ABSTRACT
“Keep Out!” “Enter At Your Own Risk!” Such warnings often hang on bedroom doors to proclaim adolescents’ rights to privacy. As children move from early adolescence toward adulthood, their needs for privacy and autonomy within their family environment typically strengthen. Several prominent social development theorists (e.g., Bios, 1962, 1979; Erikson 1959, 1968; J. P. Hill & Holmbeck, 1986; Sessa & Steinberg, 1991; Shapiro, 1981; H. S. Sullivan, 1953) contend that children become more autonomous and rely more on peers than parents as they move toward adulthood.
