Parent–adolescent relationships and romantic development

Diverse qualities of parent–adolescent relationships, such as warmth and communication, explain some of the variability in the quality and satisfaction of offspring’s later romantic relationships. In this chapter, we briefly summarize theories and research linking qualities of the parent–adolescent relationship to offspring’s romantic relationship outcomes (e.g., relationship satisfaction). After this section, we focus more precisely on one aspect of parenting, autonomy support, which has been infrequently studied but may be critical to offspring’s positive development of intimacy and romantic relationships. Based on Self-Determination Theory and past research, we define parental autonomy support as parents’ support for volition, open communication, and guidance in coping and decision-making, and identify five intrapersonal and five interpersonal competencies that should develop out of autonomy-supportive parenting. We end by outlining a model of how and why parental autonomy support may foster the development of optimal romantic relationships via offspring’s developing intrapersonal and interpersonal competencies.