Concerns of Parents with or Raising Adolescent Children: a Qualitative Study of Iranian Families

Introduction: Adolescence is a challenging period and cultural background plays an important role in families with adolescent. So exploring parents’ concerns in the specific context of Iran may improves nurses' family-based services and helps to reduce conflicts Iranian families with respect to adolescents. In this paper we explore perceptions of Iranian parents’ concerns in the family with raising adolescent children.

Methods: Participants of this qualitative content analysis study were 23 parents with adolescents, who were recruited through purposive sampling. Data collection was done through semi structured in-depth interviews and analyzed based on Graneheim and Landman’s approach. Lincoln and Guba’s criteria were used to ensure the accuracy and strength of the study.

Results: The theme “rebellion against parents’ authority” was supported by two categories: (1) parent-teenage conflict, and (2) difficulty in controlling. As the offspring enter adolescence, parents feel that their child is going to leave their domain.

Conclusion: Findings from this study showed that the incongruity arises when traditional family norms fail to adapt to new patterns. Change of social and cultural norms in developing societies, has led to generational differences in families. This issue accompanied with adolescence, increases parents’ concern. So we recommend parental educational programs for learning effectively patterns for resisting internal challenges and communicate with adolescents.