Adolescents' perception of aspects of the home environment and their attitudes toward parents, self, and external authority

Although there is extensive literature on the home environment as a socializing agent and on the perception of self and others, research relating home environment variables to adolescents' perception of themselves and others is not common. The present study, using a survey of 480 students, attempts to define and relate these two domains. Factor analyses of 16 semantic differential scales generated three dimensions--evaluation, understandability, and potency--for specifying attitudes toward self, parents, and certain external authority figures (teachers and police). In addition, factor analysis of 20 variables relating to adolescents' perception of their home environment suggested five factors: (1) extent of punishment, (2) amount of chores at home, (3) perceived parental control, (4) absence of parents, and (5) parents' attitude toward authority figures. Controlling for sex and age, these home environment factors were found to account for sizable portions of variance in certain components of the person perception domain. Particular relevance for several of these factors are discussed.