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ABSTRACT
The present study endeavours to cast a glance at the ability of interpersonal communication among adolescents. The sample comprised of 50 adolescents (25 girls and 25 boys, age range from 10-14 years selected from government schools of Lucknow city. Self-devised sentence completion blanks were used to find out the ability of interpersonal communication among adolescents. Content analysis of the data was done and percentages were computed. Results indicate that boys were good in interpersonal skills and positively perceive their communication skills as compared to girls and they also have potential of effective interaction with others.
Key words: Interpersonal communication, Adolescents, India, Lucknow.
INTRODUCTION
The word 'Adolescent' has its literal meaning that means "to grow" or "to grow to maturity" but in the present context this term has broader significance. Adolescence is a period which can be compared with stormy stress. Hurlock (1950) believed that "The adolescent year extends from the onset of puberty between the ages of eleven and thirteen years in the average child, to the age of maturity, twenty one years."
Adolescent period is a phase of conflict and at that time problems like peer pressure, stress, anxiety, interpersonal conflict, cognitive problems such as lack of problem solving, decision making, behavioural and emotional problems like inability to communicate with others can be seen. Adolescence also needs to develop communication skills to communicate at the social level. The skills of effective interpersonal communication are essential for them. The literal meaning of 'interpersonal communication' is the interaction between people. For a better understanding of this concept, it appears necessary to describe it in appropriate manner.
A child starts expressing to communicate his feelings through emotions in the beginning and later on he tries to attempt this with the use of language and his effective interpersonal communication skills. Further in this regard Knapp and Daly (2002) defined this concept in the following lines: "Interpersonal communication can mean the ability to relate to people in written as well as verbal communication. This type of communication can occur in both a one-one and a group setting. This also brings mean able to handle different people in different situations and making people feel at ease. Gestures such as eye-contact, body movement and hand gestures are also...