• Journal of Families and Better Life
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.49-60
• /
• 2003

The purpose of this study was to explore the nature of adolescents' relationships with intimate and important people in their lives who are seniors to them. A sample of 1,220 adolescents was surveyed with a questionnaire. The questionnaire included questions on perceived support from non-parental senior figures as well as on adolescents' self-esteem. The results showed that. (a) Adolescents perceived their relatives to be more important than their teachers. (b) Male adolescents perceived support from a larger number of relatives than their female counterparts, whereas female adolescents perceived more support from their close senior figures than their male counterpart. (c) Adolescents' perception of support was different by their father's occupational status. (d) Overall, male adolescents's self-esteem was higher than female adolescents. The adolescents whose fathers held higher-status occupations had higher self-esteem than the adolescents whose fathers held lower-status occupations. (e) Male adolescents' self-esteem was affected by their GPA, father's occupational status, and the number of seniors whom they met on internet, and the amount of perceived support. Female adolescents' self-esteem was affected by father's occupational status and the amount of perceived support.