Autonomously Connected: Adolescent Autonomy in the Contexts of Family, Peer, and School

Abstract

This dissertation contributes to both a theoretical and an empirical understanding of the reciprocal associations between autonomy and relatedness across key social contexts—family, peers, and school—during the school transitions over time. Grounded in Self-Determination Theory (SDT), this research examined how adolescent autonomy, both in its general form and in domain-specific expressions (i.e., behavioral and academic autonomy), interacts with relatedness within three critical micro-level social environments: the family (i.e., parental warmth, conflict, parental autonomy granting, parental academic pressure), peers (e.g., friend support, peer victimization), and the school setting (i.e., perceived teacher-student relationships, school relatedness). By employing longitudinal designs at daily and six-month intervals, this work provides a nuanced understanding of development by distinguishing within-individual fluctuations from stable between-individual differences. This approach offers a dynamic perspective on how these constructs co-develop over time, which challenges traditional static developmental models. Specifically, the findings suggest that autonomy across different domains and relatedness in various contexts are closely interconnected at the same time point. In terms of within-person lagged associations, in the family context, parental warmth and general autonomy showed a bidirectional association, with changes in one predicting changes in the other the following day. Additionally, an increase in general autonomy predicted a decrease in parental psychological control over a six-month period. In the school context, greater school-relatedness predicted higher intrinsic academic motivation six months later. Furthermore, the developmental trajectories of parental academic pressure were positively associated with the trajectories of controlled academic motivation, while the developmental trajectories of perceived negative relationships with teachers were negatively associated with the trajectories of autonomous academic motivation. In sum, autonomy and relatedness should not be viewed as competing needs but as intertwined forces that, when nurtured appropriately, reinforce each other. By fostering environments that support both autonomy and relatedness, we can better equip adolescents to navigate the challenges of school transitions and beyond, ultimately promoting their well-being and success.