The Adolescent in the Family

The authors explore the needs of adolescents, emphasizing the importance of the family environment in helping them cope with the difficulties they face. They identify the new and different relationships that can emerge, through conflict and negotiation, between adolescents and their parents.

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Adolescence can be a difficult time for all concerned. Issues such as youth employment, sexual behaviour and drug abuse have made it a matter of great concern to the community at large, whether as parents, politicians or those working with adolescents in education and welfare. Patricia Noller and Victor Callan explore the complex needs of adolescents, emphasizing the importance of the family environment in helping adolescents to cope with the many difficulties and changes they face during this period of their lives. The central theme of this book is that adolescents, through conflict and negotiation, establish new but different relationships with their parents, relationships that can endure for a lifetime. The authors provide wide coverage of the key issues of adolescence - such as identity, separation from the family, and conflict - and look closely at the difficulties produced by events such as divorce and remarriage of parents, and social problems such as long-term unemployment.