Introduction
A well-functioning family relationship is vital for an adolescent’s healthy social and emotional development. Long-term decisions, such as job choices, attitudes, and morality, are usually influenced by a child’s parents. This essay synthesizes three articles examining scholars’ perspectives on the impact of family ties on adolescents’ social and emotional development. The primary aim is to emphasize a personal perspective of the selected research and to offer a recommendation for enhancing adolescents’ quality of life. In terms of adolescents’ overall health, social ties have a significant role. Low-income family ties may adversely affect physical health, habits, and adolescent development and increase alcohol intake, drug addiction, delinquent behavior, and mortality risk.
Statement of Issue
Adolescence is a critical transitional stage between childhood and adulthood. The growth phase is marked by significant changes in the body, mind, and social life that need help from family systems. The association between parental social milieu traits and adolescent personality directly impacts behavior. The environment has been associated with behavior that may encourage or inhibit relationships between individuals and the resulting benefits of social support. There are established relationships between family cohesiveness and power and depressed mood, social self-concept, and behavioral restriction. In recent years, the significance of the family in fostering adolescents’ social and emotional adjustment has gained more emphasis, as acknowledged by the researchers.
The siblings’ social, emotional, and cognitive development in relation to their parents defines the quality of the home environment. According to the experts, there are grounds for evaluating sibling-parent interrelationships (Tucker & Updegraff, 2009). The research used an ecological framework to investigate the interconnectedness of siblings’ and parents’ responsibilities, relationships, and daily activities. There is a need to provide unique and integrated contributions to critical intervention for adolescents’ developmental support.
Questions Addressed by the Researchers
These articles examine the dynamics of the relationships between family interactions and adolescent experience. For example, in research by scholars from the University of South Carolina and Columbia Area Health Center, the academics address the link between familial features and adolescent personality function (Forman & Forman, 1981). In response, the research acknowledges that the concept of personal control is equally essential for comprehending the effect of parental authority on child development. Indeed, power-related parenting characteristics that represent levels of control have been linked to adolescents’ outcomes. The article highlights that progress has been made in measuring the influence of the family on children and adolescents. However, there has been little examination of the multidimensional character of the family social system.
Similarly, Tucker and Updegraff (2009) investigate the influence of varied combinations of complementary and reciprocal roles in sibling relationships, providing adolescents with different support experiences than those they receive with their parents. The article supports the study question by emphasizing that complementary roles in adolescent sibling relationships emerged when older siblings functioned as extrafamilial advice experts. Correspondingly, researchers from the University of Maryland, College Park, and Stanford University examine cohesiveness and authority in mother-child, father-child, and mother-father relationships (Wentzel & Feldman, 1996). These articles give essential insights into the family management of adolescent siblings.
Summary of the Results
The findings indicate that the link between the family and the development of adolescents is consistent. In one research, a considerable difference in adolescent behavior was related to the functioning of the family social structure (Forman & Forman,1981). The researchers observe, however, that no one family trait accounted for a substantial proportion of the variation to the exclusion of other variables. The researchers determined that the operation of the whole system influences child behavior more than individual system elements. In a similar study, the researchers found that the relationships between parent-child cohesiveness and adjustment were more consistent for females than for boys (Wentzel & Feldman, 1996). According to the research, egalitarian power relations in the marriage dyad were associated with the best results for both boys and girls. However, males who judged moms to be more potent than fathers expressed much higher depressed affect than girls.
Similar correlational patterns are identified between adolescent experience with siblings and parental gender. Researchers observed that children’s and adolescents’ socialization experiences with siblings and parents provide diverse chances due to their participation in differently organized family interactions (Tucker & Updegraff, 2009). According to this research, adolescent development may be variably impacted by parental gender. According to the study, the interaction patterns, activities, and responsibilities of mothers and fathers contribute uniquely to the development of children. As observed, parent-child interactions are believed to grow more interdependent and reciprocal throughout adolescence, along with a transitory decline in relationship quality and increased conflict. When teenagers face obstacles in life, parental proximity and psychological support are natural barriers against drug use since they are likely to obtain the moral support the adolescents seek.
