Date of Award

8-2023

Document Type

Project

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Child Development

Department

Child Development

First Reader/Committee Chair

Wilcox-Herzog, Amanda

Abstract

During adolescence, teenagers develop new needs for autonomy, respect, and privacy, but parents can be unaware of adolescents’ developmental changes or struggle with adapting their parenting practices. Unawareness of teens’ needs or unwillingness to restructure the parent-adolescent relationship can lead to misunderstandings, pushback from teens, and increased parent-teen conflict. If parents are unable to resolve conflict appropriately through positive guidance, they are likely to engage in psychological control. Psychological control is a harmful practice that is used to manage adolescents’ behaviors and maintain authority within the parent-teen relationship. Extensive research has demonstrated the negative effects of psychological control on adolescents’ development and the parent-adolescent relationship and how using positive guidance leads to better outcomes. However, there is a lack of affordable research-based resources to help support parents of typically developing teens. This project aimed to develop a workshop for parents of adolescents and provide them with tools to promote teens’ development and enhance the parent-adolescent relationship. The workshop topics include teens’ cognitive and psychosocial development, peer and parent influences, causes of conflict between parents and teens, characteristics of psychological control, and positive guidance strategies for parents of adolescents. Parents of teens, siblings, teachers, or anyone who engages with adolescents could benefit from the implementation of this workshop.

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