Ragazzi difficili: relazioni genitori/figli in età adolescenziale

The attributes of Easy/Difficult mean something more about the relationship between a person and a given object than the specific and intrinsical characteristics of the object itself. This work presents and discusses, in a contextual perspective, the parent/adolescent relation as an expression of reciprocal interaction and active role of both partners. Adolescence represents a crisis not just of children who are in search of their identity, but also of their parents and educators in general, who have to verify their social values and wishes. In particular, the influence of parental styles and friends’ styles on the formation of self-estimate, self-efficacy, self-regulation and ego-resiliency are here focused. Psychological researches have shown these attitudes as central dimensions of an armonious personality, especially during adolescence. Lovingness, Presence, Watchfulness, Communication, Fluidity anf Flexibility of the educational behaviours are the fundamental characteristics of an adequate parental style. Parents are put to the stiff test at the very moment of detachment, that is when the parental duty consist in allowing their children to depart from them so that they may live their own life.