The Second Individuation Process of Adolescence

Developmental Changes in Adolescents’ Perceptions of Relationships with Their Parents

“…Thus, our assumption that perceived conflict with parents would be an impetus for changes in perceived parental power was not confirmed. Even though our results confirm the process suggested by both perspectives that adolescents become more autonomous and parent-adolescent relationships become more equal (Blos 1967;Grotevant and Cooper 1986), the hypothesis that this process is stimulated by parent-adolescent conflict has to be rejected. Apparently, the relationship adjustment toward greater equality is related to, but not stimulated by, conflict with parents.…”

“…Although both the separation-individuation (Blos 1967) and the autonomy-relatedness perspectives (Cooper et al 1983;Grotevant and Cooper 1986) provide indications for conflict as an impetus for change towards more equality in parent-adolescent relationships (Blos 1979; see also Zimmer-Gimbeck and Collins 2003), our findings did not confirm this assumption. No relations between initial conflict and greater decreases in power were found.…”

“…According to the separation-individuation theory (Blos 1967), adolescents develop autonomy and become independent of parents, with parent-child conflicts stimulating the dissolution of ties to parents (Blos 1979; see also Zimmer-Gembeck and Collins 2003). Furthermore, the autonomy-relatedness perspective theorizes that adolescents develop more autonomy (Cooper et al 1983;Grotevant and Cooper 1986), which may create a temporary dip in parentchild connectedness, although connectedness to parents remains important (Silverberg et al 1992).…”

Considerations on the vicissitudes of unconscious guilt feelings from pre‐adolescence to early adolescence

“…3,4 Presumably, this patient tried to obtain a guarantee that the object constancy with her mother had become more sophisticated and stable before defining and establishing a separate adult identity in modern culture. For this process to advance appropriately, the author believes the conscious level of guilt that a child experiences in exchanges with his/her mother will play an important role.…”

Development across the life cycle

“…15 Meltzer argues that the adolescent inhabits four worlds: family (in which he/she remains as in latency); adults (in which he/she is a pseudo-adult); other adolescents (groups of the same sex at first, then couples); and his/her own world (a refuge for reflection). 16 In these oscillations, families with adolescents have to prepare for some comings and goings.…”