Joyce Allen
University of Phoenix
The Effect of Adolescence on Family Relationships
Adolescence and young adulthood is a time of continued cognitive development. This is the stage in life that is associated with the increase and subsequent decrease of impulsively taking risk. Peer relations are extremely important for teens in that they experience a whole new realm of reality, unique to themselves. The frequency of time spent with peers increases as the time spent with parents and family throughout the course of adolescence (Savin-Williams and Berndt, 1990). The roles of the family established during childhood helped the family unit to keep a system of equilibrium. During adolescence, teens are looking for a different kind of support from their family and this may be a stressful time for the family until a new system of equilibrium is established. In this paper, I will explain how adolescence can change and effect the continuity of life span development in family relationships.
According to the American Heritage Dictionary, adolescence is defined as the period of psychological development from the onset of puberty to maturity. They are going through so many changes, emotional, physical, psychological, and social. Parents may find themselves pushing their family budget to its limits to help keep up with trends of peer culture. Also parent-adolescent relations are pushed to the limits as well. “Adolescence is marked by disagreements, bickerings, emotional tensions, and minor conflicts with parents over everyday details of family life, such as chores, feeding pets, doing school work, and getting along with siblings”(Shulman, 1991, p.155). The conflicts increase between ages of 10 and 15 and then decreases. Parents beliefs may also influence their interactions when dealing with adolescence. This is also where less effective management occurs, less monitoring, discipline, and reinforcement of
References: Adolescence. (n.d.). The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved July 06, 2008 from Dictionary.com web site: http://dictonary.reference.com/browser.adolescence. Riera, M., 1995. Uncommon Advice for Parents with Teenagers: Celestial Arts: Berkley, CA. Sarvin-Williams, R.C., and Berndt, T.J., (1990). Friendship and Peer Relations. At the threshold. (pp.277-307) Cambridge, Massachussetts. Shulman, S. (Ed.). 1991). Close relationships and socioemotional development. Norwood, NJ: Alex Publishing Corp.