On Tuesday, we'll finish up our three-part unit on parenting stress. Building upon last Thursday's unit on parenting of infants and young children, and the guest presentation today by Lori Anderson on parenting of adolescents, Tuesday we will consider how parents deal with children who are older still.

An increasingly popular term for the transition to adulthood is emerging adulthood. I do research on emerging adulthood and have a blog devoted to the topic. This introductory posting provides some background on emerging adulthood.

The transition to adulthood can be a stressful experience, which probably doesn't come as news to many of you. Many individuals in their early-mid 20s are unsure of what they want to do with their lives, and common shifts such as from a college atmosphere to the world of work present many challenges. Several years ago, Alexandra Robbins and Abby Wilner co-wrote a book entitled Quarterlife Crisis, detailing the difficulties of this life stage.

When their emeging-adult children are experiencing stress, parents may also. A potentially -- but not inevitably -- awkward situation is when emerging-adult children move back home with their parents, the so-called "boomerang kid" phenomenon.

This document from the Center for Parent Education offers some guidance for families with boomerang kids. Another report, on Canadian Social Trends, presents some findings on boomerang kids in that country.

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The last hour of class will be devoted to discussion of Chapter 2. As the students in Group B e-mail in their questions, I will add them below...

Chapter 2 begins with how parenthood completes one’s life. [Peterson & Hennon summarize] Beck and Beck-Gernsheim [to the effect] that “parenthood provides a socially defined anchor of mature status, a sense of permanence, and feelings of personal efficacy” (p. 25). With this in mind, questions that arise in terms of adolescents having children is how does this process change or become affected when adolescents have children? When adolescents have children, does the process of parenthood occur the way Beck and Beck-Gernsheim describe or is there a dramatic alteration? Also, because of the developmental transition that needs to be made by the adolescent who has to make a transition in becoming a parent, do you think the developmental transition causes increased psychological distress for them?

On page 35, the book talks about how resources are more potential than actual, meaning that individuals may not take advantage of resources that are available. Why might this be? What are some examples of this occurring?

In Chapter 2, the book talks about the process of generational dissonance, when the younger generation adjusts to the new culture faster than the parents, thus causing acculturative stress. How does then one cope with generational dissonance as parents? Furthermore, the book explains that parents "might perceive this rapid adjustment as a betrayal of the family's culture of origin," why? Is this process considered normative stressors or nonnormative stressors?

Does the process of generational dissonance still occur today among families who have immigrated recently to the United States? (pg 32)

What are some examples of ways in which parental stress can be both a "product" and an "activator" of changes within the family system and larger social contexts?

A common thread throughout Chapter 2 is the cyclic nature of parent-child interactions. Parental stress often activates poor child-rearing behavior in parents, and this causes negative feedback from children. This, in turn, precipitates more parental stress. The vicious cycle of parental stress calls into question the effectiveness of the interdependence between parents and children. How does a family unit escape such a vicious cycle? Are other modes of parenting possible that downplay the interdependence between parent and child? What are the advantages/disadvantages of interdependence?

Here are some studies I alluded to during the discussion:
*The breakdown, by age, of the percentages of pregnancies in the U.S. that are classified as births from unintended pregnancies, births from intended pregnancies, and abortions.
*A summary of mental health in the U.S., including the finding that "...data show it takes an average of nine years for those with depression to enter treatment after the disorder fully manifests; other disorders such as generalized anxiety, phobias and obsessive-compulsive have similar lag times."
*A summary of adolescent identity research, which includes the claim about multicultural youth that, "The most positive outcome appears to be achievement of a bicultural identity that allows the adolescent to function effectively in either setting (Phinney and Kohatsu 1997)."