Book Review by Shirley

Adolescence and Beyond: Family Processes and Development

            This is a wonderful book to help families as they try to determine the extent of their role in assisting adolescences transition into adulthood.  According to Kerig, Schulz & Hauser The period of transition from adolescence into adulthood has become in recent year a topic of focus among developmental psychologists and child mental health specialists.  One of the questions that they attempt to answer in this book is, “To what extent do family interactions influence the way a teens navigates into adulthood? How can we begin to understand the interplay between adolescents’ context and their development and well-being?”

            This book is researched based and it covers several different topics.  Peer-reviewed research has been done on each topic research and then the data is reviewed, interpreted and then presented in the book in an easy to follow format. Each chapter is an easy to read research article. It addresses such topics as culture, friendships, intimate relationships, risk factors (such as depression and suicide), emotions, identity, autonomy, connection, socio-cultural perspective, family roles, life events, coping, resilience and vulnerability.

            The underlying theme of this book covers the parent/child and peer relationships.  According to research done by Schulz and Kerig, the ability to develop and maintain close relationships is a core aspect of healthy functioning for individuals across that lifespan (Kerig, Schulz & Hauser, pg. 155). These relationships begin at infancy, through childhood, adolescence and then transition into adulthood.  During the transitioning period both the parent and child are negotiating a different way to relate to each other.  This new way of relating needs to include greater autonomy for the child and less intensity of the role as parent.  This shift is one that requires patience and hard work on the part of both the parent and the child. Kerig, Schulz & Hauser point that achieving autonomy is a universal goal of all teens.  This can be achieved by a gradual realignment of the power structure of the parent/child relationship.  Cultural differences make the transition process different for everyone. 

There are factors that will create a negative outcome in transition to adulthood.    Kerig, Schulz & Hauser point out that becoming a parent at a young age has been found to produce negative outcome for teens that are transitioning to adulthood (Kerig, et al., pg.177).  Some of the other challenges are parental conflict and control. 

The transition process is a difficult one.  It takes the efforts of parents, children, grandparents and siblings to make the transition smooth.  I found it interesting that Kerig, Schulz & Hauser devoted a chapter on resiliency.  The good news is that because of resiliency most of us end up in the same place down the road.  So there is always hope for those of us who seemed to do this part of growing up or child rearing wrong.  I highly recommend this book to both parent and transitioning adolescences. 

About the Authors

Patricia Kerig, Ph.D. is a Professor and the Director of Clinical Training in the Department of Psychology at the University of Utah.
Marc S. Schulz, Ph.D. is a Professor of Psychology and the Director of the Clinical Developmental Psychology Program at Bryn Mawr College.

Stuart T. Hauser, MD, Ph.D. was a Professor of Psychiatry at Judge Baker Children's Center and Harvard Medical School.

Patricia K. Kerig, Marc S. Schulz and Stuart T. Hauser, Adolescence and Beyond: Family     Processes and Development c2012 New York: Oxford University Press, USA