Abstract
Gibson's theory of affordances offers environmental psychology a method of examining the functional significance of environments for adolescents. The aim of this study was to develop rating scales that would measure the affordances of the home, neighbourhood, school and town centre for adolescents. The affordances measured related to two developmental needs in adolescence, the need for places of social interaction and for places of retreat. Five hundred and thirty-nine adolescents aged between 11 and 16 years rated the number of places available for 34 different affordances in each of the environments. The neighbourhood, school and town centre all supported both social interaction and retreat behaviours. The home environment did not support social interaction behaviours; it instead provided affordances for two different types of retreat, retreat involving close friends and retreat involving seeking out security. Gender and age differences in scale scores and how often the environments are used were also explored. In conclusion, utilising Gibson's theory of affordances enabled a systematic comparison of the affordances of adolescents' key environments to be carried out. Gibson's theory of affordances is a useful methodology for examining the functional significance of environments for different user groups. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd.