Developmental links between aspects of the parent-child relationship and adolescent risk behaviors: Mutual action and reaction

Developmental links between aspects of the parent-child relationship and adolescent risk behaviors: Mutual action and reaction.

Adolescence is a critical time for the onset or intensification of engagement in risk behaviors, such as delinquency and alcohol use. Parents are often advised to supervise adolescents or set rules for behavior control in order to protect their adolescents from harm. But are such parenting strategies advantageous in preventing adolescents from engaging in risk behaviors? Little is known about what role adolescents play in the parent- adolescent relationship and their own psychosocial development? The overall aim of the dissertation was to investigate how parent- and adolescent-driven communication efforts occurring in the parent-adolescent relationship relate to risk behaviors in early to mid- adolescence.

Findings show that adolescent-driven communication efforts (i.e. disclosure about their everyday activities) play a prominent role in the parent-adolescent relationship and adolescent engagement in risk behaviors. Adolescent disclosure is linked to parental knowledge of an adolescent’s whereabouts, parent-adolescent emotional connectedness, and decreases in adolescent risk behaviors over time. While parental behavioral control of adolescent whereabouts can indeed be protective of adolescent engagement in risk behaviors, parents’ soliciting efforts are related to higher levels of engagement in delinquency and substance use. This is particularly true for boys and adolescents with detached and fearless temperament. However, when adolescents are willing to communicate, parents can elicit more disclosure from their adolescents through soliciting efforts.

This dissertation suggests that parents and adolescents both play important roles in parenting and parent-adolescent relationships. Parents can protect their adolescents from engagement in risk behaviors, especially when adolescents share information with their parents.