| The theoretical frameworks which undergrid this study are (1) a generational understanding of the person; and (2) the work of Donald Williamson on personal authority. The generational perspective is developed from Claus Westermann's anthropology of generations, based on Genesis 1-12. The Hebrew word toledot ("generation," "genealogy," "story") connotes something of the family story as it is lived out through the transgenerational sequence of people and events. What it means to be a person, from this perspective, is always in the context of the flow of generation following generation.;Launching may be viewed as involving two of the most important issues in growing up: leaving the parental home psychologically while still maintaining an intimate relationship with one's parents. As a synthesizing construct between individuation and intimacy, this dual capacity is the essence of Williamson's concept of personal authority. Concepts from Bowen (differentiation of self and triangulation) and from Boszormenyi-Nagy (loyalty and relational ethics) are drawn upon to further inform the theory. Also informative is Nagy's understanding of "legacy" as the responsibility to take whatever one has inherited and refine it for the sake of posterity.;The "Personal Authority in the Family System Questionnaire" was used to measure intergenerational family processes in terms of intimacy, fusion/individuation, intimidation, triangulation, and personal authority. Family interviews were used to gain a narrative sense of families from each group and to humanize the statistics.;To test the hypothesis, appropriate versions of the PAFS-Q were given to parents and adolescents in two groups: (1) those in which the adolescent was having difficulty "launching," and (2) those in which the adolescents were more successful. Statistical computations indicated that these two groups did indeed have a significantly different transgenerational pattern of relationships. This finding was supported by interviews with families from both populations. Some implications for practice were drawn. |
