CONFLICT EXPERIENCE AND OPPOSITION IN THE TRANSITION FROM ADOLESCENCE INTO YOUNG ADULTHOOD

An earlier follow-up study with juvenile delinquents found a positive relationship between the experience of ''crisis'' during adolescence and aspects of ''social integration'' in young adulthood. These results bear out the principles of a dialectical developmental psychology (Riegel, Buss, Altman), from whose point of view qualitative transition in psychic development is linked with the experience of oppositions. An important concept in this approach is the experience of oppositions as a necessary though not sufficient condition for the process of development. To carry out further checks on this hypothesis and to achieve greater differentiation, a new follow-up study was set up over a period of eight years and with a broader representative sample of 820 non-delinquent adolescents. Both in the first stage of the study and in the second (eight years later), the method used was that of the individual survey conducted at the subject's home. The results obtained bear out the dialectical view, but they also point out that, when looking for any relationships between the two phases of life concerned, it is necessary to differentiate between the oppositions both with regard to intensity and contents.