Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood:
Personal Growth, Separation-Individuation and the Relational Game
Keywords:
Adolescence, Emerging adulthood, Attachment, Separation-individuation, Parents, Friends and peersAbstract
The purpose of the present article is to discuss the importance of the relationship dynamics in personal development. Taking the attachment theory as a starting point, the personal development path is guided by separation-individuation processes; these processes allow building a sense of autonomy. Recently the concept of “emerging adults” has gained importance, managing the debate around the internal and external factors that may enhance the entry into adulthood. Parental figures, siblings and peers assume a relevant role in the process, supporting the adolescent’s inclusion in broader social contexts like work and romantic relationships. The implications of this transition will be discussed according to the separation-individuation process and moderating factors of personal growth.
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References
Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1969). Maternal sensitivity scales. Baltimore. MD: John Hopkins University Press.
Ainsworth, M. D. S., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the strange situation. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Aquilino, W. S. (2006). Family relationships and support systems in emerging adulthood. In J. J. Arnett & J. Tanner (Eds.), Coming of age in the 21st century: The lives and contexts of emerging adults (pp.193-218). Washington DC: American Psychological Association.
Arnett, J. J. (2004). Emerging adulthood: The winding road from the late teens through the twenties. New York: Oxford University Press.
Arnett, J. J. (2006). Emerging adulthood in Europe: A response to Bynner. Journal of Youth Studies, 9, 111-123.
Beyers, W., & Goossens, L. (2004). Contributions of parenting to the separation-individuation process in late adolescence: A three-wave longitudinal study. Symposium conducted at the 10th biennial meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence (SRA), Baltimore, USA.
Blos, P. (1979). The adolescent passage. New York: International Universities Press.
Blustein, D. L. (2008). The role of work in psychological health and well-being: A conceptual, historical, and public policy perspective. American Psychologist, 63, 228-240
Bowlby, J. (1979). The making and breaking of affectional bonds. London: Routledge.
Bowlby, J. (1988). A secure base: Parent-child attachment and healthy human development. London: Basic Books.
Bouchey, H. A., Shoulberg, E. K., Jodl, K. M., & Eccles, J. S. (2010). Longitudinal links between older sibling features and younger sibling’s academic adjustment during early adolescence. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102(1), 197-211.
Bretherton, I. (1992). The origins of attachment theory: John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth. Developmental Psychology, 28, 759-775.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1996). A ecologia do desenvolvimento humano: Experimentos naturais e planejados. Porto Alegre: Artes Médicas.
Buhl, H. M. (2008). Significance of individuation in adult child-parent relationships. Journal of Family Issues, 29, 262-281.
Bynner, J. (2005). Rethinking the youth phase of the life-course: The case for emerging adulthood? Journal of Youth Studies, 8, 367-384.
Claussen, A. H., & Crittenden, P. M. (2000). Maternal sensitivity. In P. M. Crittenden, & A. H. Claussen (Eds.), The organization of attachment relationships. Maturation, culture and context (pp. 115-124). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Cline, F. W., & Fay, J. (1990). Parenting with love and logic: Teaching children responsibility. Colorado Springs: Pinon Press.
Coburn, K. L. (2006). Organizing a ground crew for today’s helicopter parents. About Campus, 11, 9-16.
Collins, W. A., & Sroufe, L. A. (1999). Capacity for intimate relationships: A developmental construction. In W. Furman, B. B. Brown & C. Feiring (Eds.), The development of romantic relationships in adolescence (pp. 125-147). NY: Cambridge University Press.
Eccles, J., Templeton, J., Barber, B., & Stone, M. (2003). Adolescence and emerging adulthood: the critical passage ways to adulthood. In M. H. Bornstein, L. Davidson, C. L. M. Keyes & K. A. Moore (Eds.), Well-beings: Positive development across the life course (pp. 383-406). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Erikson, E. (1950). Childhood and society. New York: Norton
Fernandes, O. M. (2002). Semelhanças e diferenças entre irmãos. Lisboa: Climepsi Editores.
Ferri, E., & Smith, K. (2003). Partnerships and parenthood. In E. Ferri, J. Bynner & M. E. (Eds.), Wadsworth, changing Britain, changing lives: Three generations at the turn of the century (pp. 105-132). London: Institute of Education.
Fleming, M. (2003). O risco de não correr risco nenhum: Impasses do desenvolvimento psicológico adolescente. Revista Portuguesa de Psicanálise, 24, 97-105.
