There is an extended family network of grandparents, aunts, and uncles that provides additional figures to serve as role models for the subject, but she remains especially close to her mother and is above all cognizant of and concerned with the needs and expectations of her family as a whole. The divorce of the subject's parents during her early adolescence necessarily had an effect on the relationship she developed with her mother, and the personality development of the subject herself. Research has shown that the impact of a positive parent-adolescent relationship can mitigate the negative impacts of divorce, and lead to many other changes to the parent-adolescent relationship following the divorce, as well (Hines 1997). The relationship that Valerie has with her mother is very close, and one of shared responsibility and decision-making. It is likely that this relationship will develop in quite different ways following Valerie's eventual departure form her home, and as her siblings are less rleaint on her. The shared responsibilities of the family are a major factor in the current relationship that exists between Valerie and her mother, and diminishing or even eliminating these responsibilities -- as is the natural result of time -- will have a huge impact on this relationship.

Devon T.

A Caucasian seventeen-year-old male from a middle income family, Devon is the middle child of three total children, with a brother seven years older than he and another brother three years his junior. The family's father holds a management position in a medium-sized accounting firm, and the mother works part time as a kindergarten aide, a position she has held for over a decade. All three siblings in this family have been encouraged in their individual endeavors and kept under fairly tight supervision, especially by the mother who was at home and more available during the day; the parenting style is one of controlled independence.

According to the subject's current description of his relationship with his parents, there have been significant points of conflict, but these are generally not long-lived and remain highly isolated incidents rather than typifying...

The clarity of expectations and boundaries that Devon feels have been laid out make for a logical, if sometimes frustrating, set of rules that govern the relationship and other aspects of the adolescent's life, and this has been shown to mitigate and minimize conflict to a large degree (Allison 2000). There is also a great deal of variation observable in the relationship that the subject shares with his father and his mother, the latter of whom has been more consistently available and yet is generally less permissive and more protective, and has thus been the source of many of the conflicts that Devon has experienced in his attempts to assert his independence. This, too, is in keeping with established research into the development of parental relationships and conflict during adolescence (Grotevant & Cooper 1985).
Conclusion

It is clear that varying situations and pre-existing factors in a parent-child relationship can lead to different relationships, and different levels and types of conflict, during adolescence. All of these relationships are almost certain to change as the adolescents reach their own adulthoods, and more equal footings are found for all members of these families. The different parenting styles that governed relationships during adolescence will have lasting effects as these relationships continue to evolve.

References

Allison, B. (2000). "Parent-adolescent conflict in early adolescence." Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences Education 18(2).

Grotevant, H. & Cooper, C. (1985). "Patterns of Interaction in Family Relationships and the Development of Identity Exploration in Adolescence." Child development 56, pp. 415-28.

Grotevant, H. & Cooper, C. (1986), "Individuation in family relationships: A perspective on individual differences in the development of identity and role-taking skill in adolescence." Human development 29(2), pp. 82-100.

Hines, a. (1997). "Divorce-Related Transitions, Adolescent Development, and the Role of the Parent-Child Relationship: A Review of the Literature." Journal of Marriage and Family 59(2), pp. 375-388.