Exploring the association between insecure attachment styles and adolescent autonomy in family decision making: A differentiated approach: My review of the article by Van Petegem et al. (2013).
Introduction For most families, parents-children relationships are not consistent all the time. When children are relatively young (pre-teen), they usually have strong relationships with their parents, always in productive communication. However, as they transition to the adolescent developmental stage, this previously seamless and productive relationship with the parents changes significantly. Usually, parents get into constant conflicts with their teenage children at this time, ultimately impacting overall family functioning. This apparent disruption in the previously robust family relationship is not necessarily a cause for alarm as it is, in most cases, a manifestation of the adolescents becoming less dependent on the parents as their primary support system. At other times though, it is a cause for alarm as it may indicate serious problems within the family. This way, it is essential to understand the various underpinnings to determine when specialist attention is needed. That said