Fleming, M. (2005). Entre o medo e o desejo de crescer: Psicologia da adolescência. Porto: Edições Afrontamento.
Fouad, N. A., & Bynner, J. (2008). Work transitions. American Psychologist, 63, 241-251.
Fraley, R. C., & Davis, K. (1997). Attachment formation and transfer in young adults’ close relationships and romantic relationships. Personal Relationships, 4, 131-144.
Friedlmeier, W., & Granqvist, P. (2006). Attachment transfer among Swedish and German adolescents: A prospective longitudinal study. Personal Relationships, 13, 261-279.
Gayet, D. (1993). Les relations fraternelles: Approches psychologiques et anthropologiques des fratries. Paris: Delachaux et Niestlé.
Grossmann, K. E., & Grossmann, K. (2004). Universality of human social attachment as an adaptive process. In C. S. Carter, L. Ahnert, K. E. Grossmann, S. B. Hardy, M. E. Lamb, S. W. Porges, & N. Sachser (Eds.), Attachment and bonding: A new synthesis (pp.199-229). Cambridge; MA: The MIT Press.
Guay, F., Senecal, C., Gauthier, L., & Fernet, C. (2003). Predicting career indecision: A self-determination theory perspective. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 50, 165-177.
Guedeney, N., & Guedeney, A. (2004). Vinculação: conceitos e aplicações. Lisboa: Climepsi Editores.
Hazan, C., & Shaver, P. R. (1994). Attachment as an organizational framework for research on close relationships. Psychological Inquiry, 5, 1-22.
Hazan, C., & Zeifman, D. (1999). Pair bonds as attachments: Evaluating the evidence. In Jude Cassidy & Phillip R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (pp. 336-354). New York: The Guilford Press.
Hendry, L. B., & Kloep, M. (2002). Lifespan development: Resources, challenges and risks. London: Thomson Learning.
Imamoglu, E. O. (2003). Individuation and relatedness: Not opposing but distinct and complementary. Genetic, Social and General Psychology Monographs, 129, 367-402.
Kegan, R. (1982). The evolving self: Problem and process in human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Luthar S. S., & Goldstein A. (2004). Children’s exposure to community violence: Implications for understanding risk and resilience. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 33, 499-505.
Nickerson, A. B., & Nagle, R. J. (2005). Parent and peer attachment in late childhood and early adolescence. Journal of Early Adolescence, 25, 223-249.
Marcia, J. E. (1966). Development and validation of ego identity status. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 3, 551-558.
Markiewicz, D., Lawford, H., Doyle, A. B., & Haggart, N. (2006). Developmental differences in adolescents’ and young adults’ use of mothers, fathers, best friends, and romantic partners to fulfil attachment needs. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 35, 127-140.
Matos, P.M. (2003). O conflito à luz da teoria da vinculação. In M. E. Costa (Ed.), Gestão de conflitos na escola (pp.144-191). Lisboa: Universidade Aberta.
Mattanah, J. F., Brand, B. L., & Hancok, G. R. (2004). Parental attachment, separation-individuation, and college student adjustment: A structural equation analysis of meditational effects. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 51, 213-225.
Mayseless, O., & Scharf, M. (2009). Too close for comfort: Inadequate boundaries with parents and individuation in late adolescent girls. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 79, 191-202.
Meeus, W., Iedema, J., Maassen, G., & Engels, R. (2005). Separation-individuation revisited: On the interplay of parent-adolescent relations, identity and emotional adjustment in adolescence. Journal of Adolescence, 28, 89-106.
Middleton, E., & Loughead, T. A. (1993). Parental influence on career development: An integrative framework for adolescent career counseling. Journal of Career Development, 3, 161-173.
Mikulincer, M., Gillath, O., & Shaver, P. R. (2002). Activation of the attachment system in adulthood: Threat-related primes increase the accessibility of mental representations of attachment figures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 881-895.
Nickerson, A. B., & Nagle, R. J. (2005). Parent and peer attachment in late childhood and early adolescence. Journal of Early Adolescence, 25, 223-249.
Overbeek, G., Vollebergh, W., Engels, R. C. M. E., & Meeus, W. (2003). Parental attachment and romantic relationships: Associations with emotional disturbance during late adolescence. Journal of Counselling Psychology, 50, 28-39.
