The most important point about the scope of this monograph that may not be immediately obvious to the casual reader is that this book centers on the families of adolescents, not on the adolescents themselves. Hence, the topics that are covered throughout this book – and especially in the research part – pertain to those areas that are family-focused in their orientation. This is why the opening portion of the book is titled as “Families with Adolescents” and not “Adolescents and their Families.” The former implies concentration on the family as a whole, whereas the latter makes the adolescent as the central point of focus. Therefore, instead of the typical biological (puberty and physical development) and individual developmental (identity, cognitive growth, and emotional maturity) issues found in texts on adolescents, this book shines a spotlight on subject matter such as family processes, family structure, family conflict, and family problem solving, as well as focuses on variables that reflect interactions within and among different dyads in the family such as the parent–adolescent, interparental, and sibling subsystems.
The first main part of this book (Part 2) involves efforts to theorize about families with adolescents. In essence, we will be attempting to answer this question: Where do we get our ideas about the families within which adolescents grow and develop? The reader will be exposed to a variety of theoretical frameworks from the field of human development and family science, including family development theory and family systems theory. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of this book, however, we also will be examining theories coming from other fields that have been used to understand families with adolescents, including ecological theory, attachment theory, and social learning theory.
The second main part of this book (Part 3) focuses on family research topics. Here,we want to answer the question: What data do we have that informs us about the families of adolescents?
As noted in the foreword, this book covers the empirical literature on families with adolescents conducted over the last 15 years. Particular attention has been given to articles in family-focused journals such as Journal of Marriage and the Family, Family Relations, Family Process, and Journal of Family Psychology.
Information on family issues published in more adolescent-oriented journals such as Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Journal of Adolescent Research, Journal of Research on Adolescence, and Journal of Early Adolescence also are extensively covered. And again, because of the interdisciplinary scope of this book, articles concerning families with adolescents contained in other journals from fields related to health, psychology, psychiatry, counseling, and social work also are included wherever applicable.
