The viability of the Parenting Representations Interview for assessing and measuring change in parents of adolescents.

Parents' representations include parents' views of their adolescent, of their own parenting and of the parent-adolescent relationship. Two longitudinal studies of parents and their adolescent sons and daughters support the validity of scales coding mothers in the Parenting Representations Interview-Adolescence (PRI-A). The studies, conducted in Israel during the transition from home to military service, demonstrated that three dimensions derived from the PRI-A: positive representations of adolescents, negative emotionality and inadequate boundaries were associated with adolescents' AAI variables, relatedness-autonomy behaviors with mothers, and with other indicators, such as adolescents' wellbeing, romantic intimacy and individuation. Examining parenting representations could help practitioners pinpoint targets for intervention and evaluate the changes that families go through during psychotherapy, as well as the therapeutic process and its outcomes. The findings support the viability of the PRI for use in attachment based interventions for adolescents.

Intergenerational concordance in Adult Attachment Interviews with mothers, fathers and adolescent sons and subsequent adjustment of sons to military service.

The study examined: (1) the intergenerational concordance between parents and their adolescent sons using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) categories and state-of-mind scales; and (2) the contribution of parents' state of mind with respect to attachment to their sons' adjustment during a stressful separation, as well as the possibility that sons' AAI mediates the associations between parents' AAI and sons' adjustment. Eighty-eight adolescents and their parents were interviewed using the AAI during the son's senior year in high school. Approximately a year later, during the first phase of compulsory military service, the adolescents and their peers reported on the sons' adjustment. Results demonstrated AAI correspondence between mothers' (but not fathers) and sons' categories (autonomous versus non-autonomous) and associations between mothers', fathers' and sons' AAI state-of-mind scales. The adjustment of sons of non-autonomous mothers (in particular, preoccupied mothers) was inferior to the adjustment of others. Mothers' and fathers' state of mind scales were associated with sons' adjustment, but sons' AAI did not mediate this association. The uniqueness of adolescence, the importance of parents' state of mind and the differences between mothers and fathers are discussed.

Leaving the parental nest: adjustment problems, attachment representations, and social support during the transition from high school to military service.

Adjustment to the transition from high school to military service in Israel was examined in a longitudinal study with a sample of 120 late-adolescent girls. During their senior year in high school (Time 1) the young women were administered the Adult Attachment Interview. Their coping and adjustment to the new environment were assessed (at two further points in time after the transition) by reports of the young women, their mothers, their fathers, and their friends. Young women with preoccupied attachment representations demonstrated the lowest levels of adjustment at both the second and third time points. Young women with dismissing attachment representations did not differ from those with autonomous attachment representations. Satisfaction with social support from parents mediated the association between attachment representations and adjustment (assessed by the young women's reports).

Adolescents' attachment representations and developmental tasks in emerging adulthood.

The association between attachment representations and adolescents' coping with 3 developmental tasks of emerging adulthood-leaving home, advancing in the capacity for mature intimacy, and developing individuation-was examined. Israeli male adolescents (N = 88) were administered the Adult Attachment Interview during their high-school senior year. A year later, they and their friends reported on the adolescents' adjustment to mandatory military service. Three years later, participants and their parents reported on the adolescents' capacity for intimacy using an in-depth interview and on their individuation. An autonomous state of mind was associated with better coping with basic training and with a higher capacity for mature intimacy but was not associated with markers of individuation. The results highlight the importance of attachment representations in shaping an individual's developmental trajectory.