Adolescence is a difficult time for teenagers, but it can also be a troublesome time for their parents - a time of profound and even life-altering change. In Crossing Paths, family-relations expert Dr. Laurence Steinberg examines the impact on parents of their children's adolescence - and finds that confusion and conflict are as common for parents as for teenagers. Based on the findings of Dr. Steinberg's study of more than 200 families, Crossing Paths explores the emotional turmoil that a child's adolescence can initiate in parents and recommends practical ways to avoid or lessen that turmoil. The conflicts arise from a curious coincidence: Just as children enter adolescence, their parents are generally entering middle age. While they watch their child blossoming into physical maturity and making plans for a lifetime of promise and potential, parents must confront newfound physical limitations and a life dividing almost equally into past and future. Not surprisingly, many parents experience feelings of jealousy, regret, or powerlessness at their children's growing independence; others take advantage of this time to rejuvenate their own lives. Illustrating his analysis with anecdotes drawn from the experiences of the families in the study, Dr. Steinberg discusses the four major factors that determine a parent's susceptibility to an adolescent-induced midlife crisis. Written with warmth, sensitivity, and insight, Crossing Paths shows parents how to get through the worst flash points of an adolescent-induced midlife crisis and how to make this time an opportunity for positive change.
"A sensible analysis of the turmoil that adolescence triggers within parents. . . . [Steinberg] offers practical coping advice, urging parents to be aware of their conflicting emotions, to modify their family relationships to fit their child's emerging independence, and to nurture personal interests that allow them some distance from parenting. A practical, solidly researched and documented parents'-eye view of adolescence." -- Kirkus Reviews
“Larry Steinberg is one of the first people I turn to when I need information about adolescent development. This book is a fascinating account of how parents are also affected by changes in their teenagers.” -- Lawrence Kutner, Parents magazine
