The Family’s Impact on Adolescent Outcomes

Research efforts focused on both the parent–adolescent dyad and polyadic relationships inside of families with adolescents invariably are linked to attempts to understand the impact of these family-oriented variables on adolescent outcomes. This chapter reviews the empirical literature over the last 25 years that centers attention on the linkage between family factors and various aspects of adolescent outcomes, including adolescent’s delinquency, mental health issues, substance use and abuse, sexual activity, education, and socially competent behaviors. Many of these studies share some important similarities, including having generated substantial evidence concerning the critical role that parenting behaviors and family processes play in adolescent’s adjustment and well-being. Many of these studies also underscore the corresponding impact of peers and other social contexts beyond the family, as well as highlighting the importance of sibling relationships in families with adolescents. As well, the ways in which gender, race, ethnicity, and culture influence parenting and family process variables also are discussed in many of the studies reviewed in this chapter.