Chapter 2 36 INTRODUCTION A vast amount of research has shown that families differ from each other. In families with more parental monitoring and support, for instance, adolescents are generally better adapted than in other families. Indeed, meta-analyses highlight that adequate parenting is linked to important adolescent outcomes, such as internalizing and externalizing problems (Hoeve et al., 2009; Pinquart, 2017a, 2017b). However, parenting not only has trait-like characteristics, but it is also a dynamic process in which adolescents and parents mutually influence each other (Bell, 1968; Granic & Patterson, 2006; Pardini, 2008). Conceptually, these dynamic parenting processes can manifest themselves as associations between over-time fluctuations in parenting and adolescent adaptation within the same family. For example, adolescents might express less problem behavior after their own parents set up stricter rules, as illustrated in Figure 1. Recently, it has been suggested that existing parenting studies that tap into relative differences between families might not optimally be suited to (also) detect or draw conclusions regarding how changes in parenting affect adolescent adaptation (Berry & Willoughby, 2017; Hamaker, 2012; Keijsers, 2016). Therefore, alternative methods have been proposed for analyzing longitudinal data that better capture these dynamic parenting processes (e.g., Hamaker et al., 2015). The current review summarizes and discusses empirical studies estimating both concurrent and time-lagged within-family associations between parenting and adolescent adaptation. By synthesizing this body of literature, the aim is to obtain an overview of the available studies and to synthesize their findings. Furthermore, recommendations for future directions are provided based on identified limitations and caveats of the studies that have been published so far. Theories Describing Parenting Processes In the seminal integrative macro model of Darling and Steinberg (1993), parenting practices (domain-specific parental behaviors, such as punishment) are conceptualized as the mechanisms through which parents can directly influence their adolescent’s adaptation. Because parents fluctuate in their practices over time and situations, parenting practices might explain fluctuations and development in adolescent’s adaptation, in contrast to parenting styles (Baumrind, 1971) that are defined by them as a stable contextual characteristic between the parent and the child (Darling & Steinberg, 1993). Therefore, Darling and Steinberg recommended to study parenting practices to understand the processes through which parents influence their adolescent’s adaptation. Hence, although not explicitly mentioned, they pro- posed that parenting should be studied at the withinfamily level, i.e., the level on which fluctuations in parenting can be observed.
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