Adolescent development Samenvatting 2
Chapter 4 - What is the influence of the family context on
adolescence?
Adolescents (dis)agree with their parents + are willing to accept their rules
- Agree when issue is moral one or issue of safety
- Disagree when issue is personal
Family systems theory: perspective on family functioning that emphasizes interconnections among
different family relationships period of change and reorganization in family relationships and
daily interactions
What impact could an overlap in life crisis have on family relationships?
Parents in their forties when child reaches adolescence time of midlife crisis: psychological crisis
over identity believed to occur between ages of 35 and 45
- Midlife meets adolescence: certain overlap in crisis and is likely to have an impact on family
relationships
Adolescence is most physically attractive & parents have increased concern about
bodies and physical attractiveness
Adults start to measure time in terms of how much longer they have to live, while
adolescents measure time in terms of how long they have been alive
Adolescence is time of endless possibilities, while midlife starts to accept consequences
of choices made earlier in life
Adolescents and parents adjust different in ethnic groups certain cultures are more likely to
stress family obligations
- Some cultures high value on familism: orientation toward life in which needs of one’s family
take precedence over needs of individual
- Generational dissonance: divergence of views between adolescents and parents common
in families of immigrant parents and adolescents born in America
Transitions of adolescence, changes in midlife experienced by parents and changes of family
experiences during this stage set in motion a series of transformations in family relationships:
- Changes in balance of power: adolescents try to play a more forceful role in family and
slowly with age they have more power
- Role of puberty: puberty seems to distance adolescents from their parents and there is more
bickering
According to Diana Baumrind (psychologist) 2 aspects of behavior of parents toward adolescent
are critical:
1. Parental responsiveness: extent to which parent responds to child’s needs in an accepting,
supportive manner
2. Parental demandingness: degree to which parent expects and demands mature, responsible
behavior
, Possible combinations of these 2 dimensions lead to following four styles of parenting:
1. Authoritative parents: parents who use warmth, firm control and rational, issue-oriented
discipline, in which emphasis is placed on development of self-direction
2. Authoritarian parents: parents who use punitive, absolute, and forceful discipline and who
place a premium on obedience and conformity
3. Indulgent parents: parent who are characterized by responsiveness but low demandingness,
and who are mostly concerned with happiness of child
4. Indifferent parents: parents who are characterized by low levels of both responsiveness and
demandingness
Adolescents are best with authoritative style of parenting no matter ethnicity, social class, and
family structure of the family linked to healthy adolescent development because of reasons:
- Parents provide an appropriate balance between restictiveness and autonomy
- Parents are more likely to promote the sort of intellectual development that provides an
important foundation for the development of maturity
- Adolescents are more likely to form strong attachments to these kind of parents
- The child’s own behavior, temperament and personality shape parenting practices
What are the genetic influences on adolescent development?
Behavioral genetics: scientific study of genetic influences on behavior Genetic influences is
studied in 3 main ways:
1. Studying adolescents who are twins Identical twins more similar than fraternal twins?
2. Studying adopted adolescents More like their biological parents or adoptive parents?
3. Studying adolescents and their sibling in stepfamilies
Molecular genetics: scientific study of structure and function of genes scientists have identified
specific genes that are linked to particular traits
Alleles: different versions of same gene, which arise because of genetic mutations may guide
development in different directions
Researches distinguish between 2 types of environmental influences in studies of genetic and
environmental influences on development of adolescents:
1. Shared environmental influences: nongenetic influences that make individuals living in same
family similar to each other
2. Nonshared environmental influences: nongenetic influences in individuals’ lives that make
them different from people they live with
Genes may shape tendencies, but whether tendencies are actualized often depends on environment
and the inverse 2 models:
- Diathesis-stress model: perspective on psychological disorders problems are result of
interaction between a preexisting condition (the diathesis) and exposure to stress in
environment
- Differential susceptibility theory: same genetic tendencies that make individual susceptible
to develop problems when exposed to adverse environmental influences also make him or
her likely to thrive when exposed to positive environmental influences
People can grow the same way in any environment and others thrive under good
conditions but languish under bad ones
Chapter 4 - What is the influence of the family context on
adolescence?
