¿Cómo promueven desafíos los padres a sus hijos? Estudio cualitativo con adolescentes de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires

Abstract

The aim of this work is to present the conceptions held by adolescents about how their parents promote challenges in their life. Challenges are experiences or situations that involve overcoming an obstacle and lead to the achievement of a goal, valuable for oneself. Parents, as key socializing agents for adolescents, are an important source to promote these challenges. Two focus groups and twelve interviews were done with adolescents between 12 and 17 years, from a high school from Buenos Aires (Argentina). For data analysis, Grounded Theory was used. Ten open coding categories and three central categories were found to explain aspects that adolescents perceive their parents do to promote challenges to them. A conceptual model of the relations between categories is presented. Results indicate that incentive and support are fundamental dimensions of challenges’ promotion in adolescents. In turn, pressure and lack of support can hinder the realization of the promotion of challenges. The description and comprehension of these family dimensions implies a greater understanding of factors that promote positive development in adolescence.