Youth’s Perceptions of Parental Support and Parental Knowledge as Moderators of the Association Between Youth–Probation Officer Relationship and Probation Non-compliance

As a community-based sanction, juvenile probation exemplifies the potential of both communities and families to make significant contributions in promoting positive changes among offending youth. Yet, surprisingly little research has explored the nature of these relationships and its association with offending. This study (1) examined the associations between youth–officer relationships, youth perceptions of parental support and knowledge, and probation non-compliance and (2) explored the role of parental support and knowledge as moderators of the association between youth–officer relationships and probation non-compliance among 110 youth supervised on probation (23 % females; 60 % African American). The findings showed that tough or punitive youth–officer relationships were associated with greater counts of technical violations, but fewer counts of delinquent offenses. Parental support was associated with fewer counts of delinquent offenses and parental knowledge was associated with fewer counts of both delinquent offenses and technical violations. These findings provide evidence to the important role of both parents and probation officers and underscore the potential benefits of parent–officer collaboration in facilitating successful interventions among offending youth.     

The Longitudinal Consistency of Mother–Child Reporting Discrepancies of Parental Monitoring and Their Ability to Predict Child Delinquent Behaviors Two Years Later

This study examined the longitudinal consistency of mother–child reporting discrepancies of parental monitoring and whether these discrepancies predict children’s delinquent behaviors 2 years later. Participants included 335 mother/female-caregiver and child (46% boys, >90% African American; age range 9–16 years [M = 12.11, SD = 1.60]) dyads living in moderate-to-high violence areas. Mother–child discrepancies were internally consistent within multiple assessment points and across measures through a 2-year follow-up assessment. Further, mothers who at baseline consistently reported higher levels of parental monitoring relative to their child had children who reported greater levels of delinquent behaviors 2 years later, relative to mother–child dyads that did not evidence consistent discrepancies. This finding could not be accounted for by baseline levels of the child’s delinquency, maternal and child emotional distress, or child demographic characteristics. This finding was not replicated when relying on the individual reports of parental monitoring to predict child delinquency, suggesting that mother–child reporting discrepancies provided information distinct from the absolute frequency of reports. Findings suggest that mother–child discrepancies in reports of parental monitoring can be employed as new individual differences measurements in developmental psychopathology research.     

Perceived Quality of the Mother–Adolescent and Father–Adolescent Attachment Relationship and Adolescents’ Self-Esteem

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - There is consensus in the literature that self-esteem stems from relationships with others. In particular, it is assumed that parents play an important role in...     

Association Between Mother and Adolescent Reports for Assessing Relations Between Parent–Adolescent Communication and Adolescent Adjustment

An important research finding is that parent–adolescent communication is related to adolescent adjustment. However, when using self-report measures with multiple reporters, adolescent and parent reports do not correlate highly, and within-rater reports correlate higher than cross-rater reports. This limits the utility of traditional methods of aggregation across raters. The present study used canonical correlation to examine if and how mother and adolescent reports for communication and problem behaviors are related. With reports from 161 adolescents and their mothers, the results indicated that the relationship between mother and adolescent reports differed by problem behavior area. Within-rater reports dominated the dimensions for communication related to aggressive behaviors. For anxious/depressed behaviors, both mother and adolescent reports contributed to the dimensions, with 1 dimension reflecting opposite perceptions of communication and adjustment by mothers and adolescents.     

A Qualitative Study Exploring Mothers’ Perceptions of Child Neglect

This research explores the experiences and perceptions of mothers receiving services for child neglect. Incidents of child neglect are reaching alarming rates in the United States, now representing 78% of all child maltreatment reports. Although risks factors associated with child neglect are well known, there continues to be uncertainty about how to proceed in assessing and intervening with families. The epistemological stance of constructivism and the theoretical perspective of symbolic interactionism guided the qualitative methods of this research. Four overarching themes emerged focused on daily struggles, protecting my child, feeling trapped, and mutual trust. Implications for practice are discussed.     

