Transition to Adulthood and Family Relations: An Intergenerational Perspective (Studies in Adolescent Development)

160 Pages·2006·1.43 MB·English

by  Eugenia Scabini

The Transition to Adulthood and
Family Relations

The Transition to Adulthood and
Family Relations
An Intergenerational Perspective
Eugenia Scabini, Elena Marta and Margherita Lanz

HOVE AND NEW YORK
First published 2006 by Psychology Press,
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Scabini, Eugenia.
The transition to adulthood and family relations: an
intergenerational approach/Eugenia Scabini, Elena Marta and
Margherita Lanz.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-84169-380-4 (hardcover)
1. Parent and teenager. 2. Parent and adult child. 3. Teenagers-
Family relationships. 4. Young adults-Family relationships.
5. Adulthood. 6. Family. 7. Intergenerational relations. I. Marta,
Elena. II. Lanz, Margherita. III. Title.
HQ799.15.S32 2005
306.874–dc22
2005035830

ISBN 0-203-96522-1 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN10:1-84169-380-4 (hbk)
ISBN13:978-1-84169-380-4 (hbk)
To Sandy Jackson

Contents

Series preface ix
Introduction xi
Acknowledgement xv

1
PART I The theoretical and methodological background

1 The identity of the family 3
2 “Family research” versus “family-related research”: a crucial difference 28

41
PART II An analysis of family relationships by gender and generation

3 Parents and children face to face: an analysis of relations and family 43

functioning by gender and generation
4 Family relations, psychosocial risk, prosocial behaviour, planning for the 64

future: parents and children face to face
Concluding remarks and new research questions 92

Notes 103
Appendix 105
References 114
Author index 129
Subject index 139

Series preface
In the eyes of the mass media and in the minds of many adults, adolescents are often
portrayed in largely negative terms, focusing on features such as their noisy and
exuberant social behaviour, teenage gangs and their often violent, anti-social activities,
teenage pregnancy, drinking, smoking drug-taking, anti-school attitudes and
disagreements with parents.
Such portrayals are painted as if they were typical of what most, if not all, adolescents
do, and, accordingly, regarded as a justification for adult society to consider the teenage
years as a problem period in human development and adolescents as a problem for
society.
For much of the 20th century, this popular, stereotypic picture was supported by what
was written by social scientists in books and other publications, which presented
adolescence as a period of “storm and stress”. Adolescence was seen as a period of
turbulence, inner turmoil and confusion, characterised by conflicts with parents, teachers
and other authority figures.
Over the last three decades of the 20th century important theoretical changes began to
emerge. Psychologists began to question the “storm and stress” perspective and to
provide evidence that this developmental pattern was neither a typical nor a necessary
part of adolescence. In parallel with this, a less problem-centred approach to thinking
about adolescence began to emerge: an approach which emphasized processes of change
and adjustment which young people undergo in responding to the varied tasks and
transitions which they face. An increasing number of books and articles on adolescence
began to appear which differed markedly from earlier publications in emphasis and
orientation. In contrast to the clinical perspective, this new work was based on a more
empirical approach and focused upon a variety of different aspects of adolescent
development. Further, longitudinal assessments over large time spans basically support
the idea of a more gradual change leading to an overall positive outcome. Such
publications stimulated further interest in adolescence as an area of study and in doing so
started a process which led on to the emergence of research on adolescence as one of the
most active fields in developmental psychological research. As a result, discussion of
many aspects of adolescence has become a prominent feature of developmental
conferences and scientific journals in Europe and elsewhere.
However, times change. The early years of the new millennium have seen
technological innovations, global risks from terrorism and demographic shifts occurring
in most countries of the world. For example, there are now as many people over the age
of sixty-five years as there are teenagers in most of the world’s societies. Macrosocial
changes such as growing up in a context of ethnic diversity and living in single-parent
families are increasingly experienced by adolescents in Western industrialized countries.