Adolescence is a period of vulnerability and profound change, during which the parental relationship remains integral to positive developmental outcomes. For adolescents in military families, parental deployment creates an additional stressor which may pose challenges to the relationship between parents and adolescents. This project was a preliminary qualitative study to develop a Theoretical model of how the parent-adolescent attachment relationship is affected by parental deployment over the deployment cycle. This researcher explored these adolescents' perception of their relationship with their parents through focus group interviews with military adolescents who have experienced parental deployment. An important explanatory and predictive factor in parent-child relationships and adjustment outcomes is Attachment Theory (Bowlby, 1969/1982). Attachment Theory provides a framework for understanding the process that occurs between parents and children that leads to positive or negative outcomes and the mechanisms that underlie relational ties. Theoretical thematic analysis was employed using an attachment framework to explore the relationship between the parents and adolescents over the course of deployment. / Master of Science

This article focuses on the development of guidelines to empower parents with adolescent children to have a better relationship with their adolescent children. A qualitative research method within the context of intervention research was followed to develop the guidelines. Three major themes and some sub-themes were identified from two focus groups with the parents and two focus groups with the adolescents. The main themes are parent-adolescent relationships, conflict and communication. Sub-themes include characteristics of a good relationship, time spend together, times of crisis, reasons for conflict, resolving conflict, effectiveness of conflict, aspects of good communication, coping with sensitive issues and dealing with unacceptable friendships. Empowerment involves the process of increasing personal, interpersonal, or political power so that individuals, families and communities can take action to improve their situations. The Strengths perspective subscribes to the notion that people have a reserve of abilities that can be expressed. When this reserve of inner power is enhanced, individuals, families or communities develop their potential, mastery and self-actualization. To empower the parents with adolescent children it is necessary for a practitioner helping the family to understand how to focus on the present and to incorporate a vision of the future in the guideline developed for parents with adolescent children. The integration of empowerment mandates parents with adolescent children, to move towards emphasizing strengths and to create solutions that incorporate elements of social action to improve their situations. / Thesis (M.A. (MW))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Thesis (M.A. (MW))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

This article focuses on the development of guidelines to empower parents with adolescent children to have a better relationship with their adolescent children. A qualitative research method within the context of intervention research was followed to develop the guidelines. Three major themes and some sub-themes were identified from two focus groups with the parents and two focus groups with the adolescents. The main themes are parent-adolescent relationships, conflict and communication. Sub-themes include characteristics of a good relationship, time spend together, times of crisis, reasons for conflict, resolving conflict, effectiveness of conflict, aspects of good communication, coping with sensitive issues and dealing with unacceptable friendships. Empowerment involves the process of increasing personal, interpersonal, or political power so that individuals, families and communities can take action to improve their situations. The Strengths perspective subscribes to the notion that people have a reserve of abilities that can be expressed. When this reserve of inner power is enhanced, individuals, families or communities develop their potential, mastery and self-actualization. To empower the parents with adolescent children it is necessary for a practitioner helping the family to understand how to focus on the present and to incorporate a vision of the future in the guideline developed for parents with adolescent children. The integration of empowerment mandates parents with adolescent children, to move towards emphasizing strengths and to create solutions that incorporate elements of social action to improve their situations. / Thesis (M.A. (MW))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

This study sought to explore how adolescents' relationships with both of their parents changed over the course of parental military deployment. Participants were 9 adolescents, 12-13 years old, that participated in a focus group. Family systems theory was the guiding lens for qualitative data analysis, which included constant comparative and open and axial coding. Two dominant patterns emerged: 1) process that promoted relationship closeness and 2) process that promoted relationship distance. Processes that promoted relationship closeness included clear communication, connectedness with the at-home parent, togetherness, and flexibility of roles. Processes that promoted relationship distance included restricted communication, at-home parent disengagement, deployed parent disconnectedness and lack of role shifting. Findings suggest processes evident in adolescent relationships with their parents during deployment indicative of adjustment outcomes. Clinical implications and future research are discussed. / Master of Science

It is well known that adolescence is a difficult stage of development, involving various aspects of development, namely biological, cognitive, social and emotional development. More recent research indicates that the turbulence and stress in adolescence are exaggerated to a great extent (Berk, 2006); yet the youth of today seem increasingly unhappy. Eating disorders, depression and suicide are some of the problems that occur more frequently in adolescence than before adolescence (Barlow & Durand, 2005). Adolescence may also involve that youth become reluctant to spend time with their parents and that they become more likely to engage in arguments with their parents. Research indicates that both parents and adolescents report that they feel less close to each other during this time (Steinberg & Morris, 2001). The purpose of this study was to investigate what adolescents' experiences were of their relationship with their parents, what influence the parent-adolescent relationship (as perceived by the adolescent) has on adolescent emotional-well-being, as well as to determine whether or not adolescents' emotional well-being can be predicted by the parent-adolescent relationship. A quantitative cross-sectional survey research design was used for the purpose of this study. The selected sample included grade 9 to l I learners at various secondary schools who fitted the selection criteria (N = 257). Data collection took place by means of various validated questionnaires to measure the parent-adolescent relationship: The Family Satisfaction Scale (Olson & Wilson, 1982), The Parent- adolescent Communication Scale (Barnes & Olson, 1982), The Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) of Armsden and Greenberg (1987). To measure adolescent emotional well-being, The Emotional Intelligence Scale (E LS) of Schutte et al. ( 1998), The Fortitude Questionnaire (FORQ) of Pretorius ( 1997), The Affectometer (AFM) of Kammann and Flett ( l 983), The General Hea lth Questionnaire (GHQ) of Goldberg and Hillier ( 1979) and a biographical questionnaire were used to gather demographic information. There were a total of 152 questions, and it took 30-45 minutes to complete. Data analysis was done by means of descriptive stati stics, reliabi lity and validity indices, correlation indices and t-tests; and Cohen's practical effect size was used to investigate significant differences. The results of the study indicate that the majority of adolescents in the research group rate their relationship with their parents positively, although significant differences were found between genders with regard to family satisfaction and between cultures with regard to parent-adolescent communication. The results also seem to indicate that higher manifestations of aspects of emotional well-being are experienced by the African youth than the white participants; and that a healthy parent-adolescent relationship can have a positive influence on adolescent emotional well-being. The parent-adolescent relationship served as a predictor of adolescent emotional well-being, while attachment anger and family cohesion were found to be the strongest predictors of this. / Thesis (M.A. (Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