Parke, R. D., Kim, M., Flyr, M., McDowell, D. J., Simpkins, S. D., Killian, C. M., & Wile, M. (2001). Managing marital confl ict: Links with children’s peer relationships. In J. H. Grych & F. D. Fincham (Eds.), Interparental confl ict and child development: Theory, research, and applications (pp. 291”“314). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ravn, M. N. (2005). A matter of free choice? Some structural and cultural influences on the decision to have or not to have children in Norway. In C. B. Douglass (Ed.), Barren States. The population implosion in Europe (pp. 29-47). Oxford: Berg Publishers.
Rocha, M. (2008). O desenvolvimento das relações de vinculação na adolescência: Associações entre contextos relacionais com pais, pares e par amoroso. Tese de Doutorado, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
Rocha, M., Mota, C. P., & Matos, P. M. (2011). Vinculação à mãe e ligação aos pares na adolescência: O papel mediador da auto-estima. Análise Psicológica, 2, 185-200.
Ryan, E. (2002). Assessing sibling attachment in the face of placement issues. Clinical Social Work Journal, 30, 77-93.
Savickas, M. L. (2005). The theory and practice of career construction. In S. D. Brown & R. W. Lent (Eds.), Career development and counseling: Putting theory and research to work (pp. 42”“70). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Scabini, E. (2000). Parent-child relationships in Italian families: Connectedness and autonomy in the transition to adulthood. Psicologia: Teoria e Pesquisa, 16, 23-30.
Seginer, R. (1998). Adolescents’ perceptions of relationships with older sibling in the context of other close relationships. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 8, 287-308.
Sneed, J. R., Johnson, J. G., Coehen, P., Gillian, C., Chen, H., Crawford, T., & Kasen, S. (2006). Gender differences in the age-changing relationships between instrumentally and family contact in emerging adulthood. Developmental Psychology, 42, 787-797.
Soares, I. (2004, Dezembro). Vinculação e adolescência patológica. Trabalho apresentado no congresso de Adolescência: Identidade e Modernidade, Lisboa, Portugal.
Trinke, S. J., & Bartholomew, K. (1997). Hierarchies of attachment relationships in young adulthood. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 14, 603-625.
Wittmann, S., Buhl, H. M., & Noack, P. (2000). Arbeitsbericht aus dem Forschungsprojekt “Erwachsene und ihre Elten,” 1999 bis 2000 [Research report from the research project “Adults and their parents”, 1999-2000]. Jena, Germany: Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
Wolfe, J. B., & Betz, N. E. (2004). The relationship of attachment variables to career decision-making self-efficacy and fear of commitment. Career Development Quarterly, 52, 363-369.
Yeh, H. C., & Lempers, J. D. (2004). Perceived sibling relationships and adolescent development. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 33, 133”“147.
Ainsworth, M. D. S., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the strange situation. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Aquilino, W. S. (2006). Family relationships and support systems in emerging adulthood. In J. J. Arnett & J. Tanner (Eds.), Coming of age in the 21st century: The lives and contexts of emerging adults (pp.193-218). Washington DC: American Psychological Association.
Arnett, J. J. (2004). Emerging adulthood: The winding road from the late teens through the twenties. New York: Oxford University Press.
Arnett, J. J. (2006). Emerging adulthood in Europe: A response to Bynner. Journal of Youth Studies, 9, 111-123.
Beyers, W., & Goossens, L. (2004). Contributions of parenting to the separation-individuation process in late adolescence: A three-wave longitudinal study. Symposium conducted at the 10th biennial meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence (SRA), Baltimore, USA.
Blos, P. (1979). The adolescent passage. New York: International Universities Press.
Blustein, D. L. (2008). The role of work in psychological health and well-being: A conceptual, historical, and public policy perspective. American Psychologist, 63, 228-240
Bowlby, J. (1979). The making and breaking of affectional bonds. London: Routledge.
Bowlby, J. (1988). A secure base: Parent-child attachment and healthy human development. London: Basic Books.
Bouchey, H. A., Shoulberg, E. K., Jodl, K. M., & Eccles, J. S. (2010). Longitudinal links between older sibling features and younger sibling’s academic adjustment during early adolescence. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102(1), 197-211.
Bretherton, I. (1992). The origins of attachment theory: John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth. Developmental Psychology, 28, 759-775.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1996). A ecologia do desenvolvimento humano: Experimentos naturais e planejados. Porto Alegre: Artes Médicas.
Buhl, H. M. (2008). Significance of individuation in adult child-parent relationships. Journal of Family Issues, 29, 262-281.
Bynner, J. (2005). Rethinking the youth phase of the life-course: The case for emerging adulthood? Journal of Youth Studies, 8, 367-384.
