Samenvatting Boek Adolescent Development Deeltentamen 2
Chapter 4 – Families
Self-fulfilling prophecy = an expectation that is realized because we act in ways that make it
happen. The more parents believe in the stereotype of adolescents as difficult, the more
they expect their own child to conform it, and the worse their relationship with their
teenager becomes.
Family systems theory = A perspective on family functioning that emphasizes
interconnections among different family relationships. According to family systems theory,
relationships in families changes most dramatically during times when individual family
members or the family’s circumstances are changing because it is during these times that
the family’s equilibrium often is upset.
A major contributor to adolescent-parent bickering is the fact that teenagers and their
parents define the issues of contention very differently. Parents view many issues as matters
of right and wrong. Adolescents, in contrast, are likely to define these same issues as matters
of personal choice. One reason that teenagers and their parents argue as much as they do is
that as they mature cognitively, adolescents come to view many issues that they previously
saw as legitimate for their parents to regulate as matters of personal choice. When parents
attempt to regulate what adolescents believe are personal issues, teens are likely to describe
their parents as being overly controlling.
But it is important to also look at the parents influence in the arguing instead of only the
adolescence influence. Because people typically have their first child around age 30, most
parents are in their early 40s when the first child enters early adolescence. This age can a
potentially difficult time for many adults, whether they have children or not (for example
think about the midlife crisis).
Midlife meets adolescence: At the same time that adolescents are entering into a period of
rapid physical growth, sexual maturation, and, ultimately, the period of the life span that
society has labeled one of the most physically attractive, their parents are beginning to feel
increased concern about their own bodies, about their physical attractiveness, and about
their sexual appeal. A second overlap of crises concerns perceptions of time and the future.
At the same time that adolescents are developing the capability to think about the future,
their parents are beginning to feel that possibilities for changing their own lives are limited.
Finally, consider the issue of power, status, and entrance into the roles of adulthood. For
adolescents, this phase in the family life cycle is at time of boundless horizons, for their
parents it means coming to terms with choices made when they were younger.
Together, the biological, cognitive, and social transitions of adolescence; the changes
experienced by adults at midlife; and the changes undergone by the family during this stage
set in motion a series of transformations in family relationships. The distancing that takes
places between parents and teenagers in early and middle adolescence is temporary.
Between ages 16 and 20, as adolescents begin to feel more independent, their relationships
with their parents improve.
,Parental responsiveness is the degree to which the parent responds to the child’s needs in
an accepting, supportive manner.
Parental demandingness is the extent to which the parent expects and demands mature,
responsible behavior.
Four styles of parenting
- Authoritative parents are warm but firm.
- Authoritarian parents value obedience and conformity.
- Indulgent parents behave in an accepting, benign, and more passive way in matters
of discipline.
- Indifferent parents do whatever is necessary to minimize the time and energy they
must devote to interacting with their child.
Young people who have been raised in authoritative households are more psychologically
mature than those who have been raised in authoritarian, indulgent, or indifferent homes.
Adolescents raised in authoritative homes are more responsible, self-assured, creative,
curious, socially skilled, academically successful, and able to regulate their emotions and
behavior. Adolescent raised in authoritarian homes, in contrast, are more dependent, more
passive, less socially adepts, less self-assured, and less curious. Adolescents raised in
indulgent households are less mature, less responsible, and more conforming to their peers.
Adolescents raised in different homes are often impulsive and more likely to be involved in
delinquent behavior and in precocious experimentation with sex, drugs, and alcohol.
Why is authoritative parenting so consistently associated with healthy adolescent
development? First, authoritative parents provide an appropriate balance between
restrictiveness and autonomy, giving the adolescent opportunities to develop self-control
while providing the standards, limits, and guidelines that teenagers still need. Second,
, because authoritative parents are more likely to engage their children in verbal give-and-
take, they are likely to promote the sort of intellectual development that provides an
important foundation for the development of maturity. Third, because authoritative
parenting is based on a warm parent-child relationship, adolescents are more likely to
identify with, admire, and form strong attachments to their parents, which makes them
more open to their parents’ influence.
Harmony and cohesiveness in the parent-adolescent relationship are associated with less
sibling conflict and a more positive sibling relationship.
Shared environmental influences = nongenetic influences that make individuals living in the
same family similar to each other.
Nonshared environmental influences = the nongenetic influences in individuals’ lives that
make them different from people they live with.
Genes may shape tendencies, but whether these tendencies are actualized often depends on
the environment. The inverse is also true. People who are exposed to the same environment
may be affected differently as a consequence of their genes.
Diathesis-stress model = a perspective on psychological disorder that posits that problems
are the result of an interaction between a preexisting condition (the diathesis) and exposure
to stress in the environment.
Differential susceptibility theory = the idea that the same genetic tendencies that make and
individual especially susceptible to develop problems when exposed to adverse
environmental influences also make him or her especially likely to thrive when exposed to
positive environmental influences.
Chapter 5 – Peer Groups
Time spent with peers increases steadily over the course of adolescence. It’s easy to see
why: adolescents’ moods are most positive when they are with their friends, time spent with
friends becomes more rewarding over the course of adolescence, and teenagers’ moods
become more positive over the course of the week, as the weekend approaches.
Peer groups = groups of people who are roughly the same age.
Generally speaking, in modern society, all individuals are expected to learn the same set of
norms because the rules governing behavior apply equally to all members of the community.
Under these circumstances, it is not wise to limit the socialization of adolescents to the
family because doing so does not ensure that all youngsters will learn the same set of norms.
Post figurative cultures = cultures in which the socialization of young people is done
primarily by adults. Culture change is in these societies so slow, that what a child needs to
know to function as an adult change very little over time. The way in which older generations
have lived is almost identical to the way in which subsequent generations will live.