It is well known that adolescence is a difficult stage of development, involving various aspects of development, namely biological, cognitive, social and emotional development. More recent research indicates that the turbulence and stress in adolescence are exaggerated to a great extent (Berk, 2006); yet the youth of today seem increasingly unhappy. Eating disorders, depression and suicide are some of the problems that occur more frequently in adolescence than before adolescence (Barlow & Durand, 2005). Adolescence may also involve that youth become reluctant to spend time with their parents and that they become more likely to engage in arguments with their parents. Research indicates that both parents and adolescents report that they feel less close to each other during this time (Steinberg & Morris, 2001). The purpose of this study was to investigate what adolescents' experiences were of their relationship with their parents, what influence the parent-adolescent relationship (as perceived by the adolescent) has on adolescent emotional-well-being, as well as to determine whether or not adolescents' emotional well-being can be predicted by the parent-adolescent relationship. A quantitative cross-sectional survey research design was used for the purpose of this study. The selected sample included grade 9 to l I learners at various secondary schools who fitted the selection criteria (N = 257). Data collection took place by means of various validated questionnaires to measure the parent-adolescent relationship: The Family Satisfaction Scale (Olson & Wilson, 1982), The Parent- adolescent Communication Scale (Barnes & Olson, 1982), The Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) of Armsden and Greenberg (1987). To measure adolescent emotional well-being, The Emotional Intelligence Scale (E LS) of Schutte et al. ( 1998), The Fortitude Questionnaire (FORQ) of Pretorius ( 1997), The Affectometer (AFM) of Kammann and Flett ( l 983), The General Hea lth Questionnaire (GHQ) of Goldberg and Hillier ( 1979) and a biographical questionnaire were used to gather demographic information. There were a total of 152 questions, and it took 30-45 minutes to complete. Data analysis was done by means of descriptive stati stics, reliabi lity and validity indices, correlation indices and t-tests; and Cohen's practical effect size was used to investigate significant differences. The results of the study indicate that the majority of adolescents in the research group rate their relationship with their parents positively, although significant differences were found between genders with regard to family satisfaction and between cultures with regard to parent-adolescent communication. The results also seem to indicate that higher manifestations of aspects of emotional well-being are experienced by the African youth than the white participants; and that a healthy parent-adolescent relationship can have a positive influence on adolescent emotional well-being. The parent-adolescent relationship served as a predictor of adolescent emotional well-being, while attachment anger and family cohesion were found to be the strongest predictors of this. / Thesis (M.A. (Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

The purpose of the study was twofold, first to create an example of a parent training for parents of adolescents and second to explore the effects of a parent training on different dimensions of parent-adolescent relationships and communication skills of parents of adolescents. The participants of this study were the parents of 9th and 10th grade adolescents from two different lycees in Ankara / METU Foundation School and Deneme Lycee. 10 volunteer parents (mothers or fathers) from METU Foundation School and 11 parents from Deneme Lycee participated in that study as the members of the experimental group. In this study, an experimental design with treatment and control groups and 3 measurements (pre, post and follow up) was used. The 5-session training for parents generally consisted of activities aimed at developing their communication skills and their relationships with their children. The program mainly focused on social skills for parents to develop better communication and improve the satisfaction of parents and also to help parents improve their parenting skills. Data were collected through qualitative and quantitative methods. In order to assess the effects of training on parents, instruments called Parent Success Indicator and Communication Skills Evaluation Scale were used in the study. Moreover, an openended evaluation form was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the training. In order to explore the differences between experimental and control groups, two way repeated measures of analysis of variance was used. The results revealed no significant differences between groups, however, the qualitative findings indicated that the parent training in this study helped parents to develop positive interaction with their children.

The present study is designed to address the problem of risk behaviors among adolescents, in an effort to promote positive developmental trajectories. Previous studies have resulted in divergent findings pertaining to the predictors of adolescent engagement in risk behaviors. In addition to considering this divergence, the focus of the study is the nature of bidirectional individual ó contextual relationships and their influence on adolescent engagement in risk behaviors. The study tested two models that considered whether parent-adolescent relationship or peer relationship mediated the relation between theory and research-based predictors and the endogenous variable, co-occurring substance use and sexual activity. Participants were 396 demographically diverse multi-problem adolescents from an archived dataset derived from an HIV risk reduction outpatient treatment program for alcohol and other drug use. Participants responded to questions that measured family structure, parent-adolescent relationship quality and communication, religiosity, school connectedness, peer relationship, and engagement in substance use and sexual activity. The study found that the model with peer relationship as the mediator fit the data better than the model with the parent-adolescent relationship mediator, and that the mediated model provided a better fit to the data than direct relations between the exogenous and endogenous variables. The results suggested also that primary caregiver was not a significant predictor of adolescent participation in co-occurring substance use and sexual activity. The present study provides a holistic theoretical and conceptual framework that highlights a constellation of factors determined to contribute significantly to co-occurring substance use and sexual activity, and thereby reshape existing models of risk behavior among adolescents.

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