Prospective content in parent-adolescent conversations about the upcoming transition to high school

ABSTRACT

Adolescents’ prospection is often assessed as individual differences; however, adolescents likely share anticipated events with adults in their lives. To understand how prospection is shared between adolescents and parents, this study examined conversations about the upcoming transition to high school for the types of prospective content emerging in conversations, whether dyads engaged collaboratively in prospective content, how emergent patterns of prospective content in conversations were organized regarding familial roles, and whether participants’ prospective content is shifted, maintained, or augmented. Participants were 27 parent-adolescent dyads; 15 adolescents were girls, 12 were boys. Content analysis was used to examine four types of prospection: episodic memory of the past, simulation, reasoning about counterfactuals, and constructing multiple possible futures. In most conversations, a partner extended prospective content. Dyads maintained the prospective content, however there was also evidence of dyad partners shifting or augmenting content. The findings point to the shared construction of prospection

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescents
• parents
• prospection
• transition to high school
• conversation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Grant 410-2009-0060. We are very grateful to the parents and adolescents who participated in the study.

Notes on contributors

Daniel Ji

Daniel Ji is a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of British Columbia’s School of Social Work. He received his BA in Psychology, Family Studies, BSW, MSW, and PhD in Social Work from the University of British Columbia. His research focuses on parent-adolescent interactions, and how growth of youth and parents occurs in the context of a long-term relationship. Particular research interests include the ways that youth engage in constructing a unique sense of self during interactions with their parents.

Sheila K. Marshall

Sheila Marshall is a Professor Emeritus in the School of Social Work and an associate faculty member of the Division of Adolescent Health and Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine at UBC. She received her B.A.Sc. in Family Studies, MSc. and Ph.D. in Family Relations and Human Development from the University of Guelph. Her research focuses on psychosocial development during adolescence and young adulthood with an emphasis on the contexts of family and peer relationships. Particular research interests include examining the ways adolescents’ actively engage in their own development during interactions with parents and peers, and how adolescents’ construction of their social identities contribute to social and emotional well-being.

Richard Young

Richard A. Young is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and Special Education at the University of British Columbia. A Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association and the American Psychological Association, Professor Young's interests are in the areas of parent-adolescent interaction, health psychology, and career development. With a number of colleagues, he has extended the application of action theory to topics in career development, health promotion and, particularly, parent-adolescent communication. These applications have included the refinement of a qualitative research method based on action theory as well as its application to cultural studies.