Personal Reactions
The selected publications are commendable because they address the crucial gaps in building required interventions for managing the health of adolescents in a home environment. In contrast to previous research, which highlighted the independent contributions of siblings and parents on individual development, the studies investigate the effects of sibling and parental influences (Tucker & Updegraff, 2009). These results are essential for expanding our knowledge of the role of the family in the social, interpersonal, and cognitive behavior of adolescents. There, researchers show the family and sociocultural context as influential adolescent experiences and illustrate the particular functions of siblings as agents of socialization.
Current trends indicate that the kind of contact between the family and the adolescent may have a lasting influence. The adolescent age is recognized as significant in physiological and psychological research, needing a gradual contribution to the optimization of experiences (Orben et al., 2020). In terms of growth and development, adolescence is characterized by substantial changes in all areas of development, including biological, neurological, psychosocial, and emotional changes. Peers and romantic partners arise throughout these transitions, elevating the significance of personal interactions. The support of close family members may significantly influence confidence and a feeling of safety.
Comments on Research Design
Regarding study design, the publications use traditional methodologies, which justify their results and suggestions. Using a qualitative methodology, the researchers administered the High School Personality Questionnaire (HSPQ) to 80 high school students. Teachers and students completed the Family Environment Scale as part of the study (FES). The study utilizes a method for stepwise multiple regression analysis. Similarly, qualitative methodologies using a systems perspective investigate the quality of family interactions (Wentzel & Feldman, 1996). Within the setting of mother-child, father-child, and mother-father interactions, a sample of 99 early adolescents participated in the research. The study successfully captures the target group’s shifting attitudes (Brymer et al., 2021). In most cases, qualitative procedures are not constrained by the constraints of quantitative methods and provide a much more adaptable strategy for enhancing the trustworthiness of the findings.
Recommendations on Next Steps
For the future development of knowledge-based adolescent psychiatric assistance, researchers should examine the influence of new virtual reality experiences within the home context. The time adolescents spend online and linked to one another through digital technology is rising (Jensen et al., 2019). The trend indicates that ownership of mobile devices and use of social media has reached historic levels, prompting fears that adolescents’ continual connectedness is detrimental to their mental health. In the context of developing technology, researchers must continue to examine the effects of siblings, family, and social contexts (Tucker & Updegraff, 2009). Future studies should investigate how the introduction of technology into families influences the developmental trajectories of parent-child and sibling relationships.
Conclusions
Developmental theories in psycho-physiological research consider adolescence as a phase of growth during which identity formation is addressed. In chosen publications, the researchers demonstrate that enduring healthy family relationships is a protective factor against various health-risk behaviors. The data and conclusions demonstrate that, despite the changing form of relationships, the continuity of familial ties and a stable emotional foundation are essential for the healthy development of adolescents. The researchers highlight the necessity to investigate the influence of siblings and peers, which determine most adolescents’ experiences. Significant emphasis is put on the significance of peer groups and how, at this age, they become more powerful than parents. In the future, it will be necessary to explore the effects of digital technologies, with a particular emphasis on the social isolation caused by the excessive use of electronic devices in the home setting.
References
Bell, S. L., Audrey, S., Gunnell, D., Cooper, A., & Campbell, R. (2019). The relationship between physical activity, mental wellbeing and symptoms of mental health disorder in adolescents: a cohort study. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 16(1), 1–12. Web.
Brymer, E., Crabtree, J., & King, R. (2021). Exploring perceptions of how nature recreation benefits mental wellbeing: a qualitative enquiry. Annals of Leisure Research, 24(3), 394–413. Web.
Forman, S. G., & Forman, B. D. (1981). Family environment and its relation to adolescent personality factors. Journal of Personality Assessment, 45(2), 163–167. Web.
Jensen, M., George, M. J., Russell, M. R., & Odgers, C. L. (2019). Young adolescents’ digital technology use and mental health symptoms: Little evidence of longitudinal or daily linkages. Clinical Psychological Science, 7(6), 1416–1433. Web.
Orben, A., Tomova, L., & Blakemore, S. J. (2020). The effects of social deprivation on adolescent development and mental health. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 4(8), 634-640. Web.
Tucker, C. J., & Updegraff, K. (2009). The relative contributions of parents and siblings to child and adolescent development. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 2009(126), 13–28. Web.
Wentzel, K. R., & Feldman, S. S. (1996). Relations of cohesion and power in family dyads to social and emotional adjustment during early adolescence. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 6(2), 225–244.