Hi, this is Dr. Chris and you're watching part one of my lecture on autonomy. Okay, so let me this now what is autonomy? Autonomy is the psychosocial domain concerning the development and expression of emotional, cognitive and behavioral independence. It's the psychosocial domain concerning the development and expression of emotional, cognitive, and behavioral independence. Um, and so we're going to take time to talk about each of these different types of autonomy. Um and also we'll revisit some of our previous studies especially on parenting and um uh different types of parenting practice that are related to autonomy. So it's important to note that uh autonomy is more of a lifespan issue. Uh it's a topic that uh really there are issues across the lifespan and um for instance uh researchers who study uh early development often emphasize that the increase in mobility of toddler brings on issues of autonomy that they're no longer for instance dependent on their parents to get them their toy or get around their house. Um, autonomy is a big issue. My grand nephew, uh, one of my grand nephews, that's a big issue with him is that he could do things on his own. Um, but also both teens and toddlers um, have to negotiate with their parents regarding how much autonomy they receive while balancing safety concerns. Also we see that autonomy may continue to be an issue when we become during our adulthood. Um for instance if we have to take care of our elderly parents there might be autonomy issues there where they're not able to be as autonomous as they were before. So it doesn't completely it's not only adolescent issue but why is it seen as adolescent issue? Why am I talking about it today? Why is there a whole chapter on it? Well, we see that there uh often are physical changes that occur during adolescence. These are associated with puberty and that leads to change in dating but also changes in how teens see themselves and how other people see them. There are also cognitive changes in adolescence. um teens are better able to consider the consequences of their behavior much better than children are. There's also the further development of moral values which we'll talk about later in the lecture. Also, they're just better able to cognitively make their own decisions than they were when they were younger. We also see some changes in social roles. Being able to drive, work, date, and later drink and get married, that leads to changes in how teens and young adults may see themselves. Um, and all of these also require some degree of independence, being independent on one's own without our parents there with us. Okay. So, let's talk about emotional autonomy. Emotional autonomy is the establishment of more adultlike and less childish close relationship with family members and peers. Emotional autonomy is the establishment of more adultlike and less childish childish close relationships with family members and peers. The relationships during adolescence are much different qualitatively uh than they are when they were uh during childhood. Now we see that there are transformations in the parent child relationship across the lifespan. But we see that I I would argue the biggest change we see is during adolescence. These transformations may lead to changes such as the expression of affect and emotion between the parent and child. The distribution of power uh and authority uh during uh this time changes. We also see patterns of verbal interaction change during adolescence. There's been some great research that has compared adolescents before and after puberty and how their relationships interaction with their parents changed over time. So we also see by the end of adolescence uh individuals are less emotionally dependent on the parents as they were when they were children. for instance, they don't rush to the parents when they're upset and needing of assistance. Doesn't mean that they ignore them. Um, I still get a benefit with my dad even though I'm in my 50s. Just in childhood, you might run your parents, but adolescence less likely to do that. Also fascinating we during adolescence we begin to see our parents as not knowing all or do not see our parents as all knowing. Children thought their children thought their parents are experts on everything but adolescence take a more realistic perspective on things. We also see that relationships outside the family been begin to grow during adolescence. These could be in relationship with teachers, mentors, peers outside of our relation, outside of the family. But also what I think is really important, they begin to see their parents as real people. Not just as parents, but these are real people that have their strengths and limitations, things that they may or may not know. Um, and I remember when I was a teen and discovered that, hey, my parents are just real people. But that takes a more realistic view. It doesn't mean it's a lesser view of them. It's a more realistic view of them, a more balanced view of them. Okay. So, let's talk about attach detachment. Detachment is defined as a process through which adolescents sever emotional attachments to their parents and other authority figures. Detachment is a process through which adolescents sever or cut emotional attachments to their parents and other authority figures. Now, a lot of the early adolescent researchers argued for detachment and say there's a completely severing of this relationship, but this isn't necessarily true. Um, most parents and teens get along quite well. Uh, and if you look at my own data, the relationship quality still tends to be relatively high at during adolescence. Now, while there might be some increase in bickering, it's usually over mundane issues and parents and teens still remain close during this time period. So, the big question is, are parent teen relationships completely severed? No, they probably they most likely aren't completely severed. Emotional autonomy really involves the transformation, not the breaking off of relationships within the family, including the relationships that teens have with their parents. So, it's more of a transformation, not a cutting off. It becomes more adult-like, more peer-like. So, teens can become emotionally autonomous without being completely detached from their parents. In fact, that's a sign of a more mature relationship when you can have things outside of the family. Let's talk about individuation. Individuation involves the gradual sharpening of one's sense of self as an autonomous and competent individual who is separate from one's parent. involves a sharpening of one's sense of self as an autonomous and competent individual who is separate from one's parent. Now this doesn't mean they're completely detached but we often when we're children we kind of com you know evaluate based on our parents but when we come adolescence we we see ourselves more as individuals and this is really strongly related to um our identity development. In fact I would argue that this begins throughout childhood but becomes really central focused during adolescence. And because um and it's connect identity development because it really seeing ourselves as a separate individual really is important and it emphasizes who we how we see ourselves and feel about ourselves. Note that this does not involve stress and turmoil in most families. uh in highly conflictual families maybe, but most healthy families you don't see that. I mean, there's some bickering that goes on. It's really the the parenting just trying to establish their new relationships and where they're at. It takes a bit of adjustment, but it's something that uh they deal with over time. So being successful at individuation is accepting responsibility for one's choices and actions. It's and that's what I think is important. Um when something bad happens, it's not the parents fault. It's more