Adolescent Misbehavior

Poor parental monitoring has been associated with a wide range of adolescent behavior problems that include delinquency; tobacco, alcohol, and drug use; and violence In addition, parental monitoring may buffer the impact of negative risk factors such as genetic vulnerability proactive aggressive behaviors and exposure to sexual abuse peer pressure neighborhood risk or community violence. Not surprisingly, clinical and educational interventions to reduce adolescent problem behavior often instruct parents to supervise their children better (e.g., “Do you know where your child is?”). These instructions often focus on increasing parents’ attention to and tracking (i.e., through parental involvement and solicitation of information from the child, friends, or their parents) or control (i.e., setting limits, curfews, and requiring permission) of their children’s activities or whereabouts. Little is known about why adolescents disclose behaviors to parents. The limited studies examining adolescent disclosure suggest it may be increased by authoritative parenting responsive parenting a positive parent-child relationship more leisure time spent with parents and less with peers adolescents’ beliefs in the legitimacy of parental authority and trust in their parents parents’ positive reactions to adolescent disclosure and adolescents’ personality. Parents’ active monitoring (i.e., tracking and control) increased disclosure in three studies and had no effects in another. Finally, there is some evidence for adolescents’ negative behaviors decreasing the likelihood of disclosure and child disclosure affecting parents’ tracking and control. The Importance of Parental Warmth, Support, and Control in Preventing Adolescent Misbehavior Joanne Klevens

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Last date updated on September, 2024