PERSONAL AUTONOMY DEVELOPMENT, ADOLESCENTS SEPARATION PROCESS IN DIFFERENT TYPES OF CHILD-PARENT RELATIONS

Personal autonomy development and separation-individuation process of adolescents are considered in the context of functional and dysfunctional autonomy development. The present study aims to show the interrelation of functional and dysfunctional trajectories of autonomy development and separation processes with the main characteristics of child-parent relations, such as parental control, the authority of parents, inconsistence of parental attitudes, cooperation and perceived acceptance. Autonomy development and separation process components researched in this study are the following: general personal autonomy, emotional autonomy, cognitive autonomy, behavioural autonomy, value autonomy, engulfment anxiety, dependency denial and separation anxiety. Child-parent relations are important conditions in the autonomy development of adolescents. Based on the research findings, different characteristics of child-parent relationships are connected with particular aspects of autonomy development. The results of the research demonstrate that perceived parental love and acceptance as well as the consistence of parents conducive to more functional trajectories of autonomy development. An increasing role of the adolescent himself in child-parent relations is an important condition of separation process. Adolescents with high levels of cooperation and agreement in general things with their parents show development in the context of separation-individuation process. Engulfment anxiety develops in suppressive, over-controlling and non-supportive adolescent-parent relations; dependency denial occurs in the situations of emotional distance and hostility of the mother-adolescent relations; separation anxiety emerge in case of parental inconsistency and low control levels along with the perceived rejection of mothers. (C) 2018 Published by Future Academy www.FutureAcademy.org.UK