In comparison to the emotional attachment of adolescents to their parents, adolescent assistance and obligation to the family has received considerably less attention in developmental research. This volume explores what contextual factors, broadly conceived, give rise to variations in family assistance and obligation during adolescence and what the implications are of family assistance and obligation for other aspects of adolescents' development. Authors provide a conceptual and research framework that can be applied to any type of work contribution to the family. Household chores, a common example of adolescent work contribution, are discussed including an in-depth look at the effect of maternal employment on the gender distribution of these chores. The influence of the educational system on adolescent roles in the family is closely examined, focusing on the spread of universal secondary schooling in the early to mid-twentieth century and its impact on traditional immigrant family roles as well as how academic motivation in modern American society impacts immigrant and minority groups.
Each of these topics is discussed in terms of the role that youths' obligations play in the overall adaptive strategies of families. This volume will offer some basic working principles to guide the study of family assistance and obligation more generally. This is the 94th issue of the Jossey-Bass series "New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development."