Aligning social support to youth's developmental needs: The role of nonparental youth-adult relationships in early and late adolescence

Through the provision of different types of social support, significant nonparental youth-adult relationships can facilitate youth's positive development across adolescence. However, despite the potential benefits of these relationships, there has been little consideration of how the relational process may vary across different adolescent stages. Utilizing qualitative methods, this study compared five types of social support processes (emotional, instrumental, companionship, validation, and informational) as reported by youth during early (n = 23) and late adolescence (n = 14). Differences emerged with regard to the general characteristics and nature of relationships between the early and late adolescent groups and additional differences emerged across the five types of social support. This study demonstrates how a developmental perspective may elucidate the processes that characterize and underlie youth's relationships with supportive nonparental adults. Findings provide implications to understand, promote and sustain these important relationships in the lives of youth.