Europ ean Jo urncl ofPsychology ofEducation1998. Vol. XIII. r:" 4. 485-502© 1998, I.S.P.A.

Parents' educational styles and adolescentautonomy

Elvira CicognaniBruna ZaniUniversity ojBologn a, Italy

The purp ose of thi s paper is to exp lor e, by means of semi­-structu red interviews, how fa milies of adolescent s p erceive anddescribe their educational styl es and the development of adolescentautonomy . Specifically , the results of two different studies will bediscussed: the first was conducted with a group of 83 parents (fathersand mothers) of 15- to 18-year-old adolescents. male and f emale, fromdifferent cultural backgrounds (medium-low and medium-h igh). Thesecond study involved both adolescents and their parents of threeage-groups (10 fa milies with 13-, 15- and l7-year-old adolescents.fora total of90 interviews), halfmale and halffe male.

In the first study f athers and mothers were asked to describe theeducational sty le they adopted in raising their children, its consistencyacross situations and similarities and differences with their partner 'ssty le; mor eover, parents ' belief s about the process of separation//in dividuation of the adolescent were assessed. The seco nd studyfo cused on family members ' (father, mother, adolescent) perceptionsand beliefs about the nature of autonomy and its development and ontheir degr ee of congruence or incongruen ce within the f amily ;moreover, the inclusion of a group ofyounger subj ects (13-year-olds)was intended to provide a picture of a larger age span.

Results ofcontent analysis conducted on subjects ' answers showedtile presence ofdifferent "models " or "styles " of education adopted byf athers and mothers, as well as different conceptions of "autonomy "and p att erns of auto nomy developm ent, which app ear to diff eraccording to the sociodemographic variables considered.

Introduction

Recent perspecti ves on adolescence have acknowledged the crucial role of the family inadolescent development. The transition from childhood to adulthood is no more seen asinvolving a breakdown of the family bond with parents, within which parents are featured asplaying an oppositional or passive role, but as a transformation and "renegotiation" of the

486 E. CICOGNANI & B. ZANI

relationship to which both adolescents and their parents provide an active and positivecontribution (Grotevant & Cooper, 1986; Youniss & Smollar, 1985; Steinberg, 1987; Noller &Callan, 1991). This view of adolescence has found support in studies exploring adolescents'perceptions of family relations (e.g., Youniss & Smollar, 1985), from which it appears thatyoung people highly value their parents' opinions and authority and actively search for theiradvice and support.

In the research literature, less attention has been devoted to fathers' and mothers'perspectives on adolescence. For example, we have little information on how parents ofadolescents perceive the developmental transition to adulthood and the ongoingtransformation of the relationship with their adolescent child. Similarly, little is known abouttheir ideas about their own role as parents in this process. Such perceptions and ideas arelikely to affect parents' actual behaviours in the face of adolescents' changing requests andtheir child-rearing strategies.

Parents' perceptions and ideas about development and their parenting style have beenextensively investigated with parents of younger children. Increasing attention has beendevoted to "parents' belief systems" and to their role as determinants of child rearingstrategies and developmental outcomes (e.g., children's sociocognitive abilities) (Sigel,McGillicuddy-De Lisi, & Goodnow, 1992; Collins, 1992; Goodnow, 1988).

According to some authors (e.g., Goodnow, 1988; McGillicuddy-De Lisi, 1980; Sigel,1985) in rearing children, parents form viewpoints about their role in socialization anddevelopment and express their beliefs through strategies that pertain to the situations faced bychildren. The strategies adopted by parents to meet children's immediate needs and requestsare seen as arising from a more general orientation towards child education, including itslong-range goals and purposes. With the entry into adolescence, children have to face new andoften varied situations requiring profound changes in behaviour (Jackson & Rodriguez-Tome,1993; Coleman & Hendry, 1990; Palmonari, 1993) and the physical, cognitive, affective andsocial changes which take place give rise to new needs which parents have to acknowledge.Such changes force parents to adapt to the new situations by altering both previous beliefsabout children and the appropriate education style and the strategies adopted in dealing withadolescent's changing requests. However, this adaptation process is not easy: parents oftenhave to grapple with their already established beliefs and may find it difficult to recognize theadolescent's emerging needs for more autonomy (Noller & Callan, 1991). A likelyconsequence is that parents' educational strategies might show inconsistency across situations,as parents try to balance their attempts to keep control over adolescent behaviour andgradually allow more freedom of action.

The issue of the degree of consistency in parents' educational strategies across situationswas explored by Youniss, DeSantis, and Henderson (1992), who asked parents whichstrategies they adopted in facing several critical situations which can occur during adolescence.While very few of the parents adopted a consistent strategy, 85% appeared to follow adominant strategy (e.g., "democratic", "control"), in conjunction with others reflectingadaptations to the situations. The most typical style involved a combination of differentstrategies ("flexible"). Educational styles appeared to change with progress throughadolescence (decrease in the USI~ of the "control" style and increase in "democratic" and"flexible" styles) and according to parental education level (educated parents were more likelyto discuss rationales for desired behaviours with children). Contrary to Youniss et al.'sexpectations, no differences emerged in the degree of consistency of parenting style accordingto adolescent gender. This finding contrasts with the research literature on families with youngchildren, which has shown that parents appear to adopt different educational styles with malesand females (Steinberg, 1987; Scabini, 1995). Moreover, inconsistency was also apparentwithin the couple: two-thirds of the parents appeared to adopt different and complementarystyles (one parent - usually the father - was more controlling and the other more open todiscussion). Such a tactic allows them to reach adolescents through different modes of contactand to express feelings in a clearer fashion. This result, which is in line with system theoriesand studies of family communication (e.g., Grotevant & Cooper, 1986; Hauser, Powers,

EDUCATION AND ADOLESCENT AUTONOMY 487

Noam, Jacobson, Weiss-Perry, & Follansbee, 1984} and also with studies of adolescents'perceptions of their parents' style (Youniss & Smollar, 1985), suggests that parents mightdivide their c:hild-rearing tasks and in so doing create a more optimal context for adolescentego/identity development.