Adolescents (dis)agree with their parents + are willing to accept their rules
- Agree when issue is moral one or issue of safety
- Disagree when issue is personal
Family systems theory: perspective on family functioning that emphasizes interconnections among
different family relationships period of change and reorganization in family relationships and
daily interactions
What impact could an overlap in life crisis have on family relationships?
Parents in their forties when child reaches adolescence time of midlife crisis: psychological crisis
over identity believed to occur between ages of 35 and 45
- Midlife meets adolescence: certain overlap in crisis and is likely to have an impact on family
relationships
Adolescence is most physically attractive & parents have increased concern about
bodies and physical attractiveness
Adults start to measure time in terms of how much longer they have to live, while
adolescents measure time in terms of how long they have been alive
Adolescence is time of endless possibilities, while midlife starts to accept consequences
of choices made earlier in life
Adolescents and parents adjust different in ethnic groups certain cultures are more likely to
stress family obligations
- Some cultures high value on familism: orientation toward life in which needs of one’s family
take precedence over needs of individual
- Generational dissonance: divergence of views between adolescents and parents common
in families of immigrant parents and adolescents born in America
Transitions of adolescence, changes in midlife experienced by parents and changes of family
experiences during this stage set in motion a series of transformations in family relationships:
- Changes in balance of power: adolescents try to play a more forceful role in family and
slowly with age they have more power
- Role of puberty: puberty seems to distance adolescents from their parents and there is more
bickering
According to Diana Baumrind (psychologist) 2 aspects of behavior of parents toward adolescent
are critical:
1. Parental responsiveness: extent to which parent responds to child’s needs in an accepting,
supportive manner
2. Parental demandingness: degree to which parent expects and demands mature, responsible
behavior
, Possible combinations of these 2 dimensions lead to following four styles of parenting:
1. Authoritative parents: parents who use warmth, firm control and rational, issue-oriented
discipline, in which emphasis is placed on development of self-direction
2. Authoritarian parents: parents who use punitive, absolute, and forceful discipline and who
place a premium on obedience and conformity
3. Indulgent parents: parent who are characterized by responsiveness but low demandingness,
and who are mostly concerned with happiness of child
4. Indifferent parents: parents who are characterized by low levels of both responsiveness and
demandingness
Adolescents are best with authoritative style of parenting no matter ethnicity, social class, and
family structure of the family linked to healthy adolescent development because of reasons:
- Parents provide an appropriate balance between restictiveness and autonomy
- Parents are more likely to promote the sort of intellectual development that provides an
important foundation for the development of maturity
- Adolescents are more likely to form strong attachments to these kind of parents
- The child’s own behavior, temperament and personality shape parenting practices
What are the genetic influences on adolescent development?
Behavioral genetics: scientific study of genetic influences on behavior Genetic influences is
studied in 3 main ways:
1. Studying adolescents who are twins Identical twins more similar than fraternal twins?
2. Studying adopted adolescents More like their biological parents or adoptive parents?
3. Studying adolescents and their sibling in stepfamilies
Molecular genetics: scientific study of structure and function of genes scientists have identified
specific genes that are linked to particular traits
Alleles: different versions of same gene, which arise because of genetic mutations may guide
development in different directions
Researches distinguish between 2 types of environmental influences in studies of genetic and
environmental influences on development of adolescents:
1. Shared environmental influences: nongenetic influences that make individuals living in same
family similar to each other
2. Nonshared environmental influences: nongenetic influences in individuals’ lives that make
them different from people they live with
Genes may shape tendencies, but whether tendencies are actualized often depends on environment
and the inverse 2 models:
- Diathesis-stress model: perspective on psychological disorders problems are result of
interaction between a preexisting condition (the diathesis) and exposure to stress in
environment
- Differential susceptibility theory: same genetic tendencies that make individual susceptible
to develop problems when exposed to adverse environmental influences also make him or
her likely to thrive when exposed to positive environmental influences
People can grow the same way in any environment and others thrive under good
conditions but languish under bad ones
