Suporte social e individuação em jovens de diferentes configurações familiares

The establishment of bonds with family, friends or teachers is crucial to the development of adolescents and young adults. A successful individuation in adolescence involves the quality of relationships. This study aims to analyze the differences in the perception of social support and individuation process according to the family setting and to analyze the predictive power of family structure, gender, age and perceived social support of young people in the process of individuation. The sample consisted of 827 young people to attend secondary school and university, aged between 13 and 25 years. The data collection was carried in northern Portugal, through self-report questionnaires: Social Support Appraisals 1 Endereço para correspondência: Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Departamento de Educação e Psicologia, Edifício do Complexo Pedagógico, Quinta dos Prados, Vila Real, Portugal 5001-801. E-mail: a.raquel.f.silva@hotmail.com, olga_soaresmelo@hotmail.com e catppmota@utad.pt Esta investigação foi parcialmente suportada pela Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia – FCT através do projecto: PEst-C/PSI/UI0050/2011 e ainda pelos fundos FEDER através do programa COMPETE com a referência: FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-022714. Silva, A. R., Melo, O., Mota, C. P. 1312 (SSA) and Munich Individuation Test of Adolescence (MITA). The results showed that young peole of intact families had a more successful individuation compared to young people from divorced families, and showed the predictive power of family support perception in the development of individuation. In this sense, this study showed the importance of setting and family support to a successful individuation.