2.3. ACERCA DE LOS DERECHOS Y PRINCIPIOS RELATIVOS AL
2.1.5. Optimización del principio de igualdad
Parental responses to adolescent’s emotion or stress that discourage the expression of emotion or disclosure of stress through parents’ conveying a lack of confidence or trust in the adolescent’s ability to handle their stress(or) on their own or by utilizing resources in their own way. Parents who engage in autonomy-inhibiting behaviors may attempt to solve the adolescent’s stress for them or override the adolescent’s sense of how to deal with their own stress. There is a general sense of blurring of boundaries from parent to adolescent that gives rise to an overriding of the adolescent’s independent capabilities.
OPERATIONALIZATIONS Verbal Content
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Direct statements that indicate a lack of faith in the adolescent’s handling of theirstress(or)/distress on their own [keep in mind context here as the adolescent may admit that s/he has difficulties and doubts his/her own abilities to handle his stress(or) or distress – unsolicited lack of faith may warrant a higher rating than parental doubt that echoes the adolescent’s doubts]
o E.g., “I’m not sure you’ll be able to follow through with that plan for improving your grades”
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Indirect statements indicating a lack of faith in the adolescent’s handling the stress(or)/distress on their owno E.g., “I should probably take care of that just in case it’s too difficult. You know how difficult it can be.”
o E.g., “ You need to do this. That will help you in the long run.” “You should do it that way.” (Statements of this type can be mistaken for problem-focused responses. Look to the context of conversation and adolescents’ behavior for clarification of code.)
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Makes assumptions about what adolescent is thinking regarding stress, stressor, or negative affect•
Makes predictions about how they will behave or feel in the future without any input from the adolescent and in a manner that conveys a determination about how the adolescent will end upo These assumptions/predictions limit the adolescent’s autonomy of thought and decision making ability regarding his/her stress
o Watch for overlap with magnify response. A parent may make a prediction about the adolescent’s future is a deterministic fashion without being overly dramatic. This
would simply be coded as A-I. However, the parent can also be dramatic in their predictions which would warrant a code of magnify. Magnify in this case would overshadow the AI.
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Making statements that would indicate undue over-protectiveness of the adolescent o E.g., “You can’t handle that yourself. It’s just that you’re not old enough and it’ssuch a difficult task”
o E.g., “I don’t want you to feel that way again.”
Consider differential between a true empathic quality (emotion-focused) vs. a quality of overriding the teen’s ability to cope with stress on his own, in his own way (A-I)
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Excessive identification with adolescent that blurs boundaries between teen and parent o “If you don’t feel well, we don’t feel well.”Communication Style
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The way a parent talks to the adolescent that does not allow them to generate any solutions to their stressor or discuss their stress.o E.g., a parent actively steals the floor (and not allowing the adolescent to generate solutions, discuss the stress, or assert their own opinion about their own situation) o E.g., parents speaking for the adolescent and takes away independence of thought,
decision making – overlaps with making assumptions about what adolescent is thinking or feeling (vs. parent arguing with or convincing the teen of his or her emotion which is punitiveness).
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Verbal cues that imply that the parent is not giving the adolescent a choice regarding the discussion of their stress(or)/distress or resolution of their stressor.o Parent who ends utterances using words like “right?” at the end of sentences. This serves to have the adolescent agree tacitly, without any discussion, with the parent’s point of view [parental inflection and tone is crucial here – parent says “right?” in such a way as to convey that there will not be any further discussion on the issue] Nonverbal Cues
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Parents tilting head downward while frowning and looking straight into the adolescent’s eyes (i.e., “looking down” on adolescent]•
Moves closer toward adolescent to blur boundaries and encroach on personal space•
Parent’s voice gets louder at certain points to override adolescent’s speaking turn OTHER CONSIDERATIONS:To make this rating appropriately, you may need to take into account:
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the adolescent’s reactionso the adolescent begins to display more distress or appears overwhelmed by parents’ statements or behavior
o the adolescent appears discouraged from talking about his/her stress because of parent’s autonomy-inhibiting behavior or statements; you may see a change in adolescent demeanor
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if the adolescent is not giving the parent much to work with and the parent seems to display autonomy-inhibiting behaviors, you may consider a lower rating due to the passivity of the adolescentRATINGS
1. There is an absence of autonomy-inhibiting statements/behavior or any general impression of parental responses that convey a lack of confidence in the adolescent’s ability to handle their stress(or) on their own or by utilizing resources in their own way. There is no style of autonomy-inhibiting communication in which a parent dominates the minute of interaction or speaks for the adolescent, thus limiting his/her autonomy of though and action regarding his/her stress(or).
2. There is minimal indication of autonomy-inhibiting statements/behavior or any general impression of parental responses conveying a lack of confidence in the adolescent’s ability to handle their stress(or) on their own, utilizing resources in their own way, or convincing the adolescent that the parent’s way of talking about or dealing with the stress(or) is more correct than the adolescent’s way. There is only one instance of this type of statement/behavior or the style of autonomy-inhibiting communication is quite subtle. There may be a hint of the parent dominating the discussion or problem-solving for the adolescent but this tendency is not at all strong or pervasive of the minute of interaction. Little to no discernable impact on the
adolescent.
3. There is a moderate presence of autonomy-inhibiting statements/behavior or any general impression of parental responses conveying a lack of confidence in the adolescent’s ability to handle their stress(or) on their own, by utilizing resources in their own way, or convincing the adolescent that the parent’s way of talking about or dealing with the stress(or) is more correct than the adolescent’s way. The parent receiving a “3” for a given minute is engaging in more than one instance of AI behavior, or if one instance, the intensity is judged to be of moderate to strong intensity behaviors. There may be a more discernable quality of autonomy-
inhibiting communication from parent to adolescent in which the parent is problem-solving for the adolescent or dominating the discussion, not allowing the adolescent to speak. In addition, the way in which the parent discusses the stress(or) with the adolescent moderately diminishes the adolescent’s autonomy of thought and decision making.
4. There is a strong presence of autonomy-inhibiting statements/behavior or any general impression of parental responses conveying a lack of confidence in the adolescent’s ability to handle their stress(or) on their own or, utilizing resources in their own way, or convincing the adolescent that the parent’s way of talking about or dealing with the stress(or) is more correct than the adolescent’s way. This parent is characteristically or consistently engaging in autonomy-inhibiting behaviors. If there are only a few behaviors, they are judged to be of high intensity. Boundaries between parent and adolescent are clearly blurred and the communication style is characteristic of the parent’s limiting of the adolescent’s independence or assertion of thought or action.