Assessing Causality in the Relationship Between Adolescents’ Risky Sexual Online Behavior and Their Perceptions of this Behavior

The main aim of this study was to investigate the causal nature of the relationship between adolescents’ risky sexual behavior on the internet and their perceptions of this behavior. Engagement in the following online behaviors was assessed: searching online for someone to talk about sex, searching online for someone to have sex, sending intimate photos or videos to someone online, and sending one’s telephone number and address to someone exclusively known online. The relationship between these behaviors and adolescents’ perceptions of peer involvement, personal invulnerability, and risks and benefits was investigated. A two-wave longitudinal study among a representative sample of 1,445 Dutch adolescents aged 12–17 was conducted (49% females). Autoregressive cross-lagged structural equation models revealed that perceived peer involvement, perceived vulnerability, and perceived risks were all significant predictors of risky sexual online behavior 6 months later. No reverse causal paths were found. When the relationships between perceptions and risky sexual online behavior were modeled simultaneously, only perceived peer involvement was a determinant of risky sexual online behavior. Findings highlight the importance of addressing peer involvement in future interventions to reduce adolescents’ risky sexual online behavior.     

Parent-Adolescent Relationship Quality as a Moderator for the Influences of Parents’ Religiousness on Adolescents’ Religiousness and Adjustment

Prior investigations have demonstrated that parents’ religiousness is related inversely to adolescent maladjustment. However, research remains unclear about whether the link between parents’ religiousness and adolescent adjustment outcomes—either directly or indirectly via adolescents’ own religiousness—varies depending on relationship context (e.g., parent-adolescent attachment). This study examined the moderating roles of parent-adolescent attachment on the apparent effects of the intergenerational transmission of religiousness on adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms using data from 322 adolescents (mean age?=?12.63?years, 45?% girls, and 84?% White) and their parents. Structural equation models indicated significant indirect effects suggesting that parents’ organizational religiousness was positively to boys’ organizational religiousness—the latter of which appeared to mediate the negative association of parents’ organizational religiousness with boys’ internalizing symptoms. Significant interaction effects suggested also that, for both boys and girls, parents’ personal religiousness was associated positively with adolescent internalizing symptoms for parent-adolescent dyads with low attachment, whereas parents’ personal religiousness was not associated with adolescent internalizing symptoms for parent-adolescent dyads with high attachment. The findings help to identify the family dynamics by which the interaction of parents’ religiousness and adolescents’ religiousness might differentially influence adolescent adjustment.     

The Relationship of Parental Control to Youth Adjustment: Do Youths’ Feelings About Their Parents Play a Role?

Recent research suggests that youths interpret parental control and that this may have implications for how control affects youths’ adjustment. In this study, we propose that youths’ feelings about being over-controlled by parents and feeling connected to parents are intermediary processes linking parental control and youths’ adjustment. We used three years of longitudinal data sampled from 1,022 Swedish youths in 7th, 8th, and 9th grade (47.3% girls; 12–17 years old, M age = 14.28 years, SD = .98) who were mainly Swedish in ethnic origin. We tested models linking parental control (i.e., rules, restriction of freedom, and coldness-rejection) to adjustment (i.e., norm-breaking, depressive symptoms, and self-esteem) through youths feeling over-controlled by and connected to parents. The overall model incorporating youths’ feelings showed that restrictions and coldness-rejection were both indirectly linked to increases in norm-breaking and depressive symptoms through increases in youths feeling over-controlled. Parental rules still independently predicted decreases in norm-breaking and in self-esteem, and coldness-rejection predicted increases in norm-breaking. In addition, some paths (e.g., feeling over-controlled to self-esteem) depended on the youths’ age, whereas others depended on their gender. These results suggest that when youths’ feelings are taken into account, all behavioral control is not the same, and the line between behavioral control and psychological control is blurred. We conclude that it is important to consider youths’ feelings of being controlled and suggest that future research focus more on exploring this idea.     

College Students’ Adjustment: The Role of Parent–College Student Expectation Discrepancies and Communication Reciprocity

Parents’ influence on college students’ adjustment is underestimated frequently. As college students often set goals based on their perceptions of their parents’ expectations, discrepancies between college students’ and their parents’ expectations may be related to their adjustment. The purpose of this study was to examine parent–college student expectation discrepancies and communication reciprocity as predictors of college students’ adjustment in a diverse sample of 69 male and 105 female freshmen and sophomores from a large southeastern university. A subsample of their mothers and fathers also participated in this study. Correlational results revealed that college students report experiencing lower levels of self-worth and adjustment when higher expectation discrepancies are present between themselves and their parents. Regression results also indicated that expectation discrepancies and college students’ perceptions of communication reciprocity are important predictors of college students’ self-worth and adjustment. Such findings suggested that teaching assertive communication skills to college students and their parents may serve as a means of promoting positive outcomes for college students.

