Stress and interpersonal relations: a descriptive study on adolescents

The aim of this study was to analyze the gender and age differences in interpersonal difficulties in adolescence. The Cuestionario de Evaluación de Dificultades Interpersonales en la Adolescencia was administered to a representative sample of 4,240 secondary and sixth-form students between the ages of 12 and 18. Female student reported greater interpersonal difficulties in general and in the most stressful relationships (assertiveness, opposite sex, public speaking), whereas male students reported more difficulty in the easiest relationships (family, friends) (p = .000). Interpersonal difficulties increased overall with age and specifically in assertion, with the opposite sex, speaking in public and with friends, above all in mid-adolescence, although they decreased in family relationships (p < .05). However, gender differences were small (d = .20-.49), and age differences turned out to be nonsignificant except for speaking in public and with friends.