Chapter Outline

Introduction

The popular media portrays adolescent-family relations in a negative manner, depicting a strong generation gap between teens and parents.
Research indicates there is little emotional distance between adolescents and their parents.
Among the 25% of families who report difficulty during adolescence, about 80% had problems before the child entered adolescence (or, only 5% of families that did not have serious problems during childhood develop serious problems during adolescence).
Little evidence for a generation gap in values between parents and adolescents.
There are much larger value differences between socio-economic groups than between generations.
There are differences in personal taste, mundane issues.
Arguments over chores, clothing, etc. are at least in part due to the fact that teenagers define these issues as matters of personal choice, while parents define them as matters of right and wrong.

Family Relationships at Adolescence

The adolescent's parents at midlife

The typical parent is 40 years old when the first child enters early adolescence.
This period of midlife can be difficult for parents, some experiencing a midlife crisis.
Unlike adolescents, parents are in the process of decline in physical ability, functioning, and attractiveness.
Parents are also becoming aware of time limitations on their future.
Parents are becoming aware of limitations on career changes and aspirations.
Parents tend to be older today when their children enter adolescence.
Parents typically report the least satisfaction in parenting and marital status when their children are passing through adolescence.
Parents tend to experience more distress when a same-sex child goes through adolescence.

Changes in family needs and functions

Adolescents require more economic resources than children.
Parents must adapt to the growing importance of the peer group and job status of their adolescents.
Parents must also adapt to the fact that adolescents do not need the same type of parenting that they did as children; adolescents need support, guidance, and direction.
Parents also must adapt to the fact that adolescents look outside of the family for important guidance and support, rather than looking to the parents for everything.

Transformations in family relations

Parents and adolescents gravitate toward more egalitarian relationships, sharing power and influence with each other.
During early adolescence, children assert themselves with their parents (e.g., interrupting more during conversations), but parents resist such power struggles.
By middle adolescence, teens have learned how to interact more appropriately, and parents allow them more influence.
Families have more conflict when individual members perceive family life in very different ways.
Parents who resist allowing teens to grow in influence are more likely to experience problems such as juvenile delinquency.
Family relations tend to change during pubertal growth, as conflict increases slightly, and closeness diminishes to a degree.
Outright (open) conflict, or "storm and stress" are not the norm, however.
Arguments tend to be over day-to-day issues such as household chores.
Diminished closeness more often is reflected in increases in privacy taken by the adolescent, as well as less frequent physical affection.
Conflicts tend to be resolved through submission or disengagement.
Adolescents are more cognitively capable of understanding their parents' shortcomings; this may contribute to increased conflict with parents.
Parents and adolescents may have very different expectations of family life and roles during adolescence; the differences in these views may also contribute to conflict.

Family Relationships and Adolescent Development

Relationships have a reciprocal influence: parenting behaviors influence children, which influence parenting styles, etc.
Parents who use corporal punishment (spanking, hitting) are more likely to have aggressive adolescents.
Adolescent temperament often changes the impact of the parent's behavior.
The connection between negative parenting and adolescent problem behavior is stronger among adolescents who are temperamentally more prone to anger.
These adolescents are also more likely to elicit negative parenting.

Parenting styles and their effects

Diana Baumrind's research describes two dimensions of parenting that are influential: responsiveness and demandingness.
Responsiveness is the degree to which a parent is accepting and supportive of a child's needs.
Demandingness is the degree to which the parent expects and demands mature, responsible behavior from the child.
These dimensions exist to different degrees in all parents; hence, there are four basic "types" of parenting styles.
Authoritative parents are very supportive and have high expectations.
Authoritarian parents are not very supportive but have high expectations.
Indulgent parents are very supportive but have low expectations.
Indifferent parents are not very supportive and have low expectations.
Teens raised by authoritative parents are more responsible, self-confident, adaptive, creative, curious, and have higher social and academic skills than other teens.
Teens raised by authoritarian parents are more dependent, passive, have weaker social skills, and are less intellectually curious.
Teens raised by indulgent parents are less mature, responsible, more susceptible to peer pressure, and less capable of adopting leadership positions.
Teens raised in indifferent homes are more impulsive, exhibit delinquent behavior more than others.
Nonresponsiveness tends to influence females more negatively than males.
Nondemandingness tends to influence males more negatively than females.
Abusive parenting is particularly harmful, and is linked to adolescent depression and later domestic violence.
Authoritative parenting includes warmth, structure, and support for autonomy.
Allows teen to develop self-reliance, but also sets standards.
Authoritative families are more capable of adapting to new stages in the family life cycle.
Engaging children in verbal give-and-take helps develop the intellectual ability of the child.
It helps the child understand social systems and social relationships.
Authoritative parenting promotes identification with parents, leading adolescents to be more open to parental influence.
Responsible, mature children elicit authoritative parenting.

