APPLYING A PROSPECTIVE APPROACH TO THE TREATMENT OF ABUSE BY ADOLESCENT PARENTS

Parents with a history of childhood abuse risk repeating abusive patte rns with their own children. The potential for this intergenerational transmission of abuse is compounded in adolescent parents whose psycho logical development is undergoing dramatic change. Both the risk of en acting abusive behaviors and the continuous developmental transformati ons that adolescents experience suggest that retrospective techniques may not be fully effective for deterring abuse in these parents. ln co ntrast, prospective techniques derived from adaptive parent-infant int eraction orient the adolescent parent toward upcoming events, thereby helping the parent prepare for developmental transition and the effect ive management of future conflict. This paper advocates that prospecti ve techniques be used in conjunction with retrospective techniques for obtaining insight into the patient's conflict, promoting an adaptive interpersonal outcome, and deterring abusive behavior.