Families with Adolescents: Bridging the Gaps Between Theory, Research, and Practice

202 Pages·2011·1.14 MB·English

by  Stephen M. Gavazzi (auth.)

Advancing Responsible Adolescent Development
Series Editor
Roger J.R. Levesque
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
Forfurther volumes:
http://www.springer.com/series/7284

Stephen M. Gavazzi
Families with Adolescents
Bridging the Gaps between
Theory, Research, and Practice
StephenM.Gavazzi
DepartmentofHumanDevelopmentandFamilyScience
TheOhioStateUniversity
Columbus,OH43210
USA
[email protected]
ISBN978-1-4419-8245-2 e-ISBN978-1-4419-8246-9
DOI10.1007/978-1-4419-8246-9
SpringerNewYorkDordrechtHeidelbergLondon
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2011921348
#SpringerScience+BusinessMedia,LLC2011
Allrightsreserved.Thisworkmaynotbetranslatedorcopiedinwholeorinpartwithoutthewritten
permissionof the publisher (SpringerScience+Business Media, LLC, 233 SpringStreet, New York,
NY10013,USA),exceptforbriefexcerptsinconnectionwithreviewsorscholarlyanalysis.Usein
connectionwithanyformofinformationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,
orbysimilarordissimilarmethodologynowknownorhereafterdevelopedisforbidden.
Theuseinthispublicationoftradenames,trademarks,servicemarks,andsimilarterms,eveniftheyare
notidentifiedassuch,isnottobetakenasanexpressionofopinionastowhetherornottheyaresubject
toproprietaryrights.
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
SpringerispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia(www.springer.com)
This book is dedicated to the memory
ofPatrickC.McKenry,Ph.D.
Mentor,scholar,andfriend.