According to Youniss, DeSantis, & Henderson (1992), inconsistency in parents'behaviours toward adolescents mirrors their attempts to adapt their educational style todifferent situations. Their conclusions were drawn from parents' descriptions of actualbehaviours i::1 specific circumstances; the nature and content of parents' beliefs were notassessed directly. In fact, it remains to be established whether the flexibility of strategiesobserved at a concrete level and the apparent "division of tasks" between parents are based ona clear, coherent - and presumably shared - set of beliefs and educational goals, or are merelya form of adaptation to situational demands. Moreover, it is an open question whether thestyles that the authors identified for classification purposes (e.g., control, democratic, flexible),are perceived as such by the parents themselves. Parents might have idiosyncratic perceptionsabout being severe, democratic, flexible and such perceptions cannot be assumed to be sharedby all parents. To clarify these issues, a closer examination of the content of parents' beliefs isnecessary. This should explore how parents perceive and describe their educational approachand their justification for the adoption of the different strategies, for the variability acrosssituations and for their ideas about the division of child-rearing tasks within the couple.

Inquiring about parents' perceptions and beliefs about their educational style raisesfurther issues. These include ideas about paternal and maternal roles and the contribution ofthe educational contexts within which the parents themselves were raised. These aspects,which have been extensively explored from a sociological and anthropological perspective(Venuti & Giusti, 1996), are an essential component of parents' belief systems and form aframe of reference for their own educational strategies toward children as well as for theinterpretation of actual behaviours. In today's society such ideas and models are subject tochange, depending on a host of social, cultural, demographic and historic factors. Suchchanges further complicate parents' educational task, often forcing them to abandon the morefamiliar, established model (within which they themselves were raised) and to find a newmodel which is more adequate in meeting the educational needs of adolescents in a changingsociety (Hun-elman, 1989). This pattern of change means that the parenting task is often asource of uncertainties and distress. While we do not aim to discuss extensively the changeswhich have occurred in educational models in our society in the last forty to fifty years andhow these may affect today's parent-adolescent relationships, it is important to acknowledgethat these more "sociological" variables will inevitably emerge in inquiring about parents'ideas and beliefs. In this context, let us refer to two significant changes which occurred duringthe '60 and '70s and which are likely to have influenced today's parents' educational styles:the abandonment of the traditional, dominant, "authoritarian" and "patriarchal" model inchildren's education (cr., Lamb, 1987; Ventimiglia, 1997); the increased employment ofmothers and the resulting need to share the task of child-rearing with others (e.g., grandparentsand schools) (Scabini, 1995; Carra & Marta, 1995).

Closely related to beliefs about parents' role in adolescent development, are parents'ideas about the nature of development during adolescence. In fact, ideas about the waychildren develop (e.g., the role of genetic and biological factors, of the social environment)may be related to beliefs about the appropriate parenting style (e.g., whether parents shouldmainly discipline children, or stimulate their inner capacities). Research conducted withparents of younger children have shown that parents hold naive "theories" about childdevelopment (e.g., constructivist, psychoanalytic, biological, social-learning), which arethought to affect their child-rearing practices (McGillicuddy-De Lisi, 1992; Emiliani &Molinari, 1995). Such theories appear to differ beween parents (Miller, 1988) according toparental level of education, cultural and ethnic background (Goodnow, 1988), mothers' workexperience (Emiliani & Molinari, 1995) and experience of parenting (Holden, 1988). Weknow relatively less on parents' ideas and "theories" about development during adolescenceand, in particular, on the nature of individuation processes and the acquisition of autonomy.

488 E. CICOONANI & B. ZANI

In the literature, different styles or types of autonomy have been distinguished andinvestigated (Steinberg & Silverberg, 1986; Newman & Murray, 1983; Greenberger, 1984;Kandel & Lesser, 1972). It appears that autonomy is not a unidimensional concept, butincludes different dimensions (e.g., emotional autonomy in relationships with parents,resistance to peer pressures, subjective sense of self-reliance, (Steinberg & Silverberg, 1986);behavioural, emotional and value autonomy (Newman & Murray, 1983). Other authors havedistinguished different "domains" (Smetana, 1988) or areas of autonomy in decision-making(Bosma, Jackson, Zijsling, Zani, Cicognani, Xerri, Honess, & Charman, 1996). Research hasalso focused on tracing the developmental "normative" trajectories of the different types ofautonomy (Steinberg & Silverberg, 1986; Smetana, 1988) across adolescence. Therelationship between the perspectives of adolescents and their parents on parental authorityand the degree of autonomy that is seen as appropriate for an adolescent at different ages hasalso been a focus of research. Such work has shown that the perspectives on the legitimacy ofparental authority differ according to the issues. Some issues are seen as matter of personaldecision by adolescents, but not so by parents (Smetana & Asquith, 1994). Moreover, whenthe answers of parents and adolescents are compared, the latter appear to overestimate theamount of autonomy they actually enjoy (Cicognani, Xerri, & Zani, 1996).

Such results are interesting as they point to possible sources of difficulty and conflict inadolescent-parent relationships (Jackson, Cicognani, & Charman, 1996). Specifically, theysuggest that conflicts might arise from the different perspectives of family members (parentsand adolescents) over who should decide over particular issues. Greater attention to the degreeof congruence or incongruence among family members' views may provide usefulinformation concerning the relationship between family members' beliefs and their actualbehaviours and how this ties in with developmental outcomes (Honess & Robinson, 1993).

Decisional autonomy is but one facet of autonomy. We need to know more on familymembers' ideas and beliefs about the nature of individuation process and the acquisition ofautonomy, i.e., issues such as the meaning of autonomy, the criteria and behaviours that aretaken as signs of autonomy, the age at which it is considered as acquired and the timetable ofacquisition. It is likely that such perspectives will differ among members of the same family,depending on their position (e.g., adolescent, actively involved in the search for greater mar­gins of autonomy, or parent, mainly concerned with the regulation of children behaviour) andon their role (father or mother).

To shed further light on this broad area, we decided to adopt an exploratory idiographicapproach, using qualitative methods of data collection and analysis (cf., Denzin & Lincoln,1994). Such methods are particularly suited to the examination of the contents of subjects'ideas and the underlying processes. The primary focus in qualitative analysis is on thedescription and conceptualization of the phenomenon of interest, as it emerges from subjects'answers, rather than on its prevalence in the general population.