Claussen, A. H., & Crittenden, P. M. (2000). Maternal sensitivity. In P. M. Crittenden, & A. H. Claussen (Eds.), The organization of attachment relationships. Maturation, culture and context (pp. 115-124). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Cline, F. W., & Fay, J. (1990). Parenting with love and logic: Teaching children responsibility. Colorado Springs: Pinon Press.
Coburn, K. L. (2006). Organizing a ground crew for today’s helicopter parents. About Campus, 11, 9-16.
Collins, W. A., & Sroufe, L. A. (1999). Capacity for intimate relationships: A developmental construction. In W. Furman, B. B. Brown & C. Feiring (Eds.), The development of romantic relationships in adolescence (pp. 125-147). NY: Cambridge University Press.
Eccles, J., Templeton, J., Barber, B., & Stone, M. (2003). Adolescence and emerging adulthood: the critical passage ways to adulthood. In M. H. Bornstein, L. Davidson, C. L. M. Keyes & K. A. Moore (Eds.), Well-beings: Positive development across the life course (pp. 383-406). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Erikson, E. (1950). Childhood and society. New York: Norton
Fernandes, O. M. (2002). Semelhanças e diferenças entre irmãos. Lisboa: Climepsi Editores.
Ferri, E., & Smith, K. (2003). Partnerships and parenthood. In E. Ferri, J. Bynner & M. E. (Eds.), Wadsworth, changing Britain, changing lives: Three generations at the turn of the century (pp. 105-132). London: Institute of Education.
Fleming, M. (2003). O risco de não correr risco nenhum: Impasses do desenvolvimento psicológico adolescente. Revista Portuguesa de Psicanálise, 24, 97-105.
Fleming, M. (2005). Entre o medo e o desejo de crescer: Psicologia da adolescência. Porto: Edições Afrontamento.
Fouad, N. A., & Bynner, J. (2008). Work transitions. American Psychologist, 63, 241-251.
Fraley, R. C., & Davis, K. (1997). Attachment formation and transfer in young adults’ close relationships and romantic relationships. Personal Relationships, 4, 131-144.
Friedlmeier, W., & Granqvist, P. (2006). Attachment transfer among Swedish and German adolescents: A prospective longitudinal study. Personal Relationships, 13, 261-279.
Gayet, D. (1993). Les relations fraternelles: Approches psychologiques et anthropologiques des fratries. Paris: Delachaux et Niestlé.
Grossmann, K. E., & Grossmann, K. (2004). Universality of human social attachment as an adaptive process. In C. S. Carter, L. Ahnert, K. E. Grossmann, S. B. Hardy, M. E. Lamb, S. W. Porges, & N. Sachser (Eds.), Attachment and bonding: A new synthesis (pp.199-229). Cambridge; MA: The MIT Press.
Guay, F., Senecal, C., Gauthier, L., & Fernet, C. (2003). Predicting career indecision: A self-determination theory perspective. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 50, 165-177.
Guedeney, N., & Guedeney, A. (2004). Vinculação: conceitos e aplicações. Lisboa: Climepsi Editores.
Hazan, C., & Shaver, P. R. (1994). Attachment as an organizational framework for research on close relationships. Psychological Inquiry, 5, 1-22.
Hazan, C., & Zeifman, D. (1999). Pair bonds as attachments: Evaluating the evidence. In Jude Cassidy & Phillip R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (pp. 336-354). New York: The Guilford Press.
Hendry, L. B., & Kloep, M. (2002). Lifespan development: Resources, challenges and risks. London: Thomson Learning.
Imamoglu, E. O. (2003). Individuation and relatedness: Not opposing but distinct and complementary. Genetic, Social and General Psychology Monographs, 129, 367-402.
Kegan, R. (1982). The evolving self: Problem and process in human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Luthar S. S., & Goldstein A. (2004). Children’s exposure to community violence: Implications for understanding risk and resilience. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 33, 499-505.
Nickerson, A. B., & Nagle, R. J. (2005). Parent and peer attachment in late childhood and early adolescence. Journal of Early Adolescence, 25, 223-249.
Marcia, J. E. (1966). Development and validation of ego identity status. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 3, 551-558.
Markiewicz, D., Lawford, H., Doyle, A. B., & Haggart, N. (2006). Developmental differences in adolescents’ and young adults’ use of mothers, fathers, best friends, and romantic partners to fulfil attachment needs. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 35, 127-140.
Matos, P.M. (2003). O conflito à luz da teoria da vinculação. In M. E. Costa (Ed.), Gestão de conflitos na escola (pp.144-191). Lisboa: Universidade Aberta.
