Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship of the family system and parent-adolescent communication with the adolescence egocentrism. Five hundreds and seventy Korean boys from the age of 13 to 23 answered the Adolescence Egocentrism Scale, the FACES III and the FAGI. The results revealed that imaginary audience of the middle and the late adolescents were higher than those of the early, which is consistent with the results of the previous Korean studies. The analyses of functional family system showed that the families with 16 or 17 year-old boys provided environments lacking in family cohesion and adaptability and also fathers of which used less open and more problemed communication. In the relationship of family system with the adolescence egocentrism, it was found that boys with the enmeshed level of family cohesion and the chaotic level of family adaptability were higher than those the lower level in adolescence egocentrism. The lower DFC score was, the less adolescence egocentrism was. In addition, the problemed communication with parents was positively associated with the adolescence egocentrism. These results suggest that family system and parent-adolescent communication is important in aquiring the skills and knowledge of interpersonal interactions and might be related with the adolescence egocentrism.