Siblings, friends, and parents: Who are the most important persons for adolescents? A pilot study of Adolescent Relationship Scale

The quality of relationships to friends, siblings, and parents is a central focus for adolescents. A recently developed self-report instrument, Adolescent Relationship Scale (ARS) - a visual-analog scale (VAS) - was tested in a pilot study of adolescents, 16-18 years old, who were pupils of Norwegian high schools (N = 147). ARS measures the importance of the relationships to friends, siblings, and parents, as well as the experienced quality of life. ARS is meant to capture the current quality and reciprocity of the different relationships and the development over time with repeated measures. The results of the data analyses revealed differences in the ratings across age. Furthermore, we found gender differences regarding the experience of relationships. ARS seems to be a useful self-report instrument with a potential to measure the current importance of the adolescents' central relationships and the development of the importance of these relationships during adolescence.