This article describes two qualitative studies concerning perceptions and beliefs aboutparents' educational styles and adolescent autonomy. While the studies were carried outseparately and in different periods, they focus on the same issues and provide complementaryinformation. We will present the results separately, but will discuss the implications of thefindings together in the final section.

Study 1

The purpose of the first study was to examine (a) how fathers and mothers of adolescentsperceive and describe the educational style they adopted in raising their child and (b) theirperceptions and beliefs about the process of separation/individuation of the adolescent.

With regard to the first aim (a), we particularly wanted to assess the degree ofconsistency in fathers' and mothers' child-rearing style across situations and whether theycharacterise paternal and maternal styles as similar or different, but complementary. A central

EDUCA TrON AND ADOLESCENT AUTONOMY 489

concern was also parents' explanations and justifications for actual behaviours. On this point,we wanted to assess the beliefs about paternal and maternal roles on which educational stylesare based. We expected that fathers and mothers would stress the differences between theirown and their partners' style, as well as differences with respect to traditional paternal andmaternal models. A further expectation was that parents - and especially the parent who ismore directly involved in the education of the adolescent (i.e., the mother) - would describetheir own style as inconsistent across situations. To the extent that inconsistencies ineducational strategies are based on a clear and coherent set of beliefs about child education,they should not be perceived as real inconsistencies or as something problematic, but parentsshould be able to provide a rational/logical justification for them. Moreover, if parents areactually adopting a sort of division of tasks, it should emerge as a clear and expliciteducational strategy.

With the second aim (b), we expected that fathers' and mothers' conceptions would differand that such perspectives would reflect the distinct positions/concerns and specific roles ofthe two parents. Mothers, being more involved in the child-rearing task, should emphasiseday-to-day concrete and practical issues, while fathers, who are less directly involved, shouldbe more concerned with aspects of autonomy that are more related to choices about the future.

With both these aims, we also wanted to test whether subjects' perceptions would differaccording to their level of education and adolescent gender. Parents with higher educationwere expected to characterise their own educational style as more flexible. Their conceptionsabout adolescent autonomy were expected to lay more emphasis on issues such as preparationfor a future career and, to a lesser extent, on economic independence or creating a family. Thelatter issues were thought likely to be more prevalent among less educated parents. As regardsadolescent gender, even if results in the literature are not consistent (Steinberg, 1987), weexpected a more controlling and restricting attitude by parents of female adolescents,reflecting ideas about the traditional feminine role in Italian society (Carra & Marta, 1995).

Sample and procedure

The sample comprised 83 parents of adolescents (ranging in age from 15 to 18 years-old).41 were mothers and 42 fathers; of these, 14 were married couples. Their average age was42 for mothers (range: 36- to 52-years-old) and 45 for fathers (range: 37- to 55-years-old). Thesample covered approximately equal numbers of male and female adolescents. Half of theparents came from a medium-high cultural level (M-Hlev, defined by having completed highschool) and the other half from a medium-low cultural level (M-Llev - subjects had notproceeded beyond compulsory schooling). Twenty-seven percent of the mothers werehousewives, while the remainder were in employment. All of the fathers were employed.

Subjects were submitted an in-depth interview (in 1989/1990) covering several issues ofimportance for adolescent-parents relationships. These included: parents' general ideas aboutadolescence {their views about today's adolescents, the difficulties experienced by parents ineducating them), their perceptions of the relationship with their child and the child-rearingstyles adopted (e.g., perceptions and ideas about the process of individuation, adolescents'needs and worries, parents' educational strategies, topics of communication, etc.), parent­-adolescent communication on issues of an intimate nature (e.g., sexuality, contraception,etc.)!

Interviews were generally conducted in the subjects' home by a trained interviewer. Theylasted for about one hour and were audio-recorded. In families where both parents agreed toparticipate, interviews were conducted separately. The resulting protocols were analysed inorder to identify central themes. This required detailed examination of all the transcriptsinvolving comparison between the answers in order to identify general themes and individualprofiles and how these were described/conceptualised. While following general hypotheses inseeking to identify relevant themes, we also tried to remain open to issues which mightemerge as more relevant.

490

Results

E. CICOGNANJ & B. ZANl

Parents' perceptions of their educational styles. The focus of interest here was on howparents characterise their own educational style, its degree of consistency across situations andthe similarities to or differences between it and that of the partner.

Parents generally tended to describe their own style as different, both with respect to thetraditional model and to their partner's style. The former tendency was mainly evident infathers' answers. Fathers' parenting style appeared to have profoundly changed relative to thetraditional "authoritarian" model within which they were raised. Only a minority of fathers(14%) reported that they were severe or authoritarian in raising their children. This groupthought that being severe would facilitate an early adaptation of their child to everyday life.These fathers were the youngest of the sample and were of M-Llev. In the course of theinterview these fathers also reported difficulties in finding an adequate educational role towardtheir children. Such problems could be related to the younger age at which they married.Consider the answer of this father of an adolescent son:

"I became a father when I was 21-years-old. .. my experience with my son has grownday by day together with my experience as a man [ ...] therefore I have been rigidwith my son especially during his first years oflife... "

The majority of fathers (86%) sought to distance themselves from the "authoritarian"model and to search for a new, more "permissive/ambivalent" model. They tended toemphasise the quality of communication with their children, especially during their infancyand gave priority to the construction of an intense and meaningful emotional relationship withthem (dimensions traditionally associated with the mother role). While still seeing the motheras the most central figure in children education, the father appeared equally involved andinterested in the child's needs (only 5% of the mothers reported lack of interest on the part oftheir husbands). Consider this father of an adolescent male:

"The only way is to stay close to him, to follow him constantly, be ready to help himsolve whichever problem he might encounter ... parents should stay close to theirchildren"

Notwithstanding the importance placed on communication and the quality ofrelationships, the content and the boundaries of father role appeared to be blurred anduncertain. Fathers seemed to lack clear and consistent purposes and some were aware that thiscontradicted the possibility of being a stable, reliable and credible point of reference forchildren. Consider this father of an adolescent girl:

"I have never adopted a predefined strategy, I have never established purposes,except at a general level [.. I I have always been available to modify my attitudesand also to give way, as I don't have a rigid position on such things. It is likely that 1raised some uncertainties in her. Probably my daughter would have preferred abetter guide"

Fathers (in particular the M-Hlev) felt insecure, anxious and expressed conflictingattitudes about the consequences of their educational style on their children. This wasespecially so when the results were perceived as disappointing (adolescents made differentkinds of choices from those expected by their parents, e.g., political, religious, life-style).

