83

1.66

1.50

--1.

33

1.16

1.00

0.83

0.66

0.50

0.33

0.16

0.00

1

-0.16

-0.33

-0.50

-0.66

-0.83

-1. 00·

1.16

--1. 33 ..

-1.50

-1.66

--1.83

-2.00

(-2.26)

13-15

16-19

20-22

Age

Fig.

4 -

Distribution of group means about the

Partner role and character

No significant difference was observed for the

partnerts dominance and partnerts character variables due

to age, group or interaction.

As to the partnerts affiliation, the pregnant

adolescent group attributes more hostility to the father

of the child than the peer group does to the boyfriend

(p

<

.05) • However, this affirmation does not apply to the

youngest pregnant girls.

These girls see their partners as

tender and loving, whereas the older pregnant girls do not

(see Figure

5).

Unfortunately, the small number of subjects

in this group (N=7) does not permit the author to conclude

that the interaction of age and pregnancy influences the

degree of affiliation perceived in the partner.

Father role and chàracter

The fatherts role differs significaritly betweeri

groups due to the effect of the interaction for thi

domi-nance variable (see

Figure

6).

AlI the pregnant adolescents

see the father as dominant and hostile.

The peer group does

not see the

father

as hostile and the attribution of dominance

traits to the father diminishes the older the subjects are.

However, this statement does not apply to the

fa-therts affiliation and character variables.

AlI the girls

whether pregnant or not, and at all age levels, have similar

perceptions of the father character and affiliation traits.