Teens and Children

Having and raising children impacts parents and children differently. For parents, while giving children appropriate boundaries, they also want to encourage and foster the child's individual intellectual, and social-emotional growth. From childhood to teen years, children typically test boundaries while developing a sense of independence and their own unique identities. Though most people say that parenthood gives their lives meaning, raising children also is usually stressful. Parents face their own wishes for their children, their child's strengths and developmental stages, the child's reaction to his/her environment, as well as the responses and reactions other people have to their child.

The ability to manage ones emotions and respect different viewpoints are learned early, primarily in the family. The relationships individuals with their siblings as well as parents form their basis to feeling understood and being understanding of others.

Relevant Research


The bonds children form with their parents early in life are fundamental to their flourishing later in their lives. "Baby Bonds: Parenting Attachment, and A Secure Base for Children," by Sophie Moullin, Jane Wallfogel, and Elizabeth Washbrook, pub. by Sutton Trust, March, 2014.

Teens experience diminished self-control, though there are individual differences among teens. "The Teen Age Brain: Self Control," by B.J. Casey & Kristina Caudle, Current Directions in Psychological Science, April 16, 2013, 22(2).

There is increasingly research supporting the importance of the father's involvement in children's emotional, cognitive and behavioral development. "Fathers' Influence on Children's Cognitive and Behavioral Functioning," Erin Pougnet, Lisa A. Serbin, Dale M. Stack, & Alex E. Schwartzman, Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science, July 2011, 43(3).

How conflict impacts relationships is described in. "Voicing Conflict," Lara Kammrath & Carol Dweck, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, May 2006, 32.

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