Family System Dynamics, the Individuation Process, and Psychosocial Development

Abstract

Measures of family system patterns of interaction and the individuation process were examined as mediators of psychosocial development in a sample of college students. Included is an initial exploration into the construction and development of self-report, paper-and-pencil instruments designed to measure the two exceedingly complex constructs of differentiation and individuation. Indicators of family conflict, parental intrusiveness, and psychological interconnectedness were found to be significant predictors of psychosocial maturity, supporting the theoretical expectation that distance regulation patterns indicative of well differentiated families and age-appropriate manifestations of the individuation process would be independently and interactively related to psychosocial adaptation. Also, the exploration of gender-related differences revealed that males were significantly more financially and psychologically independent from family members than were females but did not differ on any of the other family system and individual variables explored.

Helicopter Parenting in Emerging Adulthood: Support or Barrier for Korean College Students’ Psychological Adjustment?

“…Even though helicopter parents may have benevolent intentions to control and protect their child from any harm he/she might encounter in his/her life (LeMoyne and Buchanan 2011), they appear too controlling to allow the child healthy levels of individuationseparation from the family (Rice et al 1990). Helicopter parenting may reflect parents' failure to make necessary adjustments that allow for a child's developmentally appropriate individuation and may contribute to the children's sense that their behaviors heavily rely on external forces such as parental influences (Gavazzi and Sabatelli 1990). It also interferes with children's development of independence and appropriate social skills to deal with challenges and social demands they face in college (Mattanah et al 2004;Spokas and Heimberg 2009).…”

The Association Between Overparenting, Parent‐Child Communication, and Entitlement and Adaptive Traits in Adult Children

“…From this perspective, overparenting can be seen as an amalgamation of excessive cohesion to the point of enmeshment and a failure to adapt to the changing and diminishing needs of the aging child. The family system's degree of differentiation is a reflection of their patterns of distance regulation that allow for age-appropriate individuation that in turn is associated with children's psychosocial adjustment (Gavazzi & Sabatelli, 1990). Enmeshment figures prominently in the theorizing on intrusive parenting (Barber & Harmon, 2002) and in the emerging literature on overparenting (e.g., Munich & Munich, 2009).…”

Adolescent Reasoning and Adolescent Rights

“…Parents, adolescents, and families in any given society are part of a complex and dynamic cultural system. Devel opment involves an ongoing, and increasingly reciprocal, renegotiation of relations at multi ple levels within that system [Baumrind, 1987;Gavazzi & Sabatelli, 1990]. Govern mental restrictions on adolescents, then, merit critical scrutiny because they are likely to interfere not only with adolescent auton omy but with family relations and cultural practices.…”