La parentalité à l’épreuve de l’adolescence. Réflexion psychanalytique sur un concept adolescent

Abstract

Parenthood put to the test of adolescence. A psycho-analytical reflection on an adolescent concept In its definitions, parenting has firstly been understood to be a maturation process fostering access to “ being a parent” and going on to be considered as a knowhow relative to this status. Adolescent parenthood, as a clinical phenomenon, shows that acceding to this parental status cannot be simply confused with adult age. By examining in depth the very essence of the adolescent process, it would seem that the factors traditionally retained in the concept of parenthood are at the very heart of this process. It above all suggests that wanting a child, in its initial expression, is indissociable from the key identificational stakes which concern the massive investment of maternity fusing with the fantasy of having a child of the Oedipal father. As a concept, parenthood would therefore be engaged in isolating one aspect of the adolescent process. But the reflection here further examines the reason why it has become so extensive in the last few decades. Adolescent parenthood, here again, is presented as a timely reference in what it reveals, in the dual movement of the rejection of the father-genitor and a massive investment in the maternal side, one of the key aspects of the postmodern world. From here, it is possible to examine the invention of the concept of parenthood and what it reveals in establishing a know-how which has been made necessary by upheavals in the traditional family and parental models, i. e. founded on parents of different gender and/ or children of different generations.