Where perceptions of similarities and differences between parents were concerned, bothfathers and mothers tended to stress the differences between the two of them. Only 10% ofparents expressed a substantial agreement in educational styles, whereas 27% of parents statedthat they differed on a concrete level, but not on general educational purposes. Here is theanswer of a father of an adolescent girl:

"1 think that there are no differences except for our character: for example, my wifeis aggressive and 1 am not. She is less permissive than I am, but by and large weshare the same purposes"

EDUCATION AND ADOLESCENT AUTONOMY 491

The remaining 63% of parents reported stronger divergences, a result which points to thedifficulties encountered by parents in facing the variety of adolescent requests and in makingrapid decisions. When adolescents' requests are unexpected, parents can be caughtunprepared and with insufficient time to discuss and agree a common line. This can lead themto adopt different and even contradictory strategies, giving rise to disagreements and conflicts.

Despite such inconsistencies, parents spontaneously characterised their partners' style as"compensatory" to their own style (e.g., permissive vs rigid; tolerant vs severe). Consider thefollowing excerpts from mothers' and fathers' answers:

"I am much more severe, whereas he always plays with him." (mother of a maleadolescent)

"He is more uncompromising, whereas I am more prepared to listen to her reasons. "(mother ofa female adolescent)

"I think I am more rigid, rigorous on things that I consider important, whereas mywife is more rigid and uncompromising on less important issues. " (father ofa maleadolescent)

It appeared that parents negotiated their styles as a form of adaptation to situationalrequirements, a strategy that proved helpful, especially when major problems and difficultiesarose.

Mothers.' educational style could be defined as flexible ("elastic model", as one motherdefined it), as it didn't correspond to a single model, but changed (from authoritativeness topermissiveness) depending on the situation, adolescent's age or personal values. For example:

"I am strict but also good"

"At first I was strict, but I realised that I had to change"

"I am tolerant, ... but I have to insist with him"

"I am very tolerant, but as regards school I am rigid"

Only 5% of mothers of female adolescents appeared to consciously adopt a "friendship"model of relationship, within which the adolescent is treated "like an equal" and "someonewho is different and more than simply a child". This approach seemed to be favoured whenthere was a lower age difference between mother and adolescent and when the mother tendedto identify with the adolescent. These are the words of a mother:

"The problem is that in my generation we all feel very young and so you have thetendency to... and you know that it is wrong... to become interested about theiraffairs as ifthey were your friends ... "

The mother role was often perceived as problematic. More than half of the mothers in oursample provided negative self-evaluations, focusing on the sense of guilt for the perceivedconsequences of the lack (or the excess) of maternal care and love towards their children.Conflicting feelings were reported, especially by mothers of M-Hlev who were more self­-conscious and more capable of verbalising their inner thoughts and feelings. Mothers ofM-Llev appeared to be more self-confident about their educational style; they felt they "haddone the right thing". These mothers appeared to be mainly involved in trying to control thepresent situation and to provide adolescents with resources to face future problems (e.g.,searching for a job), postponing evaluation of the effectiveness of their educational style to thefuture, when they would know what sort of persons their adolescents had become and whatthey could do. These are the words of a mother of a female adolescent:

"I tried to teach her the things I considered right and in the right way, buteverything has to be verified, I hope that things went right"

492 E. CICOGNANI & B. ZANI

An issue featuring strongly in the answers of both parents was the role of time inchild-rearing. Fathers and mothers (those who have a job) tended to lament the effect ofemployment in limiting the amount of time available for educating their children. Whenchildren were young, the lack of time involved the need to share the task of rearing childrenwith other people (grandparents and schools). In both cases, such sharing of childrearingactivity was experienced as forced by the circumstances and not as a result of a personalchoice arising because they valued the education provided by grandparents or institutions. Asa consequence, parents did not perceive the role of the different figures as complementary.They held critical attitudes toward certain behaviours learned by adolescents during childhoodand perceived their own role as "compensatory", i.e., aimed at correcting the "mistakes" or"damages" done by others (e.g., where grandparents were considered as "too permissive",they usually compensated by being more "severe").

For fathers, lack of time was seen essentially in quantitative terms (the time to stayphysically with children), as something limiting the amount of activities they could dotogether. These are the words of a father of an adolescent female:

"J don't have a lot of time to attend to her; moreover, unfortunately when J comehome from work J don't feel like attending to her... "

Lack of time was a sort of justification for fathers ofM-Llev, for assigning to the motherthe main role within the home and as carers of the children. Fathers of M-Hlev tried toparticipate more actively in child..rearing, despite the limited amount of time available.

Mothers underlined the qualitative dimension of time. Time is necessary for cultivatingthe relationship with children, to listen to them, to be available, to negotiate adolescents' andfamily needs. They felt that the time they have available (free from job, even if they don'tmention it explicitly) is not enough and this was experienced as distressing.

Parents' perceptions about the process of separation/individuation of adolescents.

Fathers appeared sensitive in recognising adolescents' attempts to gain more autonomy. Theyvalued behaviours which they saw as signs of a process of maturation, but this variedaccording to adolescent gender. Fathers - and especially fathers of M-Llev - appeared moreworried about the process of emancipation for female adolescents and anticipated moredifficulties in their future. This led them to feel that girls' personal resources should be furtherdeveloped before they became autonomous. Ideas here included: being more educated, beingsocially and politically involved, succeeding in school, being able to take care of moretraditional feminine domestic activities. Fathers' worries induced them to be more restrictivetowards female requests for more freedom (e.g., going-out, time-in). The same did not happenwith male adolescents. The process of separation/individuation from the father appeared to beless problematic for them and they were allowed more freedom of action. However,independently of adolescent gender, for fathers (and in particular fathers of M-Llev) realautonomy is impossible without having ajob:

"One cannot be autonomous unless one is able to support oneselfeconomically. "

For this reason, fathers tended to locate the acquisition of real autonomy beyondadolescence, well into adulthood, when their offspring would have a job, a house and a stablerelationship with another person.

