Family Influences on Adolescent Development

The topic “family influences on adolescent development” often has conjured up popular images in western societies of emotional turmoil, conflict, and rebellion by the young in reference to their parents. Fueled by dated theories and media stereotypes, parent-adolescent turmoil was supposed to be a normal occurrence triggered, in part, by raging hormones, dramatic physiological changes, re-emerging sexual impulses, and rapidly changing social expectations for the young. Throughout much of the past century, adolescence was thought to be a developmental stage characterized by “storm and stress,” declining family influences, and a growing separation from parents (Arnett, 1999; Blos, 1979; Davis, 1960; Freud, 1969; Hall, 1904). In marked contrast, much less attention was focused, until recent decades, on the development of adaptive qualities, such as how social competence is fostered in adolescents through their socialization experiences within families (Peterson & Leigh, 1990; Peterson & Bush, 2003).