Ethnic differences in parenting practices

Authoritative parenting is less common among African-American, Asian-American, and Hispanic-American families, but these children benefit from it just as much as Caucasian children.
Authoritarian parenting is more common among minority group families; but it does not seem to have negative effects on children that are as strong as they are among Caucasian children.
Authoritarian parenting may be more necessary in the contexts of minority family life.

Autonomy and attachment in the adolescent's family

In verbal interactions, "healthy" families allow individuals to express themselves in autonomous ways while remaining meaningfully connected to each other.
Teens are encouraged to express their own opinions, even if this leads to disagreement.
These teens develop higher self-esteem and more mature coping abilities.
Teens whose autonomy is suppressed are more likely to become depressed.

The sexes: Are there sex differences in adolescents' family relationships?

Differences between the family relations of sons and daughters is minimal.
Closeness, conflict, rules, activities are similar.
Adolescents tend to be closer to their mothers, but also have more arguments with their mothers.
Fathers and daughters may be more distant from one another, perhaps due to unconscious taboos against incest.

Adolescents' relationships with siblings

Relationships become more egalitarian, but more distant and less emotionally intense.
Relationships tend to remain stable; those who are close remain close.
Conflict between siblings increases during early adolescence, but diminishes during middle and late adolescence.
Harmony in parent-child relationships predicts less conflict between siblings.
Positive sibling relationships contribute to school competence, sociability, autonomy, and self-worth.
Can ameliorate the negative effects of not having many friends outside the family.
But negative sibling relationships can influence the development of problem behavior.

Behavioral genetics and adolescent development

Studies in behavioral genetics examine twins who are identical and non-identical (fraternal), and also compare siblings who were adopted into different families.
Shared environmental experiences are factors that siblings experience about equally, and thus make them similar.
Nonshared environmental experiences are unique experiences that make siblings different.
Genes and nonshared experiences seem to exert a greater influence than shared environmental experiences.
Aggressive behavior is more biologically driven than other behaviors.
Genes have been found to influence emotional distress, such as suicidal behavior and depression.
Genes also influence adolescent competence, self-image, and intelligence.
Further, genes influence levels of conflict, support, and family involvement.
Unequal treatment by parents can cause conflict among siblings, and is linked to depression and antisocial behavior in teens.

Adolescents and adoption

Problem behavior is more common among adolescents who were adopted later in childhood than those adopted earlier.
Adopted individuals show higher levels of delinquency and substance use, and lower school achievement, but lower rates of withdrawal and interpersonal problems and higher rates of prosocial behavior.

The Adolescent's Family in a Changing Society

An increasing number of families in American society came from other countries.
1/5 of youngsters are only children, while 1/6 have three or more siblings.
The family remains an extremely important influence on adolescent development.
Having positive and warm family relationships remains a powerful predictor of healthy psychosocial growth during adolescence.
Demographers estimate that 2/3 of all marriages will experience divorce or separation, and that 50% of teenagers today will spend on average 5 years in a single parent home.
African-American youth are much more likely to grow up in such circumstances.
Only 15% of adolescents in single parent homes live with their father.
More than 75% of divorced parents remarry.
The divorce rate is higher for second marriages.
Nearly 80% of single mothers with adolescents work outside the home.
Nearly 25% of adolescents grow up in poor families.

