CLASHING OVER CURFEW; FIGHTING OVER FASHION -- 
HOW PARENTS HANDLE TURBULENT TEEN YEARS
 AFFECTS OFFSPRINGS' FEELINGS OF WORTH

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Jan. 9 -- An 11-year follow-up study
of predominantly middle- and upper-class families sheds light on a
troubling question:  What causes some teenagers to flounder and
others to flourish? 
	The way parents allow teenagers to assert themselves
determines in large part if the youth will become troublemakers or
mature into responsible adults, two psychologists have found. 
	Parents who continually reinforce and build upon their
relationships with their teens -- even as the youths buck parental
authority -- are more likely to see their adolescents become
independent, secure adults. Teenagers whose parents ridicule their
opinions or inhibit their attempts to assert themselves are often
insecure, are likely to become anxious or depressed and get in
trouble with authorities, say researchers Stuart T. Hauser of
Harvard Medical School and Joseph P. Allen of the University of
Virginia. Their article predicting young adults' attachment security
(their openness and confidence in close relationships) was published
in the December '96 Journal of Development and Psychopathology. 
	The long-term importance of how parents handle teenagers'
struggles for autonomy is evident in Hauser's and Allen's study of
73 adolescents.  Between 1978-79 researchers observed 14-year-olds'
interactions with their parents.  Eleven years later, when the
participants were 25 year-old adults, some with families of their
own, researchers asked them to describe feelings about their parents
and other close relationships.
	The security with which the 25-year-olds approached
important attachments in their lives, such as those with parents or
spouses, was directly related to their ability to disagree and
express themselves as individuals while maintaining positive
relationships with parents when they were 14. "The ability to
maintain relationships in young adulthood is strongly tied to how
parents handled their push for autonomy," said Allen, an associate
professor of psychology.
	Teenagers' security in attachment relationships can be
undermined if, during arguments, they or their parents frequently
resort to name calling or hostility. "Name-calling
'overpersonalizes' arguments, taking the emphasis off the issue at
hand.  If arguments are consistently handled in such a manner, the
14-year-old has trouble learning that disagreements need not
undermine relationships," Allen said. 
	Teenagers who consistently pull back from asserting
themselves, who withdraw and concede their positions by muttering
"Oh yeah, whatever," are also not learning productive behavior and
are more likely to be insecure as young adults, the research shows.
"Becoming submissive can, over time, even lead to teenagers' overt
hostility and rudeness," said Allen, who is also studying 150
families for clues to adolescents' outcomes. 
	"How mothers handle teens' striving for autonomy seems to be
a particularly important marker in how teens' thinking about
attachment develops over the lifespan," Allen noted.  He is
investigating the significance of fathers' roles. 
###
January 8, 1997
	For more information, contact Joseph Allen at (804) 982-4727
or via jpa8r@virginia.edu. Stuart Hauser can be reached at (617)
232-2690, extension 2134.