Figen Çok and Nejat Akfırat (Ankara University, Turkey): "Political and social participation of Turkish university students"

Katharina Diener, Peter Noack (University of Jena, Germany) and Burkhard Gniewosz (University of Würzburg, Germany): "Attitudes toward political engagement and willingness to participate in politics: trajectories during adolescence"

Anne van Goethem and Marcel van Aken (Utrecht University, The Netherlands): "The role of adolescents' person characteristics and environmental factors in explaining adolescents' (civic) volunteering behavior"

Christine Schmid (University of Göttingen, Germany): "Development and Intergenerational Transmission of the Value Orientation Prosociality/responsibility during adolescence"

Discussant: Constance A. Flanagan


III. Dynamics of Separation-Individuation during Emerging Adulthood: Evidence from four Countries

Conveners:
Professor Wim Beyers, Department of Developmental, Personality and Social Psychology, Ghent University, Belgium.
Professor Petr Macek, Masaryk University, Faculty of Social Studies, Brno, Czech Republic.

During emerging adulthood (EA) the parent-child relationship faces the challenge of finding an equilibrium between maintaining a sense of connectedness and establishing an independent status, finally resulting in a symmetrical relationship between parents and their almost adult children. For both emerging adults (EAs) and their parents this can be a difficult task, particularly in contemporary families in which not only economical but also social and psychological dependence is higher than it was ever before. All four studies in this symposium present data that highlight the dynamics of parent-child relationships at this age, using data on EAs from four different countries. Together the four papers bring a multi-method, multi-informant, and multi-cultural view on separation-individuation during EA.
Using data from Belgian EAs and both their parents in a round-robin design, Paper 1 unravels whether healthy versus unhealthy separation-individuation is driven by specific family members, a relationship between particular family members, or the family climate as a whole. Paper 2 takes a closer look at parent-child interactions during EA, using observation data from German families, and examines how verbal interactions can change the relationship between EAs and their parents. Paper 3 brings us a view of Argentinean EAs using data from a 10-year longitudinal study starting at age 14, and questions whether type of residence during EA (with parents, independent, with a partner) is predicted by the earlier relationship with parents and whether living with parents during EA jeopardizes the quality of the concurrent parent-child relationship. Finally, Paper 4 brings deeper insight into communication processes between Czech EAs and their parents, focusing on the functionality of communication at this age.

Presenters:

Evie Kins & Wim Beyers (Department of Developmental, Personality and Social Psychology, Ghent University, Belgium): "Healthy separation-individuation or separation anxiety: Who is the driving force in the family of emerging adults?"

Heike Buhl, Berit Scholwin, & Peter Noack (School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany): "Individuation in emerging adults' family interactions"

Alicia Facio & Santiago Resett (Universidad Nacional de Entre Ríos, Argentina): "Staying at home in emerging adulthood: The Argentinian case"

Petr Macek, Věra Juříčková, & Ondřej Bouša (Masaryk University, Faculty of Social Studies, Brno, Czech Republic): "How emerging adults communicate  with their  parents: Perceived specific roles of mothers and fathers"

Discussant:
Wim Beyers, Department of Developmental, Personality and Social Psychology, Ghent University, Belgium

IV. New Insights in the Study of Parent-Adolescent Relationships

Convener: Associate Professor Susan Branje, Research Centre Adolescent Development, Faculty of Social Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Research on parent-adolescent relationships is moving from a parent-effect model to more interactive modelsof parent-adolescent processes. Parent‐adolescent relationships are seen increasingly as reciprocal processes unfolding over time, in which both parents and adolescents adapt to each other  and in which aspects of the context, such as peer relationship, need to be integrated. To understand how parent-adolescent relationships develop and how these relationships affect adolescents' psychosocial adjustment, researchers should pay attention to the role of the adolescent and the peer context in these relationships and to underlying mechanisms of change. These issues are the focus of this symposium.

Presenters:

Judi Smetana: "Disclosure and secrecy in adolescent-parent relationships".

Miranda Sentse & Robert D. Laird: "Parent-child relationships and dyadic friendship experiences as predictors of behavior problems in early adolescence".

Anna Lichtwarck-Aschoff & Isabela Granic: "Is destabilization in parent-child interactions necessary for treatment to be effective?".

Susan Branje, Irene de Goede & Wim Meeus: "The role of daily variability in parent-adolescent relationship change: a dyadic model".

Discussant: Brett Laursen