Family & Peers

1. Understanding the nature of family processes.
1. Reciprocal socialization, synchrony, family as a system: family socialization and interactions
2. Developmental construction of relationships: emphasizing stability and change
3. Maturation of the adolescent including puberty, egocentric thought, and movement towards independence.
2. Surviving parent – Adolescence relationships.
1. Sociocultural and historical changes: technology, societal roles
2. Family lifecycle: Discussing various stages that occur when the child leaves the home
3. Awareness of parenting techniques: Authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive (indulgent and neglectful)
4. Resolving conflicts in order to promote autonomy and identity
3. Effects of siblings relationships
1. Siblings roles and comparisons: Promoting individual identity
4. The changing Family
1. Divorce: coping skills, changing roles, communication
2. Step-families: changing roles, readjustment of family structure
3. Working parents: impacts of being a latch key child, structured activities,
4. Culture/Ethnicity
5. Gender and parenting
5. Peers
1. Group functions
2. Conformity/Status
6. Friendships
1. Importance
2. Mixed age relationships
3. Intimacy
7. Adolescent groups
1. Cliques
2. Ethnic and culture variations
3. Support groups
8. Dating and Romantic relationships
1. Socialization
2. Sexual experimentation