I first encountered Chapman's 5 Love Languages a few years ago through internet quizzes and articles and then his book. I found the concept intriguing, and laid out so clearly that anyone can read it and put the ideas into practice right away. It was obvious that he came from a Christian point of view, which didn't bother me, although I am not a Christian, and I could see his Conservative stance at work as well, which I mostly ignored (his couple example where the wife was being physically abused yet he encouraged her to stay in the marriage and change her husband was quite disturbing, although in this rare case, successful).
I picked up the 5 Love Languages of Teenagers because my daughter is turning 12 soon and I thought it might be helpful. And it is. I appreciated the translation from adult partners to parent/child. She took the quiz in the back, got some unexpected results, and we talked a bit about what it meant.
The problem is politics. Here the Christian point of view has expanded such that Chapman addresses every reader as if s/he too were a Christian. In the section about teens questioning their parents' religion (a fine section to include...it's not religion I object to), he mentions how a teen may wish to "no longer go to Mass, the synagogue, Sunday school, or the mosque." And this is the only indication in the entire book that Chapman even acknowledges that there are religions besides Christianity. All other examples say "church" and that's that.
Then there is his idea of the horrors that today's teens may encounter. Things like living in a world where "homosexual relationships are being promoted as alternative lifestyles. Indeed, the words bisexual and transgender are common vocabulary for the modern teen." And things like meeting people who don't keep strictly to traditional male/female roles (I find it interesting that he has several examples of mothers who work, either in a duel working couple or as a single parent, but not a single hint of a family where a mother works and a father stays at home). And divorce is right up there with the evils of abuse and illegal drug use.
That being said, Chapman does a fine job of giving advice for families who are single parent, shared custody, or that include stepparents. There is a large section of the book dedicated to that. Where he falters is with his section on sexual abuse. I'm glad he addresses it, and physical abuse as well, but his approach leaves much to be desired.
Like with his beliefs on martial abuse in his earlier book, he puts all the responsibility on the wife (there is zero understanding of the concept that a woman might abuse or that a man might sexually abuse boys in his family, regardless of his own sexual orientation—the two being completely separate). It is her responsibility not just to protect her teenager but to change the husband so that he realizes what he is doing is wrong and stops. Yes, he addresses the husband directly in the book, but rightly realizes the futility of that. Only later in the book is there a hint that being married to someone who rapes your children might actually destroy the marriage, you know, if you fail at your appointed task of stopping him.
I gritted my teeth at the politics, religious assumptions (as well as the push for religion in general), and horrible advice for abusive families, and managed to finish the book. There's a lot of good in there. He has a clear vision of love and caring and how to express it to others in a way they will want to receive. That vision alone is worth reading the book for, though I knocked off points for the rest.