For mothers the process of individuation was more problematic and there was moreambivalence, especially for mothers of adolescent girls. In general, mothers appeared to beproud to recognise their child's capacity (particularly in the case of males) to manage practicalissues in all circumstances for themselves. They saw this as a result of the educational stylethey had adopted. Consider this mother of an adolescent male:

"When J am not at home [i.e., at work], it is not a problem for him to prepare hislunch or dinner. He is not able to wash and iron yet, but he can manage on mostpersonal matters. "

EDUCAnON AND ADOLESCENT AUTONOMY 493

At the same time, mothers underl ined the adolescents' emotional-relational dependenceon the family . However, their comments appeared to reflect the difficulties which mothersface in acknowledgin g (and accepting) that they are loosing their central role for their children .It is probably for this reason that they find it harder to notice signs of change in their children.Moth ers of males have less pr obl ems and allow children more freedom to go out andencounter new experiences. Some of the adolescents' requests are encour aged and consideredto be signs of success in socialisation.

For females , the process of individuation involved more confl ict. It was accompanied byprobl ems in communica tion, by higher control and more re strict ive attitudes towardsadolescents' request s for more autonomy. This led to difficult negotiations, especially with theemergen ce of new affecti ve and sexual needs :

"She is entering into life and she is always in competition with everybody and withme in particular... I fee l such a competitive attitude on every issue { ..] she started arelationship with a boy very early and you know, children don't listen to theirparents... ..

Study 2

The purpose of this study was to explore more deeply ideas and perceptions about thenature of adolescent autonomy and its development. In the previous study, fathers and motherswere examined separately as distinct groups. In this study we considered parents belonging tothe same family and we also included the adolescent. This meant that we could explore therelationship between the percept ions and ideas of all family members, the extent to which theyare shared, different or conflicting. We also extended the age-range of the young people byincluding a group of younger subjects (l3-year-olds), in order to examine more closely howperceptions and ideas change as subjects develop from early (13 years) to middle (15 years) tolate (17 years) adolescence.

We expected divergences within the family to be particularly evident in early and middleadolescence, the period when major changes occur and when parents and adolescents alikehave to modify their previous beliefs and expe ctat ions and to negotiate new form s ofagreement. Such divergences were expected to be more prominent with regard to beliefs aboutglobal autonomy and less so with descriptions of concrete instances of behaviour. Where thecontent of family members' perceptions was concerned , subjects were expected to focus onthe issues that are more relevant in their own experienc e and from their own perspective androle (father, mother and adole scent).

Sample and procedure

The sample consisted of 30 intact families (father, mother, adolescent) (total=90 subjects).The number of families was balanc ed with respect to adole scent age (10 families for eachage-level considered) and adolescent gender. All the families were of medium-high culturallevel (accord ing to the criteria used in Study I). Fathers ' age ranged from 38 to 57 year s(mea n age 46 ,3) and moth ers ' from 34 to 55 years (mean 43,3). Seventy percent of themothers were employed and 29 fathers had a job and one had retired.

An in-d epth interview was conducted with all fam ily member s (fa ther, mother,adolescent). The interview covered the following broad areas: (A) adolescents' and parents 'conceptions about adolescence (descriptions of the present period of adolescent life, sourceso f worry and principal need s of the adolescent); (B) the acquis ition of autonomy andne got iation processes w ith par ents (g enera l evalua t io n of ado les cent degree ofautonomy/dependence, issues on which the adolescent already experiences autonomy,perceptions or continuity/discontinu ity in development); (C) the nature of support provided by

494 E. CICOGNANI & B. ZANI

parents and friends (description and evaluation of adolescent friendships, issues on which theadolescent seeks help from friends or from parents, etc.); (D) conflict, conflict managementand authoritativeness (areas of disagreement with parents, parental reactions to adolescents'behaviours falling outside parental rules, etc.); (E) intergenerational comparison in educationalstyles.

In this article, we will focus on the area dealing with adolescent autonomy (B). Beliefsabout global autonomy were assessed by means of two questions ("Overall, do you consideryour child [yourself] autonomous or dependent?"; "Did the growth of your child's [your]autonomy occur gradually or did you notice sudden changes or critical periods?"). Autonomyon specific issues was assessed by one question ("On which issues do you see your child [you]as autonomous and on which issues do you see him/her [yourself] as dependent?").

Interviews were conducted at subjects' home and separately for each family member.They lasted for about one hour and were audio-recorded. The protocols were analysed forthematic content in the same way as in Study I. Differences relating to the age and gender ofthe adolescent were also explored.

Results

Beliefs about the nature of autonomy and the developmental pathway to autonomy.Subjects' evaluations of adolescent global autonomy did not show noticeable differencesaccording to adolescent age and gender. While some subjects (20% of the total sample)defined the adolescent as still dependent and others (30%) as already autonomous, the mosttypical response (half of the sample, without differences between fathers, mothers andadolescents) characterised the adolescent as fairly autonomous, or autonomous on some issuesand dependent on others. Here are some examples of answers provided by fathers of 13-, 15­and l7-year-old adolescents, respectively:

"He is independent in many issues, but for others he still needs our advice, becausehe looks for points ofreference. "

"Neither dependent nor independent, it depends on the issues... I think that he is stillconnected with his family. "

"In general] consider my son as fairly independent ... obviously he is still a studentand he cannot be autonomous from an economic point ofview... "

However, when we move from the comparisons across subgroups to the relationshipsbetween the answers provided by the different family members (father, mother andadolescent) considerable incongruences and divergences emerged. Such divergences wereespecially evident in families with 13- and 15-year-old adolescents (half of the families in allage groups). The following answers were provided by families with a 15 year-old adolescent(in the first case male and in the second case female):

" he is dependent because he must come home at a particular time. " (father)

" he is independent because] am never at home. " (mother)

"I am independent because] solve my problems by myself, in every situation. "(adolescent)

" she is autonomous" (father)

" she would like to separate from us, but she is afraid of trying, so I still cancontrol her" (mother)

"I am dependent because] am not free to decide by myself" (adolescent)

These differences appeared to reflect different meanings and criteria for autonomy,adopted by members of the same families (e.g., the nature of behaviours which define the

EDUCATION AND ADOLESCENT AUTONOMY 495

acquisition of autonomy for different subjects and the extent to which the adolescent is seen asshowing such behaviours). From the previous examples, the freedom to decide about the timeto come home might be one of such criteria, as well as "feeling free to decide" for oneself.Other criteria mentioned by subjects were "being capable" of deciding by oneself andeconomic independence.

