Commentary: Theoretical and Methodological Dimensions of Convergence and Divergence of Adolescent and Parent Reports about Youth Development and Family Structure and Function-A Relational Developmental Systems Perspective.

Abstract

Using ideas associated with relational developmental systems metatheory, we discuss the links among the operation triad model of adolescent report-parent report convergence, divergence, or compensation and the research reported in this special issue. These contributions highlight the important implications for adolescent adjustment of youth and parent reports about adolescent development and family structure and function. Relational developmental systems metatheory raises both theoretical and methodological issues for research framed by the operation triad model. These issues emphasize the specificity (non-ergodicity) of mutually influential relationships between a youth and his/her parent, that is, the specificity of the adolescent-parent relationship. Relational developmental systems -based ideas may enable the operation triad model to be a means through which the study of adolescent self-reports and parent reports will have a more central place in the construction of key features of the dynamics of adolescent-parent relationships.