The ability of adolescents to predict future outcome. Part II: Therapeutic enhancement of predictive skills.

The assertion of autonomy, a developmental challenge of adolescence, helps predict the teenager's attitude toward pregnancy and parenthood. Significantly, the ability to predict the future relationship with the infant has direct implications for the achievement of an adaptive outcome. Indeed, the interpersonal outcome of the parent-infant relationship may be predicted by the adolescent's behaviors with her infant. A prospective orientation may offer an important vantage point for improving this relationship. For example, the ability to predict future outcome helps identify potential conflict, such as abuse. When applying a prospective approach during the prenatal period, the adolescent's past relationship with her own mother and her motivations for becoming a parent will be explored in order to predict the future dyadic relationship. For adolescents who are already parents, an assessment of the dyad's contemporaneous interaction may further predict future interpersonal exchange. Moreover, orienting the adolescent parent toward the future may identify areas of potential conflict, as well as foster more adaptive dyadic exchange.