Note that these differences in criteria for autonomy reflect the different position and roleof subjects within the family (parent - concerned about the regulation and control onadolescent behaviour, or adolescent - actively involved in the negotiation of more autonomy).Moreover, when comparing fathers' and mothers' perspectives, the data suggest anotherpossible source of differences. Several mothers (27%) spontaneously tended to relate actualautonomy with behaviours exhibited by the adolescent in the past, during his or her childhood.These mothers emphasised the continuity and stability between the present period of adolescentdevelopment and the past and mentioned the causal role of individual variables (character,temperament, etc.). For them, development of autonomy meant a "quantitative" change incapacities already present. Consider the following answer of a mother of a 13-year-old male:

"He has always been autonomous, since he was a child, he wasn't afraid of trying(...) it was me the one who worried, but then I realised that he knew the point wherehe should stop (...) in growing up, he became more responsible. "

Other mothers (17%) point out the contribution of their own educational style to theactual degree of autonomy. This occurred when the adolescent was seen as autonomous, asstated by this mother of a 13-year-old male adolescent:

"We stimulated him to become autonomous very early, owing to family needs[parental working activity]. "

But it was also used as a critical remark when the adolescent failed to meet mothers'expectations. For example, the reaction of another mother of a 13 -year-old male:

"I made a big mistake in helping him whenever he asked me; it would have beenbetter to let him take his responsibilities. "

Even for these mothers, the development of autonomy was seen as a continuous process,reflecting the stability in their own educational style.

Such remarks were generally absent in fathers' descriptions. Moreover, fathers appearedmore sensitive to changes occurring in their child (e.g., they mentioned being positively"surprised" by these "unexpected" behaviours) and more often perceived the development ofautonomy as a discontinuous process.

Subjects who noticed sudden changes (they were generally able to specify the exactperiod when this occurred) usually mentioned a developmental discontinuity (e.g., a change incharacter, personality, physical, etc.) or particular events and normative transitions(e.g., change of school, illness, birth ofa sibling, etc.) as a possible cause.

Only a few of the adolescents perceived their own development as discontinuous.Generally, they felt that changes were those that could be expected and that they happenedgradually.

"it was gradual, little by little I have learned to live more as an adult. " (I5-year-oldmale adolescent)

In general, reference to continuity and graduality of changes occurred in families witholder adolescents (17 years). These families showed a higher agreement (within the samefamily) in their evaluations. In contrast to descriptions provided by families with 13-year-oldadolescents who emphasised the "delicate" character of the specific developmental stage, infamilies with older adolescents this emphasis on difficulties and problems tended to be absent.Families of 17-year-olds appeared to have moved beyond the most important developmental

496 E. CICOGNAN I & B. ZAN I

changes and the parents were begin ning to envisage their children ' s future personality. Itseems likely that perceptions of developmental course change as the adolescent approachesadulthood . An event which, when it happened, was perceived as a sudden discontinuit y whichhad to be coped with, was later interpreted as part of the "normal" process of growth.

Beliefs about autonomy over specific behaviours. When asked to specify the issues onwhich adolescents were already autonomous or still depend ent , answers appeared to begenerally coherent and congruent within the families (e.g., all family members described theadolescent as autonomous or dependent on the same issues). With increasing age, a growingnumber of issues were described as falling under the adolescent' s jurisdiction. On this point,agreement was generall y also present on the order and timetable of autonomy over specificissues.

At a more specific level, at 13-years, autonomy was acknowledged (and expected byparents) on practical and concrete issues (management of personal matters, of houseworkduties, of short-range movements from the house to school, shops, etc.). Adolescents wereseen as strongly connected to the family and the margin s of autonomy outside home wererestricted. The main transformation between 13- and IS-years involved the movement awayfrom the family to enter the social world. The most evident changes were the growing requestsfor more autonomy outside home . The transition from compulsory school to high school(at 14-years) which was often located far from home and therefore involving the need to usesome form of transport and meant stayi ng away from home for longer, was perceived byseveral parents as an important turn ing point in adolescent development and behaviour, e.g.,the words of a mother of a IS-year-old male:

"we used to accompany him [to school], but now he goes by himself. ..

At IS-years , adolescents appeared to be autonomous on many issues. Changes from 15­to 17-years were less clear-cut and mainly concerned the widening of experiences outsidehome. However, there were still a few issues on which 17-year-old adolescents were seen asdependent (going on holidays without parents, economic independence and "feeling the needto ask parents for their advice"). Here are some examples drawn from adolescents' answers :

"IfI want to travel or go on holidays with my friends, I have to ask my parents. ..

"I would like to do things by myself in many issues, but I realise that I still needtheir advice . ..

This general age-trend showed some differences relating to adolescent gender, especiallyin early and middle adolescence. The transition for male s appea red more gradual andcontinuous than for female s. With males, both parents had strong expectations with regard toautonomy. In all age-groups mothers appeared prone to noti ce and encourage signs ofautonomy (first on practical issues and then in social behaviours) and these were a source ofpride when they matched mothers' expectations and a reason for self-blame when results weredisappointing. The latter reaction was especially likely to happen with some of the youngeradolescents, who felt comfortable with their dependence on parents and were not searching formore autonomy.

"He is dependent/or what is convenient/or him... .. (mother 0/ a l 3-year-old male)

Fathers focused more on areas of dependence (e.g., the need for parents' advice andsupport in decisions, susceptibility to peer pressures). They appeared to approach the issuefrom an external, neutral (or less involved) perspective. Perhaps because of differencesbetween the two parent s in degree of involvement in child-rearing, mothers ' percept ions weregenerally more in agreement with those of the adolescents than were the fathers' percept ions.

