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Taking adolescents’ agency in socialization seriously: The role of appraisals and cognitive‐behavioral responses in autonomy‐relevant parenting
Author(s) -
Soenens Bart,
Vansteenkiste Maarten
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
new directions for child and adolescent development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.628
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1534-8687
pISSN - 1520-3247
DOI - 10.1002/cad.20370
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , socialization , child rearing , psychosocial , agency (philosophy) , autonomy , parenting styles , context (archaeology) , cognition , social psychology , neuroscience , political science , law , paleontology , philosophy , epistemology , psychiatry , biology
Parent–adolescent relationships are highly bidirectional in nature, with parental behaviors affecting adolescents’ adjustment and with adolescents’ behaviors, in turn, eliciting parental practices. However, there is more to adolescents’ agency in the socialization process than simple reciprocity. Adolescents contribute actively to the quality and nature of the parent–adolescent relationship by giving meaning to parental behaviors and by engaging in cognitive‐behavioral responses to parenting. These processes are discussed in the context of autonomy‐relevant parenting, a dimension of parenting with pivotal importance for adolescents’ psychosocial adjustment. We call for more research on the micro‐processes involved in adolescents’ agency because such research can yield a deeper insight in adolescents’ differential susceptibility to parenting (depending on factors such as age, culture, and personality). It can also help to explain the multifinality involved in parenting, with, for instance, controlling parenting relating to distinct developmental problems in different adolescents. Finally, such research has applied value because it can help identify adolescents most at risk for the consequences of adverse parenting, and because it can help inform prevention programs aimed at strengthening constructive parent–adolescent communication.