Parenting has been defined as activities of parents who aim to help their children grow and move forward (Gafoor & Kurukkan, 2014). It is usually considered an exciting and adventurous journey, but also perceived as problematic and stressful, especially during the period of adolescence developmental stage (Gafoor & Kurukkan, 2014; Kapadia & Miller, 2005). Parenting is also strongly influenced by culture, which defines the limits of right and wrong (Gafoor & Kurukkan, 2014). Adolescence, on the other hand, is a crucial period of transition, from childhood to adulthood, characterized by countless biological and emotional changes. According to UNICEF (2011), the term “adolescent” refers to any individual between the ages of 10 and 19. About 243 million, or about 21% of the total population of India, are adolescents (Sivagurunathan, Umadevi , Rama, & Gopalakrishnan, 2015). However, the concept of adolescent appears to be absent in India (Kapadia & Miller, 2005; Sharma, 2012). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay Continuity from childhood to adulthood prevails and hence the period of adolescence in India is not characterized by any change in roles, status, and responsibilities as children continue to remain submissive to the assertiveness of their parents, even after marriage or work (Segal, 1991; Kapadia, 2017). However, as the child's need for autonomy and self-determination emerges during adolescence, parents tend to feel isolated and conflicts arise (Sondhi, 2017). Therefore, parent-adolescent conflicts, as a consequence of this mismatch between parents' and adolescents' expectations of each other, have been seen as an inevitable element of adolescence (Branje, Doorn, Valk, & Meeus, 2009). Therefore, it has become necessary to understand the reasons and consequences of such conflicts and consider coping strategies to strengthen the parent-adolescent relationship. The inevitable conflict between parents and adolescents, due to their conflicting needs and perspectives, has captured considerable interest from researchers. However, in Indian culture, the stage of adolescence is viewed distinctly by the parents. As a result, parenting practices also differ, but the intrinsically curious nature of adolescence prevails. Therefore, it is important to understand the nature of conflict that arises between Indian adolescents and their parents, its consequences, and the strategies used to deal with it. Therefore, the purpose of this integrative review is to comprehensively analyze and summarize the past literature on parent-adolescent conflict in the Indian context. Theoretical Perspectives The following theories explain the period of adolescence, the challenges it faces, and the resulting conflicts that occur between parents. and adolescents, in unique perspectives. Baumrind's theory of parenting styles The pioneering theory of Diana Baumrind (1971), proposes four types of parenting styles, namely authoritarian, authoritarian, indulgent and neglectful, authoritative being the best among all (cited in Santrock, 2014). A review of the literature on the effects of parenting styles on adolescent behavior, conducted by Baumrind (1966), revealed that overly restrictive, demanding and authoritarian parenting generates rebellion among adolescents. In contrast, parents who are controlling and affectionate produce children who are less passive, self-reliant, and approach-oriented. Therefore, different parenting styles imply a combination of different degrees of the two factors: warmth and control, which influence the adolescent's behavior to a large extent. Theoryof Attachment Bowlby (1990) proposed a fundamental theory of attachment, which describes how the attachment pattern between infants and caregivers (usually the mother) form internal working models for the former (as cited in Dhillon & Kanwar, 2015), which help form thoughts, beliefs, expectations, behaviors and emotions about oneself and others. Mary Ainsworth (1979) identified three different attachment styles, namely secure, anxious-ambivalent, anxious-avoidant, and disorganized (as cited in Santrock, 2014). During adolescence, these attachment styles and internal working models influence adolescents' relationships with peers, other social relationships, and, most importantly, in dating relationships. If attachments are weak, the intense and prolonged parent-adolescent conflicts that arise during this period have been found to make their adjustment difficult (Dhillon & Kanwar, 2015). Family Therapy Perspective The family life cycle was introduced in terms of eight stages through the work of Evelyn Duvall in 1957 (cited in Nichols, 2013), and in terms of six stages, including the multigenerational perspective, by Carter and McGoldrick (2005). The fifth phase "Families with adolescents" or the fourth phase "Families with adolescents" of different models, proposed by the respective authors, characterize the period in which conflicts occur between parents and adolescents as it presents challenges to the family. Adolescents' desire to gain independence, flexibility in entering and leaving the family, and parents' loss of power and influence over their children have been identified as the main themes of conflict with parents (Robin & Foster, 1989). Indeed, it has been discovered that the physiological, psychological and social transformations that this period produces, interrupt the homeostasis of the family system, which will have to