The transition pattern for females was less coherent and it is likely that inconsistencies insubjects' perceptions reflected a lack of clear expectations about the kind of behaviours thatshould be exhibited by the adolescent. Mothers, in particular, tended to hold contradictory

EDUCATION AND ADOLESCENT AUTONOMY 497

views. Father> appeared more distant and less informed. Mothers of 13-year-old girls appearedto welcome and encourage autonomy. The ability to take care of household and practicalissues (especially when displayed at the beginning of adolescence or even earlier and whenforced by unforseen circumstances, e.g., mother job or illness) was taken by mothers andadolescents as a sign of precocious autonomy.

"1 used 10 attend closely to her, but owing to a series ofevents ... [my mother got illsuddenly], ... 1 was forced to loosen my control and 1 realised that in a week's timeshe became totally self-sufficient... taking the bus by herself, staying at home alone,preparing dinner ... things she had never done before and which 1 had never taughther. "

Other mothers of 13-year-old adolescents lamented signs of dependence in socialbehaviours and in the tendency to ask permission or suggestions for every issue.Inconsistencies in parents' expectations were particularly evident in the i5-year-old group,where in some families the growing adolescent requests for more autonomy outside the homeinduced stronger control by parents (in particular the father). They tended to deny theirdaughter the freedom to decide on issues on which their male peers already enjoyedconsiderable autonomy. Compare the answers of two 15-year-old adolescents, the first maleand the second female:

"As regards going out they allow me a considerable freedom ... 1 have to come homeat a particular time but it's fine for me. "

"I never go out in the evening because my parents don't allow me... "

Parents acted as if they actually feared their daughter's autonomy and its consequences.The pattern of autonomy by gender was more similar at 17 years. Both male and female

adolescents appeared to be autonomous or dependent on the same issues.

General discussion

This pap(~r has presented the results of two small-scale qualitative studies conducted withfamilies of adolescents. The aim was to explore fathers' and mothers' beliefs about parentingstyles (study 1) and adolescent autonomy (study 1 and 2).

In study 1 father and mother child-rearing styles were described by the parents asdifferent but complementary. Inconsistencies characterised both parents' educational strategies,even if for different reasons. The parents' perceptions showed clearly how cultural and socialchanges affected child-rearing style and practices. In describing their own approach, fathersreferred to the traditional "authoritarian" paternal model and tried to distance themselves fromit. They appeared to experiment with a new parenting style, involving more directparticipation in children education and more emphasis on the affective quality of the relation,at least during their infancy. However, fathers' parenting style still lacked clear and definiteboundaries and coherent educational purposes. As a result, it appeared (and was perceived bythem) as inconsistent across situations.

The mother was still the parent who was more directly involved in children education andher approach can be defined as "flexible". In contrast to the fathers, inconsistencies inmother's style appeared as a reaction to situational demands. In fact, the traditionaleducational model for mothers was not challenged. Working mothers generally tried tobalance the different demands associated with their role as a parent and as a worker. Animportant issue for them - which was a source of worry as well as of guilt - was the impact oftheir job involvement on the rearing of their child. This was especially true for mothers ofM-Hlev.

498 E. CICOGNANI & B. ZANI

From a broader perspective, inconsistencies in parenting styles can be seen as aconsequence of changing adolescent needs and requests. Even if parents might hold differentopinions on some issues (and several parents declared that they do), they generally agree on acommon line in dealing with chIldren. Such a strategy becomes difficult during adolescence,with the result that parents might contradict each other, adding to the sources of disagreementand conflict within the family (cf., also Jackson et aI., 1996). However, parents generallyappear to make sense of the differences between them by emphasising the complementarity intheir styles. Such results are in agreement with the literature (Youniss et aI., 1992). Moreover,they add to previous evidence pointing to the complex interplay between traditional models ofchild-rearing, structural constraints, parents' beliefs and educational strategies.

Differences between parents emerged also in perceptions about the development ofadolescent autonomy. Fathers were generally more sensitive toward signs of growth andchange and held a more future-oriented perspective. They appeared to be more worried aboutthe implications and consequences of present behaviours for the adolescent's future (e.g., thefather may see the adolescents' inconsistent behaviour as a sign of immaturity and considerhim to be susceptible to peer pressures) and focus on non-psychological dimensions ofautonomy (economic independence). This was particularly true of M-L1ev fathers. Mothersseemed equally eager and proud to notice signs of autonomy, especially in male adolescents,however, they tended to prolong their protection and control over females and this gave rise toconsiderable difficulties in the relationship.

The second study with its focus on age-differences supports these results, though somequalifications have to be added. Differences in fathers' and mothers' styles according toadolescent gender were particularly evident in families with IS-year-old adolescents. Infamilies with younger subjects they were less strong. Even though these data are cross­-sectional and based only on subject's perceptions, they point to possible gender-specificrelationships between parenting styles and adolescent development of autonomy over thecourse of adolescence.

The results of the second study also help to qualify the differences between fathers' andmothers' perceptions of adolescent autonomy (e.g., perceptions of global autonomy, ofcontinuities and discontinuities). Family members showed considerable differences in theirevaluations of global autonomy. In general, descriptions were not contradictory, but ratherfocused on different facets of autonomy and were complementary to each other. Steinberg andSilverberg (1986) suggested that autonomy can be considered a general rubric includingseveral dimensions. In line with this, different aspects and meanings of autonomy werementioned by subjects who differed partly according to the position and role within the family(father, mother, adolescent). Moreover, mothers tended to stress the continuity in developmentwhereas fathers were more sensitive to discontinuities and turning points. A possibleexplanation involves parents' different degree of involvement in children education. Themother is the parent who most frequently interacts with the adolescent and is more informedof the day-to-day changes and events which happen to the adolescent. Her perceptions aretherefore general1y more accurate (and in agreement with adolescents' perceptions) thanfathers'. More importantly, it also appears that mothers tend to interpret adolescent'sbehaviours within the context of their beliefs and naIve "theories" of development(McGil1icuddy-De Lisi, 1992) It is possible to discern at least two causal explanations (therole of temperament/individual variables and the role of socialisation). It is likely that mothershold a more· self-evaluative perspective and view adolescent development as a benchmark toevaluate their adequacy as mothers. For such reasons, they may feel a greater need to makesense of both children behaviour and their own approach and to see a continuity indevelopment, by appealing to their implicit theories. More research is needed on parents'theories of development during adolescence and how they affect parents' interpretations andevaluations of specific adolescent behaviours. Where this is concerned, research on parents'social representations of child development (cf., Emiliani & Molinari, 1989) might suggestuseful directions for investigation.

