Children's Needs – Parenting Capacity - Digital Education Resource ...

188 Children’s Needs – Parenting CapacityFamily and social relationshipsExpected relationshipsRelationships with parents remain strong, although they undergo considerablechange as the young person increasingly strives for more autonomy and parentsdemand greater levels of responsible behaviour. Parent-regulated behaviour tendsto diminish and co-regulation and autonomous functioning presides (Leffert andPetersen 1995). Nonetheless, young people wish for harmonious relationships withparents and these remain an important source of emotional support and help inthe transition to adulthood (Bailey 2006). Adulthood and independence (economicor otherwise) is a variable concept. For example, in England the age of criminalresponsibility is 10 years, the age of consent 16, but you need to be 17.5 years tojoin the armed forces and 18 years to vote, buy or drink alcohol.Friends become increasingly important and influential in the lives of young people,but this is not necessarily at the expense of parents. Rather, each is important inrelation to different aspects of life. For example, young people will be more influencedby their peers in relation to fashion and music but are more likely to discuss careersand morality with their parents (Bailey 2006). Relationships with friends differ inquality from those of middle childhood and early adolescence. Friendships tend tobe more intimate and involve more mutual exchanges of thoughts and feelings, andshared activities. Single-sex peer groups are on the decline.Most late adolescents are striving to become confident in their sexual orientation.It is the age when many young people fall in love and embark on their first sexualencounter. The results of a survey of 11,161 young people found that 30% ofyoung men and 26% of young women reported having intercourse before their16th birthday. By the age of 20 years the vast majority of young people reportedhaving had their first sexual intercourse (Wellings et al. 2001). The first love affairconstitutes a most important emotional experience for teenagers and its break-upengenders considerable stress.Possible impact on relationshipsThere are three issues with regard to the impact of parental disorders and youngpeople’s relationships. First, the experience of domestic violence and emotionalneglect may affect young people’s own dating behaviour. Second, young peoplereport feelings of isolation from both friends and adults outside the family. Third,the wish to escape can place young people in dangerous situations.Research suggests that witnessing the abuse of their mothers is associated withyoung men taking an aggressive, angry and abusing role during dates. Datingviolence among young males is linked to a childhood experience of domestic violence(Moffitt 1993; Covell and Howe 2009). Teenage girls are also more susceptible to