be regained through adjustments in the system (Montemayor, 1983). The literature reviewed by Montemayor (1983) also suggests that the pattern of conflict is U-shaped, meaning that it increases during early adolescence, remains stable during middle adolescence, and decreases in late adolescence. Self-Determination Theory Deci and Ryan, in 1991, pioneered a need-based theory of motivation called Self-Determination Theory. Applied to the Indian home environment, the theory postulates that it can promote the adaptation of adolescents operating in this environment, through socialization processes, which are influenced by the degree to which their psychological needs are satisfied and self-determination is promoted ( cit. Raffaello & Varghese, 2015). Therefore, if psychological needs are hindered at home, adolescents' individuation and self-determination suffer, indicating the need for "autonomy-supportive parenting" in India, according to the findings of a study of 69 Indian families from Rapheal and Varghese (2015). Indian) Human Development Model Kapadia (2017) briefly outlines how ancient Hindu conceptualization segregated human development into stages, where adolescence did not explicitly exist, but its beginning was defined as Brahmacharya, which is the period in which one learns to read and understand the scriptures. The next phase, called Kishorawastha, focuses on preparing the puberty-affected child to practically apply the knowledge learned and develop a responsible identity. These two stages have been compared to the current education system that builds a child's personality and prepares adolescents to become responsible adults as they enter the social world (Kapadia, 2017). Understanding Both Sides of the Coin: Parents and Teens Parenting Teens in India Traditional Indian parenting is characterized byemphatic wealth, support, encouragement, increased physical contact, strong emotional connection, and deep emphasis on values, morals, respect, authority, dharma (duties), and self-control (Kulanjiyil, 2010). The Indian parenting style is identified as authoritarian as it includes the practice of corporal punishment, which is widely tolerated leaving emotional scars on children, and limits autonomy and independence by emphasizing overprotection and interdependence (Kulanjiyil, 2010). This increasingly leads to an increase in conflicts between parents and children during the adolescence period where the last two aspects are considered necessary by adolescents. Indian parents often report that their children do not respect curfew times set by them, remain absorbed in the world of social networks, seem to hate them and, similarly, do not really approve of their children's social circle (Lakshmi, 2015). To address or even prevent such problems, Indian parents, especially mothers, have been found to use a higher level of control along with acceptance (Albert, Trommsdorff, & Mishra, 2007). Deeply influenced by culture, some unique aspects of traditional Indian parenting are greater physical proximity, the expectation of unquestioning obedience (Sondhi, 2017), morals and values, emotional connection, interdependence, dharma, authority and support (Kulanjiyil, 2010). However, with the changing times, the objectives being the same, parenting methods have changed to allow for greater autonomy, obsolete and unquestioned obedience, values attributed to academics rather than household chores, limitation of independence only outside home, but freedom of expression within the home as well as expression of challenge towards parents (Sondhi, 2017). Furthermore, fathers' contribution in parenting has increased recently with an increase in active involvement (Bhattacharyya & Pradhan, 2015). Perspective of Indian Adolescents During this period, individuals are neither fully adults nor fully children. They do not know how to deal with their newly acquired freedom and, as Delhi-based consultant Gitanjali Kapoor states, "new technological progress is making them experience an uncertain and confused state of maturity" (Datta, 2011). Adolescent life in India has been defined as one masquerading under the veil of ethnic, linguistic, cultural and religious diversity (Sen, 2013). They face problems such as mood swings (Mondal, 2015), love/relationship and similar issues which are considered taboo by their parents (Sen, 2013), hindered self-esteem, do not receive the desired independence and are always busy competing with others as taught indirectly by parents (Ghosh, 2016). They also sacrifice their autonomy due to Indian culture's emphasis on interdependence, which influences the independence of those living in joint families more than those living in nuclear families (Bhattacharyya & Pradhan, 2015). However, surprisingly, Indian adolescents perceive parental restrictions and regulation as inputs to their parenting and report “no dissatisfaction” towards the same (Kapadia & Miller, 2005), even when gender socialization is highly practiced in terms of imposing behavioral prescriptions more on girls than on boys (Kapadia, 2016). They tend to see these prescriptions as part of parental care and, therefore, end up learning to expect the same, or their acceptance could also be a manifestation of respect for their parents and elders, which is held in high regard in Indian culture , making it difficult for adolescents to express their experience (Kapadia, 2016)..
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