Group therapy for early adolescent relationship problems between girls

ABSTRACT Adolescence is a process rather than a specific period in an individual’s life. The focus in this study, however, was on early adolescence (11–14 years of age) and not on adolescence as a whole process. This study focused in particular on early adolescent girls, their psychosocial development and possible relationship problems. Early adolescent girls often display imbalances due to hormonal changes that in turn cause emotional reactions in especially relationships within the peer group. The researchers used semi-structured interviews in a qualitative study to deduce what kind of relationship problems seven early adolescents experienced within their peer group and how they handled the problems. Group therapy was used as therapeutic intervention, because it is often successful for interpersonal and intrapersonal psychological problems. The findings of the empirical study concurred with the above notion, as well as with findings from the literature review