Adolescents' Perspectives on Learning to Manage the Responsibilities of Adulthood

Throughout childhood, youth learn the skills they need to carry out their daily life tasks. Despite the importance of being able to manage these tasks to succeed in adulthood, limited research has examined the process through which youth learn to do so.

To investigate adolescents' perspectives of parental approaches that help them learn to manage daily responsibilities.

Qualitative pilot study.

Community.

Eight adolescents with and without disabilities.

Semistructured interviews with adolescents were analyzed using recursive, conventional content analysis. Interviews asked about how adolescents viewed the process of developing the skills needed to manage daily responsibilities independently. Parent approaches identified by the adolescents fit into three overarching themes: Parents teach them how to carry out and manage responsibilities, monitor them as they become more responsible for tasks, and provide varied levels of independence. The approaches described by the adolescents explain an implicit and transactional process of shifting responsibility for daily life tasks from parents to youth.

Further investigation of the transfer of responsibility for daily life tasks is necessary to build our understanding of this complex process and support successful transition to adulthood. What This Article Adds: Adolescents described several approaches parents used to help them to learn to manage tasks, which may provide direction for occupational therapy clinicians working with youth who are transitioning to adulthood.