of your fault and that's more of an adult like responsibility. Okay. So I want to talk about a study um by Steyberg and Silverberg um and this was conducted 1986 but they found that they found increases in the extent to which the teens de idealize their parents. Uh here's one quote my parents sometimes makes mistakes. They also saw increases in the extent to which the teens depended on themselves which I mentioned earlier. when I'm uh I'm done something wrong, I don't always depend on my parent to straighten things out. We also see increases in the degree to which the teens felt individuated in the relationship with their parents. For instance, one quote, there are some things that about me and my parent does not know. Um and this is often sometimes a challenge for parents and then their children when your children their parents know just about everything that goes in life. But when you become an adolescence because of this individuation process there are some things that they just won't know about. But the important thing is they need to teach you how to be responsible so that you can think about what to do when you're on your own. And so they may know everything about you. the mo most important they do but not everything. So it's likely that this the de idealization process may be the first step of a longer process. Um and what I mean by that a 15-year-old may be less likely to have idealized image of their parents than a 10-year-old but they're no more emotionally autonomous. So it's just kind of a step. It's one step along multiple steps and if it's a gradual step and gradual transformation of the parent child relationship throughout adolescence. We also see that some teens especially early middle child have trouble seeing their parents as individuals outside of the parenting role. So this part of emotional autonomy may not really fully mature until your 20s, especially if the teen goes to college, which many parents pay for. And I would argue that it changes in adolescence, but they're still because the parent is paying for college. I think it's a transformation that's more of a gradual process than maybe it was in previous generations when people didn't go to college. Okay. So this doesn't end at age 15 or even 18 and it depends on the context of the family. Another thing that's important is the context of the relationship and the relationship is really important. Process of emotional autonomy is greatly helped and enhanced in the context of a positive, warm and supportive parent child relationship. Parents and teens need to maintain a positive relationship throughout adolescence. I would argue that it enhances the process and when they don't when they have a conflictual relationship when they have when they're walking on eggshells it makes the process and this process of adolescence much more challenging than it was before. Okay. So important question to ask what triggers the individuation process and we're going to see throughout there are some common uh factors that are going to be involved in each of these different aspects of autonomy. Puberty is an important thing. Changes in physical parent leads to changes in one how teens see themselves and two how parents view their teens. We also see that changes in social cognition and cognition are important. Um, young teens and even children see themselves as the same as what their parents see them. There's no distinction. But over time, teens begin to see that their parents view as one of many. May not always be accurate because their parents don't always see the different sides of them. In fact, friends may not always see the different sides of them. It's also important to note that teens can have a healthy life outside of their home and that's an important part of the individuation process. Oops. Sorry about that. I'm going too fast. I need to cut the slides. I need to work on my slides. Sorry about that. So, I want to talk about um the links between parenting and emotional autonomy. So, we're going to revisit some of the parenting factors we talked about previous weeks. Side control, if you remember, these are teens whose parents tend to be intrusive or overprotective and have trouble individuating. Um, oh, so parents who are intrusive, overprotective. Um, and remember these are parents that are emotionally manipulative or they have trouble disengaging um, from their autonomy, giving autonomy. Teens who have parents who are intrusive and overprotective may have trouble individuating for parents because their parents have trouble letting go. This can also lead to higher levels of depression, anxiety, and poor social competence. And I've seen this in videos, I might have mentioned this before, where you parents who have trouble with this process of adolescent changing their those adolescence tend to be more anxious, less socially competent because they don't allow the teens to think for themselves. Let me talk about some interesting research by Stuart Halzer and Joseph Allen. They studied two aspects of uh parenting behavior. One was called parental enabling behavior and this is reflects when parents accept their teens while at the same time helping them to develop and state their own ideas with helpful and supportive conversations. So they're accepting their teens, but they're still there to be supportive and guide them through these conversations. In contrast, parental constraining behaviors, which I think sounds like sight control, they have difficulty accepting their teens individuality. They often react to the teen's effort for toning by distracting them, by being judgmental or devaluing the teen. Again, it's very similar to the site control. So what did the results indicate? Results show that teens whose parents used more enabling behavior were more individuated and scored higher in measures of identity development than parents who scored higher on constraining behavior. That makes sense. Allowing your teen the room to explore while being there to provide guidance to them, that's important. Not allowing them to do that by distracting, being judgmental, being just mean to them is not going to be uh helpful in terms of their autonomy. Okay. So, let's talk about parenting styles and emotional autonomy. We generally see better outcomes or emotional autonomy for authoritative parents. Remember, these are parents who are friendly, fair, and firm. and they have better outcomes compared to authoritarian parents who are excessively harsh. They have expectations like authoritative but they are excessively harsh or not responsive. And authoritative parents also have better outcomes than indulgent parents. These are parents who are excessively lenient. In addition, authoritative parents are uh teens have better outcomes than indifferent parents. These are parents who are excessively lenient but also neglectful. So why is that? So authoritative families tend to be more flexible to the changes that occur during adolescence and are more likely to have open discussions regarding family issues. there's more dialogue that goes on and I think that's really key uh to optimal adolescent development especially emotional autonomy contrastitarian homes are less flexible to developmental changes during adolescence they often want to maintain the status quo through enforcing rules with very little or no discussion you don't have open discussion authoritarian homes In indulgent or indifferent homes, these families have established no standards. They don't have no expectations, which leads to teens to often turning to their less experienced peers. Finally, indifferent parents um in addition to having no standards, they also are less warm and positive to their teens, which further exacerbates the lack of adequate parenting, teaching, and socialization. Okay. Well, that is the end of part one. I will see you in part two. Have a great day.