RESUMEN
The aim of this special issue is to understand better the many changes in adolescent psychopathology have taken place over the last decades. The factors associated with adjustment problems and psychopathology in adolescence today are not necessarily the same as the factors that predicted problems and psychopathology in the past. But the basic strategies for connecting negative experiences with adolescent psychopathology remain as important today as they were for understanding adolescent psychopathology decades ago. This is well exemplified in the studies included in this Special Issue. What all this studies have in common is that parenting and the family environment are assumed to play a key role in adolescents' adjustment and psychopathology. Finally, given that all papers in this special issue are based on conference presentations at the 15th Biennial Conference of the European Association for Research on Adolescence (EARA), some more information on that conference in included in this introduction.
Asunto(s)
Psicología del Adolescente/métodos , Psicopatología/métodos , Adolescente , Femenino , Humanos , Relaciones Interpersonales , Responsabilidad Parental/psicología , Factores de RiesgoRESUMEN
We are somewhat critical of the concept of emerging adulthood as a new developmental stage in modern industrial societies, and prefer the idea of systemic mechanisms and processes as the forces and factors that influence the transitions and transformations of human change across the life course. For this reason, we are pleased to see this volume is entirely dedicated to the life-phase of emerging adulthood in Mediterranean countries, suggesting that researchers are not convinced that the characteristics of emerging adulthood would be the same for young people from different cultures. While we are very positive towards this series of articles showing that emerging adulthood in Mediterranean countries has similarities, and, yet differences to other cultures, and appreciate the diverse findings of these research projects, we would want to suggest some new and more radical strategies for future developmental research. Concretely, a move away from age-bound, stage models towards a more dynamic and systemic approach to lifespan research, simply because we cannot ignore both the past and the future, whilst contemplating the present.
Asunto(s)
Desarrollo Humano , Psicología del Desarrollo/tendencias , Adolescente , Adulto/psicología , Investigación Conductal/métodos , Investigación Conductal/tendencias , Cultura , Predicción , Humanos , Región Mediterránea , Adulto JovenRESUMEN
This qualitative interview study explored and examined the transitions surrounding emerging adulthood within the family from the parents' perspective. Interviews conducted with a purposive sample of parents (N = 59) revealed the perceived difficulties parents have in 'letting go' of their grown-up children, and in acknowledging their developing autonomy; and demonstrated a range of perceived parental strategies in response to young people's growing independence. The significance of these intertwined elements of perceived dependency, emotional tensions, and interactive behaviours for relationships in the family, and the implications for 'emerging adulthood', was discussed.