Associations Between Suicidal High School Students’ Help-Seeking and Their Attitudes and Perceptions of Social Environment

Suicide is a leading cause of death among adolescents, many of whom fail to disclose suicide concerns to adults who might help. This study examined patterns and predictors of help-seeking behavior among adolescents who seriously considered suicide in the past year. 2,737 students (50.9?% female, 46.9?% male; racial distribution 79.5?% Caucasian, 11.9?% Hispanic/Latino, and 3.6?% Black/African-American) from 12 high schools in rural/underserviced communities were surveyed to assess serious suicide ideation (SI) in the past year, disclosure of SI to adults and peers, attempts to get help, attitudes about help-seeking, perceptions of school engagement, and coping support. Help-seeking was defined as both disclosing SI to an adult and perceiving oneself as seeking help. The relationship between adolescents' help-seeking disclosure and (1) help-seeking attitudes and (2) perceptions of social resources was examined among suicidal help-seeking youth, suicidal non-help-seeking youth, and non-suicidal youth. Of the 381 (14?%) students reporting SI, only 23?% told an adult, 29?% sought adult help, and 15?% did both. Suicidal help-seekers were similar to non-suicidal peers on all measures of help-seeking attitudes and social environment perceptions. Positive attitudes about help-seeking from adults at school, perceptions that adults would respond to suicide concerns, willingness to overcome peer secrecy requests, and greater coping support and engagement with the school were associated with students' increased disclosure of SI and help-seeking. This study supports prevention strategies that change student norms, attitudes and social environments to promote help-seeking among adolescents with SI. Promising intervention targets include increasing students' perceptions of the availability and capability of adults to help them, and strengthening students' understanding of how existing resources can help them cope.     

The Stress Response and Adolescents’ Adjustment: The Impact of Child Maltreatment

Experience with and management of stress has implications for adolescents' behavioral and socioemotional development. This study examined the relationship between adolescents' physiological response to an acute laboratory stressor (i.e., Trier Social Stress Test; TSST) and anger regulation and interpersonal competence in a sample of 175 low-income urban adolescents (51.8% girls). Findings suggested that heightened reactivity as indicated by cortisol, heart rate, and blood pressure was associated with increased interpersonal competence and anger regulation. However, these findings were context dependent such that, for youth high in self-reported child maltreatment, heightened reactivity was associated with decreased interpersonal competence and anger regulation. Results highlight the importance of considering how context may condition the effect of stress reactivity on functioning during adolescence.     

An Examination of the Reciprocal Relationships Between Adolescents’ Aggressive Behaviors and Their Perceptions of Parental Nurturance

This study examined reciprocal relationships between adolescents’ perceptions of parental nurturance and two types of adolescent aggressive behaviors (indirect and direct aggression) using a transactional model. Three waves of longitudinal data were drawn from the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth. The sample included 1,416 (735 female) adolescents who were 10- and 11-year-olds at Time 1 and became 14-and 15-year-olds at Time 3. The findings failed to support reciprocal effects, but confirmed parental effects at different ages for girls and boys. For girls, perceptions of parental nurturance at age 10 were negatively associated with both indirect and direct aggression at age 12. For boys, perceptions of parental nurturance at age 12 were negatively associated with both aggressive behaviors at age 14. Future research should continue to investigate reciprocal effects in parent-adolescent relationships to identify developmental periods where the effect of adolescents’ or their parents’ behavior may be stronger.     

Self-Regulation in Early Adolescence: Relations with Mother–Son Relationship Quality and Maternal Regulatory Support and Antagonism

The purpose of the current investigation was to examine relations among maternal regulatory support, maternal antagonism, and mother–son relationship quality in relation to boys’ self-regulation during early adolescence. As part of a larger longitudinal study on 263 low-income, ethnically diverse boys, multiple informants and methods were used to examine associations among parenting practices and mother–son relationship quality in relation to boys’ self-regulation at ages 10 and 11. Multivariate analyses indicated that high levels of regulatory supportive parenting and relationship quality and low levels of antagonistic parenting independently predicted high levels of boys’ self-regulation at age 10. Only antagonistic parenting and relationship quality explained variance in levels of boys’ self-regulation at age 11 after accounting for prior self-regulation. The findings suggest that parenting and the context of the parent–child relationship are linked to self-regulation during early adolescence; however, it appears that parental antagonism and relationship quality, not maternal regulatory supportive parenting, contribute to rank-order change in self-regulation abilities. Implications of these results for research and practice are discussed.