Even if family members differed in their evaluations of global autonomy, they showed

EDUCATION AND ADOLESCENT AUTONOMY 499

greater agreement in the description of concrete areas in which the adolescent is autonomousor dependent at different ages. This finding is in line with research on larger samples ofadolescents in which other research methods were applied (Bosma et al., 1996). In particular,it was possible to discern age-specific and agreed expectations about autonomy at differentages. From these results, it appears that family members disagree not on the evaluation ofspecific behaviours, but on the meaning of such behaviours within their overall naive "theories"of adolescent development. This conclusion is in agreement with other authors (e.g., Smetana,1988), who have shown that adolescents and their parents might disagree in considering aspecific issue as "personal" vs "conventional" or "moral".

The results of the two studies are limited by the small number of subjects considered.Moreover, the cross-sectional nature of the data means that conclusions about thedevelopmental pathways involved have to be seen as tentative and needing the support oflongitudinal designs. More research is necessary in order to get a more thorough picture ofpaents' beliefs and implicit "theories" about adolescent development. The data suggest thatparents' beliefs about child rearing and development during adolescence hold importantsimilarities with implicit "theories" held by parents of younger children (e.g., McGillicuddy­-De Lisi, 19(2). Despite this, we might also expect important differences to arise because ofthe unique characteristics of this developmental period. There are also good grounds forexpecting a relation between subjects' beliefs about adolescent autonomy and parenting stylesand actual behaviours in the context of parent-adolescent relationship. To address such issues amore systematic approach should be used, involving a combination of different methods. Fromthis point of view, qualitative approaches play an important part in providing a broader pictureof the interplay of the relevant variables and in suggesting directions for further investigation.

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Cicognani, E., Xerri, M.L., & Zani, B. (1996). L'acquisizione dell'autonomia decisionale in adolescenza. Scienzedell'Interczione, 3.67-87.

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Notes

Full details of the method employed and the analyses of the results arc available in Bonini and Zuni, 1991.

EDUCAnON AND ADOLESCENT AUTONOMY

L 'objet de cette recherche est d'explorer, a l'aide d'entretienssemi-structures, de quelle facon les familles des adolescents percoiventet decrivent leurs propres styles educatifs ainsi que le developpementde I 'autonomie de leurs enfants adolescents. Plus precisement, lesresultats de deux etudes differentes sont presentes; la premiere de cesetudes a ete conduite aupres d 'un groupe de 83 parents (peres etmeres) d'adolescents ages de 15 a18 ans, garcons et filles, issus demilieux socio-culturels differents: moyen-inferieur et moyen-superieur.La deuxieme etude con cerna it des adolescents et leurs parents; lesadolescents, garcons et filles etaient repartis en trois groupes d 'age(I), 15 & 17 ans). A raison de 10 familles par groupe d 'age, 90entretiens ont ete realises.

Dans la premiere recherche, les peres et les meres devaient decrirele style educatifadopte pour elever leur enfant, la coherence de ce styleatravers les situations et les similitudes et differences avec les stylesadoptes par I'autre parent; en outre, on a recueilli les croyances desparents apropos du processus de separation/individuation de leurenfant. Dans la deuxieme etude les differents parten aires (pere, mere,adolescent) devaient exprimer leurs perceptions et croyances aproposdu developpement de l'autonomie, ainsi que leur evaluation du degred 'accord intrafamilial sur ces conceptions. Un groupe d'adolescentspius jeunes (13 ans) a ete inc/us pour elargir I 'empan d 'age pris enconsideration;

Les resultats des analyses de contenu, revelent I 'existence dedifferences de "modeles" ou "styles" d'education entre les meres et lesperes, ainsi que de variations dans les conceptions de l'autonomie et deson developpement, liees ades facteurs socio-demographiques.

Key words: Adolescence, Autonomy, Parents' educational style.

501

Received: June 1998

Elvira Cicognani. Dipartimento di Scienze dell'educazione, Via Zamboni 34, 40126 Bologna, Italy.

Current theme ofresearch:

Adult-child communication in institutional settings; tisk behaviors in adolescence; parent-adolescent relationships;subjective well-being.

Most relevant publications in the field ofPsychology ofEducation:

Cicognani, E., & Zani, B. (1988). The clarification request in teacher-child conversations. European Journal ofPsychology ofEducation, 3, 303-315.

Cicognani, E., &; Zani, B. (1992). Teacher-children interactions in a nursery school: An exploratory study. Languageand Education, 6, 1-12.

Cicognani, E. (1997). Farniliarita e processi di attribuzione: La divergenza di prospettiva fra attore e osservatore ingemelli e fratelli, Ricerche di Psicologia, 21,99-117.

Cicognani, E. (1997). Conoscenze condivise e comunicazione referenziale in eta scolare: Implicazioni dell'essere"abitanti" di una citta, Giornale ltaliano di Psicologia, 1,227·250.

502 E. CICOGNANI & B. ZANl

Bruna Zani. Dipartimento di Scienzc dell'edueazione, Via Zamboni 34,40126 Bologna, Italy.

Current theme ofresearch:

Parent-adolescents relationships and development of autonomy; psychosocial processes and health; chronic illness;communication in institutional settings.

Most relevant publications in the field ofPsychology ofEducation:

Zani, B. (1991). Les adolescents face it I. contraception: Croyances, experiences et valcurs. In Malewska-Peyre & P.Tap (Eds.), La socialisation de I 'enfance al'adolesce. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.

Zani, B. (1993). Dating and interpersonal relationships in adolescence. In S. Jackson & H. Rodriguez-Tome (Eds.),Adolescence and its social worlds. Hove, U.K.: Er\baum.

Zani, B., & Cicognani, E. (1995). II problema dell'AIDS nei giovani: Crcdcnze, percezione del rischio e strategie dicoping. Giomale Italiano di Psicologia, 5, 827-851.

Zani, B., Selleri, P., & David, D. (1994). La comunicazione. Modelli teorici e contesti sociali. Roma: NIS.