Parent-Adolescent Relationships and Influences

No aspect of adolescent development has received more attention from the public and from researchers than the topic of this chapter. Much of the research indicates that despite altered patterns of interaction, parent-child relationships remain important social and emotional resources well beyond the childhood years (for recent reviews, see Grotevant, 1998; Steinberg, 2001; Steinberg & Silk, 2002). The aim of this chapter is to specify the processes of relationships that sustain the centrality of familial relationships amid the extensive changes of adolescence. Like Grotevant (1998), this chapter espouses the view that the content and quality of relationships, rather than the actions of either parent or adolescent alone, determine the nature and extent of parental influences on development in and beyond adolescence.