Stephen M. Gavazzi: Families with Adolescents: Bridging the Gap Between Theory, Research, and Practice

Excerpt

Families with Adolescents: Bridging the Gap Between Theory, Research, and Practice is one of several books that have been recently published that focus on adolescents within the family. Harold et al. (2007) Smooth Sailing or Stormy Waters?, Smetana’s (2011) Adolescents, Families, and Social Development, and Noller, and Atkin’s (in press) Family Life in Adolescence, have all emerged to fill a growing need in the discipline to consolidate the literature, both quantitative and qualitative, on families with adolescents. As it is impossible for any one book to contain a thorough review of the literature that has accumulated over the past several decades, Families with Adolescents offers a unique contribution. It is written from a cross-disciplinary perspective; an integration of the family science literature with the developmental/family psychology literature. As a result, the focus of the text is targeted to theories, research, and applications that primarily incorporate the “family” as the basic unit of analysis, drawing from research and theories in psychology when it contributes to this understanding. Emphasis is placed on exploring the influence of family structure, family conflict, family processes, family problem-solving, parent–adolescent relationships, interparental relationships, and sibling relationships on adolescent family members,. …