Dove andiamo per il week-end? Il processo di differenziazione familiare in adolescenza

[Autom. eng. transl.] Adolescence is a critical family transition, a "joint evolutionary enterprise" that involves parents and children. Both, in fact, are actively engaged in the process of renegotiating their relationships and regulating distances and boundaries, to establish a new interpersonal balance (Scabini, Marta, and Lanz, 2006). One of the main developmental tasks of the adolescent is the progressive identification and differentiation from parents, while maintaining a link with his own family (Allen, Hauser, Bell, and O'Connor, 1994; Grotevant and Cooper, 1985). Differentiation represents a property of relationship and not of individual individuals (Grotevant and Cooper, 1985; 1986), which is expressed in the coexistence of two dimensions: individuality, understood as the process that reflects the distinctiveness of the self, and connection, defined as the process that links the self to others. Therefore, differentiation becomes the result of a balance between these two dimensions, each formed by two other components. Most research, which investigated family differentiation, has adopted an individual or dyadic perspective, while only a few studies have adopted a strictly familiar approach. The present study intends to identify the different family differentiation processes implemented by families with adolescent children. The research involved 10 family triads, composed of a father, mother and adolescent child (7 females and 3 males) aged between 12 and 17 years. Families were asked to carry out the Family Interaction Task (Grotevant and Cooper, 1985), a joint task that involves the whole family in planning a vacation weekend to spend together. For the phase of organization, transcription and data analysis, Transana 2.50 software was used, belonging to the category of Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (Lewins and Silver, 2007), which allows continuous and constant adherence, in all phases of the work, including transcripts, video material and categories used for coding. In accordance with the definition of the differentiation construct that sees the dimensions of individuality and connection coexist, a coding grid has been elaborated which has led to the familyization of the four dimensions: self-assertion (each family member responsibly expresses the own point of view, recognized by the other members); separation (family members are encouraged, express their distinctiveness and respect interpersonal boundaries); permeability (the members involved in each family relationship understand each other and express validation and mutual care); mutuality (the members involved in each family relationship influence each other). The preliminary results show that the four dimensions are co-present, albeit with different salience, in families with adolescent children during the course of interaction.