A PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF CARING IN CHILDREN AND YOUTH - THE ROLE OF THE FAMILY

The construct of ''caring'' has not been a top priority as a programma tic line of research, field of inquiry, or way of thinking about youth . While the study of caring is a newly emerging field within psycholog y, a number of related areas of research enable us to develop a defini tion and draw conclusions about how families promote the development o f caring individuals. By pulling together diverse literatures, the con struct of caring here is used to answer the question, ''how do familie s engender caring in children and youth?''. First, the precursors to c aring in adolescence are examined through the emergence of psychologic al components during infancy, early, and middle childhood. Families ar e instrumental in the promotion of caring through processes such as at tachment, peer relationships, prosocial behavior, empathy, agency, and self-control. Second, caring behavior in adolescence is explored focu sing on the influence of parenting styles, gender differences, and car ing on adolescent well-being. At this stage, family patterns that have promoted caring should continue, yet they should be transformed so th at adolescents emerge as separate young adults with reciprocal and clo se affectional ties with their families. Last, risk and protective fac tors in the development of caring are discussed. Obstacles to caring i nclude poverty, marital distress, and parental psychopathology that ca n result in emotional disorders, problem behaviors, failure in school, isolation and rejection from peers, and disaffection from society. De spite these stressors, numerous adolescents develop into caring indivi duals. Protective factors include temperament, cognitive abilities, se lf-efficacy, as well as close relationships within the family and soci al support. A model of the processes underlying caring and the associa tions among processes is proposed. (C) 1995 The Association for Profes sionals in Services for Adolescents