Foreword
“Whatwecallthebeginningisoftentheend.Andtomakeanend
istomakeanewbeginning.Theendiswherewestartfrom.”
T.S.Eliot,LittleGidding
All books, like everything else in life, have a beginning and an end, reflecting
a storyline that the author has chosen to follow. Selecting an end for the present
book–inthiscase,areviewofthemostrecentliteraturepertainingtofamilieswith
adolescents that would be covered as part of this effort – was the easy part.
The book contract from Springer called for the manuscript to be delivered no
later than May 2010. So, no information from articles or book chapters published
beyondthisduedatewouldmakeitintothepresentedition.
Butwhatwasthe mostappropriate starting point? There wasreasonenough to
begin at the beginning; that is to say, at least some of the literature review would
have to cover seminal material – and especially theoretical work – that helped to
shape the study of families with adolescents, regardless of its publication date.
Ontheotherhand,researcharticlesrelatedtothisareaofinquiryhadnowreached
massiveproportions,stemmingbackmanydecades,withthepreventionandinter-
vention literature not far behind in terms of sheer volume. There literally was no
waytodealwiththisentirebodyofworkonempiricalandappliedtopicsrelatedto
familieswithadolescents,sosomesortofdecisionaboutwhattoincludeandwhat
toexcludewasinevitable.
Providentially, the anticipated publication of this book was to coincide with
the fifteenth anniversary of the release of Vision 2010: Families & Adolescents
(McKenry & Gavazzi, 1994), a collection of articles published by the National
Council on Family Relations (NCFR). I had been given the distinct honor of
co-editingthisVision2010monographwithPatrickMcKenry,a colleague ofmine
atTheOhioStateUniversitywhohadbeenaprominentleaderinthefamilyscience
field for many years before his untimely passing five years ago (and to whom this
bookisdedicated).AccordingtoSharonPrice,theserieseditor,theprimarypurpose
fortheoverallVision2010effortwas“toincreaseawarenessofthecriticalnatureand
vii
viii Foreword
roleoffamiliesinoursocietyand howmajorsocial,economic, anddevelopmental
lifeproblemsareaffectingthecoreofoursocialfabric–ourfamilylife”(Price,2004,
p. i). Almost prophetically, 2010 had been selected as a year in the not-too-distant
futurethatwouldbemarkedbyeconomiccalamityifourpolicymakersdidnotbegin
tomakefamilyissuesanationalpriority.
This publication was a virtual “Who’s Who” of luminaries in the field who
had focused their attention on topics related to families with adolescents. For
instance, Richard Gelles wrote a chapter on “Violence and abuse in the lives of
adolescents,” covering a number of topics concerning adolescent involvement in
family violence. Jeanne Brooks-Gunn co-wrote chapters on the biological aspects
of adolescence (with Julia Graber) as well as a chapter on the impact of poverty
(withGregDuncan).RichardLerner wroteachapterontheschoolcontextalong-
side a chapter by Brad Brown on peer effects. Michael Farrell and Grace Barnes
co-wrote a piece entitled “Families and adolescent substance abuse,” while Tom
Gullottacompiledachapteronpreventionapproaches.Andsoon.
Thefactthatabookonfamiliesofadolescentswasnowtobepublishedinthe
year2010lentitselftotheideaofcompilingaliteraturereviewofstudiesconducted
over the last decade and a half. Hence, the year 1995 was selected as this book’s
beginningpoint,atleastintermsofthebulkofempiricalandapplicationworkthat
wouldbecoveredthroughoutthesepages.Althoughnotitsoriginalintention,this
booknonethelessservesasa“Pilgrim’sProgress”ofideasanddatastemmingfrom
thelastfifteenyearsofworkthathasfocusedonfamilieswithadolescents.
Aswell,Iwish topointoutthatthecompilationofmaterialsforthisbookwas
preceded by my invitation to contribute a chapter on families with adolescents
forthethirdeditionoftheHandbookofMarriageandtheFamily.EntitledTheory
and Research Pertaining toFamilies with Adolescents,the writing ofthischapter
opportunely became a “warm-up” exercise for the present book. As such, readers
will discover that portions of the chapter have been used liberally throughout
this book with the permission of Springer, the publisher of both of these works.
IamgratefultoeditorsGaryPetersonandKevinBushfortheirearlyguidanceon
thebookchapterthatwouldlaythegroundworkforthemoreextensivetreatmentof
materialonfamilieswithadolescentsinthisbook.
At the same time, the writing of this book also was preceded directly by my
authoringatradepublicationonfamilieswithadolescentsentitledStrongFamilies,
Successful Students: Helping Teenagers Reach their Full Academic Potential
(Book Surge). The trade book served as an importance counterbalance to the
present book you have in your hands, in that the relative success of any trade
bookhingesinlargepartontheabilitytotranslateacademicknowledgeintoaform
that can be more readily accessed by the general public. As such, not only would
IrespectfullysubmitthisStrongFamiliesSuccessfulStudentsbookforthereader’s
inspectionasonemodelfortranslatingimportantscholarlyinformationonfamilies
withadolescents,butIwouldalsohumblysuggest thatithas allowed metowrite
about scholarly work in a decidedly more user-friendly format that can be appre-
ciatedbythewidestpossibleaudience.
Foreword ix
Further, therevisionofthefirstdraftofthisbookcoincidedwithmytaking on
a leadership role in the development of Vision 2020: Families with Adolescents,
a follow-up to the original Vision 2010 monograph discussed above. Instead of a
printedpublication,however,theVision2020efforthasinvolvedthedevelopment
of a web-based platform for theorists, researchers, and application-based profes-
sionalstoexploreanddiscusswherethestudyoffamilieswithadolescentswould
beheadinginthenexttenyears.InmycapacityasserieseditorofthisnewNCFR
informational database, I was given the responsibility of writing the inaugural
Vision 2020 article. I chose to focus attention on the field’s need to recommit to
the “triple threat” model of scholarship (cf., Olson, 1976) that seeks to unify
theoretical,empiricalandapplication-basedeffortsregardingfamilieswithadoles-
cents. Readerswill recognizea similar call for such scholarship integration in the
finalthoughtschapterofthepresentbook.
Last but not least to be mentioned in terms of opening comments is the fact
that the finalization of this book was greatly facilitated by the efforts of over
75 members of NCFR who had responded to an email inquiry that I had sent to
the affiliates of all specialty sections. My request was for members to pass along
anyandallcitationsofmaterialonfamilieswithadolescentsthattheyhadauthored
orco-authoredoverthepastfifteenyears.Thefactofthematteristhat,nomatter
howhardyousearch,youalwaysendupoverlookingextremelyrelevantmaterial.
Hence, this book is all the more rich and detailed because of the time that my
colleaguestooktorespondtothatinquiry.