The dependent behavior in female adolescents:I

Abstract

The present study was aimed at investigating dependent dehavior (d. p.) of college women. It was the first of series of reports on developmental changes in d. p., dealing with its final phase, i. e. so-called independence. Dependent behavior was to be described in terms of (a) modes of d. p. and their dominance,(b) differentiation and number of objects to whom d. p. was directed, and (c) strength of dependent need which might produce d. p. toward each object.“Dependent need” denoted need for psychological support, beyond instrumental usefulness.
Two kinds of questionnaires were constructed and administered to 168, college women. The first questionnaire asked each female adolescent how she depended on what object through what modes or ways of d. p. Mother, the most intimate friend of the same sex, the love object and five other persons were selected ona prioriground as objects for dependence. The second involved SCT type questions concerning the role or value of each object in her psychic life.
The following points were suggested:
1) A female adolescent reported a high degree of d. p. She generally had a number of objects for dependence. Each object had a different functional value for her.
2) She had a focus or foci of d. p., i. e., a person who supported her psychological existence and accepted strong need for dependence. Other objects' functions or positions in the dependency structure were determined to the nature of a focus.
3) When Ss were classified according to focus or foci, e. g., Mother-type, Lov'e-object-type, 2-focitype, those who had the same kind of focus showed similar behavior patterns to other objects.