Characteristics of adolescents' conversations: A longitudinal study

Abstract

This study reports a longitudinal investigation of conversational behaviours within normal adolescents (grade 7/age 12–13 years to grade 12/age 17–18 years). Four males and four females were studied under two experimental conditions: talking with an unfamiliar adult of the opposite gender and talking with a peer of one's choice. The data documented patterns of normal development during adolescence across macro-, micro-, and midlevels of conversation. The results revealed that adolescents interacting with a peer were more likely to use a variety of question types, more frequent figurative language expressions, and new and abrupt topic shifts, as well as the communication functions of entertaining, getting information, and getting the listener to feel/believe/do something. Gender-related differences revealed that males used returns to topic and the functions of getting the listener to feel/believe/do something and entertaining more frequently than females. Grade-level differences revealed three dominant patterns: (a) for some behaviours a more or less consistent trend up (or down) across grades (e.g. negative interruptions, abrupt topic shifts); (b) for other behaviours a more or less equal frequency of occurrence at seventh and twelfth grades, with significant differences in one or more middle grades (e.g. non-specific language, verbal mazes); and (c) for still others a relatively flat pattern with similar frequencies of occurrence at all grades (e.g. one-appearance negation, giving information). This study contributed to a foundation of longitudinal research on adolescents' communication, and the authors suggested expansion of this research to provide for better comparisons between normal adolescents and those with language disorders.

Key Words:

• adolescence
• conversation
• normal language development