Atkins revises the proposal of Blos that the resolution of the negative oedipal attachment to the father is the terminal event in the boy's adolescence. He suggests that the occurrence of physical maturation often subdues the omnipotent father representation that had been present from early childhood; thus the de-idealizing event initiates, rather than ends, the boy's adolescent process. In Atkin's view, the

work of adolescence concerns the restitution of the father. Case examples show how the father contributes to the de-idealization, and how the mother's view of the father affects the father representation.