Mattanah, J. F., Brand, B. L., & Hancok, G. R. (2004). Parental attachment, separation-individuation, and college student adjustment: A structural equation analysis of meditational effects. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 51, 213-225.
Mayseless, O., & Scharf, M. (2009). Too close for comfort: Inadequate boundaries with parents and individuation in late adolescent girls. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 79, 191-202.
Meeus, W., Iedema, J., Maassen, G., & Engels, R. (2005). Separation-individuation revisited: On the interplay of parent-adolescent relations, identity and emotional adjustment in adolescence. Journal of Adolescence, 28, 89-106.
Middleton, E., & Loughead, T. A. (1993). Parental influence on career development: An integrative framework for adolescent career counseling. Journal of Career Development, 3, 161-173.
Mikulincer, M., Gillath, O., & Shaver, P. R. (2002). Activation of the attachment system in adulthood: Threat-related primes increase the accessibility of mental representations of attachment figures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 881-895.
Nickerson, A. B., & Nagle, R. J. (2005). Parent and peer attachment in late childhood and early adolescence. Journal of Early Adolescence, 25, 223-249.
Overbeek, G., Vollebergh, W., Engels, R. C. M. E., & Meeus, W. (2003). Parental attachment and romantic relationships: Associations with emotional disturbance during late adolescence. Journal of Counselling Psychology, 50, 28-39.
Parke, R. D., Kim, M., Flyr, M., McDowell, D. J., Simpkins, S. D., Killian, C. M., & Wile, M. (2001). Managing marital confl ict: Links with children’s peer relationships. In J. H. Grych & F. D. Fincham (Eds.), Interparental confl ict and child development: Theory, research, and applications (pp. 291”“314). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ravn, M. N. (2005). A matter of free choice? Some structural and cultural influences on the decision to have or not to have children in Norway. In C. B. Douglass (Ed.), Barren States. The population implosion in Europe (pp. 29-47). Oxford: Berg Publishers.
Rocha, M. (2008). O desenvolvimento das relações de vinculação na adolescência: Associações entre contextos relacionais com pais, pares e par amoroso. Tese de Doutorado, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
Rocha, M., Mota, C. P., & Matos, P. M. (2011). Vinculação à mãe e ligação aos pares na adolescência: O papel mediador da auto-estima. Análise Psicológica, 2, 185-200.
Ryan, E. (2002). Assessing sibling attachment in the face of placement issues. Clinical Social Work Journal, 30, 77-93.
Savickas, M. L. (2005). The theory and practice of career construction. In S. D. Brown & R. W. Lent (Eds.), Career development and counseling: Putting theory and research to work (pp. 42”“70). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Scabini, E. (2000). Parent-child relationships in Italian families: Connectedness and autonomy in the transition to adulthood. Psicologia: Teoria e Pesquisa, 16, 23-30.
Seginer, R. (1998). Adolescents’ perceptions of relationships with older sibling in the context of other close relationships. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 8, 287-308.
Sneed, J. R., Johnson, J. G., Coehen, P., Gillian, C., Chen, H., Crawford, T., & Kasen, S. (2006). Gender differences in the age-changing relationships between instrumentally and family contact in emerging adulthood. Developmental Psychology, 42, 787-797.
Soares, I. (2004, Dezembro). Vinculação e adolescência patológica. Trabalho apresentado no congresso de Adolescência: Identidade e Modernidade, Lisboa, Portugal.
Trinke, S. J., & Bartholomew, K. (1997). Hierarchies of attachment relationships in young adulthood. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 14, 603-625.
Wittmann, S., Buhl, H. M., & Noack, P. (2000). Arbeitsbericht aus dem Forschungsprojekt “Erwachsene und ihre Elten,” 1999 bis 2000 [Research report from the research project “Adults and their parents”, 1999-2000]. Jena, Germany: Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
Wolfe, J. B., & Betz, N. E. (2004). The relationship of attachment variables to career decision-making self-efficacy and fear of commitment. Career Development Quarterly, 52, 363-369.
Yeh, H. C., & Lempers, J. D. (2004). Perceived sibling relationships and adolescent development. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 33, 133”“147.
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Published
2012-10-01
How to Cite
Mota, C. P., & Rocha, M. (2012). Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood:: Personal Growth, Separation-Individuation and the Relational Game. Psicologia: Teoria E Pesquisa, 28(3), 357–366. Retrieved from https://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/revistaptp/article/view/18169
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Artigos Metodológicos
