Adolescents, Families, and Social Development: How Teens Construct Their Worlds

Adolescence is an important developmental period that poses significant challenges for both teens and parents. Although adolescents may become significant sources of irritation and frustration to parents, it is clear now that notions of adolescence as a time of storm and stress are overstated. In this book, Smetana proposes that adolescents′ conflicts and disagreements with parents and their attempts to keep secrets and manage personal information are all reflections of adolescents′ developing autonomy. Using examples from extensive interviews with adolescents and parents, Smetana illustrates how adolescents and parents in different contexts actively negotiate autonomy and coordinate concerns with autonomy and personal choice with their developing understanding of society and social conventions, safety and health, and moral concerns with justice, welfare, and rights. Smetana draws on social domain theory to consider adolescent–parent relationships, parenting beliefs, and parenting practices among families of different cultures and ethnicities. Drawing on the author′s 25 years of research, as well as popular sources and scholarly research drawn from anthropology, history, sociology, and psychology, this book provides an in–depth examination of adolescent social development in the context of the family.

Preface. 1 Introduction: Perspectives on Adolescents and Their Families. 2 Studying Adolescent–Parent Relationships from the Lens of Developmental Psychology. 3 Conflicts and Their Vicissitudes. 4 Parents′ Voices: Conflicts and Social Conventions. 5 Adolescents′ Voices: Autonomy and the Personal Domain. 6 Autonomy, Conflict, Connectedness, and Culture. 7 Adolescent Relationships and Development within and between Cultures. 8 Adolescent–Parent Relationships in African American Families. 9 Beliefs about Parental Authority. 10 Parenting Styles and Practices. 11 Disclosure and Secrecy in Adolescent–Parent Relationships. 12 Coordinations and Change in Social Development. 13 Life beyond Adolescence: Transitions to Adulthood. References. Author Index. Subject Index.

Judith G. Smetana is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Ph.D. Program in Developmental Psychology at the University of Rochester, where she also held the Frederika Warner Chair in Human Development from 1995 to 1998. She has served on the editorial boards of numerous journals, and she is the author of more than 150 articles and chapters on the development of children′s moral and social reasoning and on adolescent–parent relationships in different ethnic and cultural contexts.

“Overall, this book gives great detail on adolescent parent relationships and how they effect the development of children . . . This is a comforting message, one very different from popular accounts, and one that parents and adolescents would benefit from appreciating”  ( Journal of Youth & Adolescence , 5 December 2012) “Few scholars have influenced the contemporary study of adolescent–parent relationships as much as Judith Smetana. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the ways in which family relationships are transformed during this stage of life.” — Laurence Steinberg , Temple University “In this very thoughtful book Judith Smetana provides deep and insightful understandings of adolescence. Smetana masterfully positions adolescence in explanations of difficulties and developmental progress during these years. This splendid book is indispensable for anyone interested in adolescence, social and family relationships, moral theory, culture, and development.” — Elliot Turiel, University of California Berkeley