Adolescent Development and the Changing Family

Adolescents, divorce, and single-parent families

The quality of the parenting matters more than the number of parents.
In fact, teens in divorced, single parent homes describe their parents as friendlier, and are in a relatively more positive mood when with their family than when with friends.
The PROCESS of going through the divorce is negative for kids, rather than life after divorce.
Exposure to marital conflict is predictive of adolescent development.
Genetics may also play a role here. Adults who divorce are different from those who don't in aggression, antisocial behavior, and predispositions to emotional and behavioral problems; these traits are likely passed on to their children.
Immediate negative effects seem to be stronger for boys, younger children, children with more difficult temperaments, those without supportive relationships outside the family, and children whose parents divorce during childhood or preadolescence.
Contact with the father after divorce does not necessarily lessen the negative effects of divorce.
For African-American youth, social support outside the family is especially important.

The scientific study of adolescence: Parental divorce and the well-being of adolescents

Apparent inconsistencies between different studies are more common when the effect size is small. The effect size is the difference between two groups being compared in one study.
Due to different sample sizes in different studies, similar effect sizes can be statistically judged to be "significant" in one study and not the other.
A statistical procedure called "meta-analysis" is used to combine the results of different studies, thus "summarizing" the results and providing a clearer picture of the nature of the issues and characteristics in question.
Amato & Keith conducted a meta-analysis of research on the effects of divorce, and found that while divorce clearly affects children's well-being, the average effect size is small.
The effects tend to be smaller for U.S. children than for those outside the U.S. This finding is likely due to the fact that divorce is a more common event in the U.S.

The specific impact of marital conflict

Usually conflict exists long before divorce.
Children are harmed more by open than hidden conflict.
More harmful when conflict leads to feelings of insecurity, self-blame, or threat.
More harmful when marital conflict affects the quality of the parent-child relationships.

The longer-term effects of divorce

Effects can last years - more drug use, behavior problems, lower school performance, trouble in relationships with others during adulthood.
Some negative effects seem to last into young adulthood (30s).
"Sleeper" effects - affect adolescents' conceptions of relationships or commitment.

Custody, contact, and conflict following divorce

The nature of mother-father relationship, rather than who the child lives with, predicts adolescent outcomes.
Children fare better either with mother or under dual-custody arrangements after divorce.
Existence of conflict, and consistency of discipline, affect adjustment.
Studies of the levels and types of self-disclosure between parents and adolescents after divorce indicate that when parents complain about ex-spouses, adolescents suffer.

Remarriage

Adolescents growing up with a step-parent tend to have more problems than other teens.
Multiplication of possible conflict between adults, and inconsistent discipline.
Girls show more difficulty adjusting to remarriage.
Over time, gender differences in adjustment tend to disappear.
Use of authoritative parenting in such families predicts more positive outcomes for teens.
Consistency of discipline between custodial and non-custodial parents also predicts positive outcomes.

Parental employment and adolescent adjustment

Maternal employment has positive effects on daughters but mixed effects on sons.
Girls with working mothers have higher career aspirations.
Maternal employment is associated with lower school aspirations among boys but not girls (at least in middle- and upper-class homes).
It may be that boys need more vigilant parental monitoring.
Boys have more arguments with family members if the mother works.
The level of satisfaction the mother has toward working factors into the type of effects maternal employment has upon the family.

Economic stress and poverty

Parental income loss is associated with disruptions in parenting, which can lead to increases in problem behaviors in adolescents.
Associated with more frequent problems between fathers and sons.
Increases mothers' and fathers' feelings of depression.
Increases conflicts between parents and children regarding money.
Poverty undermines parental effectiveness, is associated with harsher parenting, and emotional difficulties in the parents.
Poor children are more likely to be victims of violence, to feel more alienated from school, and experience more stress.
Adequate sources of social support and religious affiliation can ameliorate the effects of poverty.

Promotive strategies, which focus on effective parenting at home and facilitating positive connections for the child outside the home, and restrictive strategies, which strive to restrict the child's exposure to neighborhood dangers, both have positive effects on child development.

2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education
Any use is subject to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
McGraw-Hill Higher Education is one of the many fine businesses of The McGraw-Hill Companies.