Relationships, communication, and career in the parent–adolescent projects of families with and without challenges

Abstract

Parent–adolescent joint actions that address the adolescent’s future were examined for their connection to the parent–adolescent relationship and communication goals and the steps taken to reach those goals. Nineteen parent–adolescent dyads, from families with and without family challenges such as chronic illness, unemployment, or divorce, identified a joint project that represented of goal-directed actions undertaken by the parents and adolescent together. Each dyad’s project was followed for a six-month period and data analyzed using the action-project method. Three groups of projects pertinent to career, the parent–adolescent relationship and communication emerged from the data: projects that were wholly concerned with the parent–adolescent relationship, projects that shifted from career development goals and actions to explicit relationship goals and actions, and projects in which parent–adolescent communication was used as a means to facilitate career and other developmental goals. The family challenges were evident in the construction of these projects as goals, ways to steer the projects, or reflected in the meaning attached to them.