Adolescents' Well-Being as a Function of Perceived Interparental Consistency

High school students reported separately on mothers and fathers' responsiveness and demandingness and their own academic achievement and engagement, involvement in problem behavior, psychosocial development, and internalized distress. Mothers and fathers were classified as authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, or indifferent, and adolescents from homes characterized by different types of interparental consistency were compared with those from homes where parents were not consistent. Adolescents with one authoritative parent exhibited greater academic competence than did peers with parents who were consistent but nonauthoritative. Adolescents with one authoritative and one nonauthoritative parent exhibited greater concurrent internalized distress than did youth from consistent homes, but these findings were not observed longitudinally

Prediction of maternal use of friendship facilitation strategies in middle childhood

We examined child characteristics as predictors of maternal friendship facilitation strategies from third to fifth grades. Results indicated variation in initial levels of friendship facilitation and linear change over time, but no variation in trajectories of change over time. In third grade, African American mothers were less likely to enable proximity to friends and more likely to talk to their children about friendships than were European American mothers. Mothers of children with greater self-efficacy used more of both types of friendship facilitation behaviors. Mothers who perceived children as higher in externalizing were less likely to talk with children in an effort to facilitate friendships. Mothers who perceived children as having more social problems reported talking to their children more

Maternal Management of Social Relationships as a Correlate of Children’s School-Based Experiences

We tested a model considering the manner in which mothers’ use of their own social relationships and efforts to facilitate their children’s school-based social relationships were associated with two distinct types of school-based competence: academic achievement and levels of stress experienced within the school environment. Fourth grade children (n = 311) and their mothers participated in interviews and completed questionnaires providing information on social relationships and school experiences. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses indicated a good fit for a model in which mothers’ efforts to facilitate children’s social relationships with peers were associated with lower levels of school-based stress, but mothers’ efforts to maintain social connections with the parents of their children’s school friends were linked with lower levels of objectively measured academic achievement

Understanding the Authoritative Parenting—Early Adolescent Tobacco Use Link: The Mediating Role of Peer Tobacco Use

Eighth-grade students (N = 156) completed questionnaires in which they reported on their perceptions of parents' warmth. structure, and psychological autonomy granting (used to create an index of authoritative parenting) and their own levels of tobacco use. Adolescents were also asked to list the names of other students at their school with whom they spent time ("friends"). Independent reports obtained from these friends were used to toms an index of the mean level of tobacco use among each adolescent's friends. Higher levels of authoritative parenting were associated with lower levels of tobacco use among target adolescents. The association between parental authoritativeness and adolescent tobacco use was mediated by levels of tobacco use among peers. An amplification effect was observed in which adolescents were particularly unlikely to use tobacco products when they both received authoritative parenting at home and were members of non-tobacco-using peer groups

Implications of the family expert role for parental rules regarding adolescent use of social technologies

We conducted individual semi-structured qualitative interviews with a diverse group of 40 adolescents to assess their perceptions related to (a) the location of expert power within their families with respect to social technology use (cell phones and social networking sites) and (b) the implications of such power for parental rule setting and enforcement related to adolescent use of these technologies. Results indicated substantial variability in who adolescents perceived to be the family experts. Rules regarding access to social technologies existed in most families regardless of the technology type and regardless of whether parents or youth were perceived as technology experts. In contrast, family expert status had implications for the types of content rules that parents set regarding adolescents’ use of social technologies and the manner in which such rules were enforced

Structured Leisure Activities in Middle Childhood: Links to Well-Being

Associations between children’s (N = 147) participation in structured leisure activities and their adjustment were examined. Caregivers provided lists of extracurricular activities (clubs, sports, and church activities) in which children participated. Children and caregivers participated in interviews and completed questionnaires designed to measure children’s adjustment in four domains (academic competence, psychosocial development, externalizing behavior, and internalizing behavior). Classroom teachers completed additional measures of children’s academic and social competence. Greater participation in club activities was linked with higher academic grades and more positive teacher ratings of academic competence. Greater participation in sports was associated with higher levels of psychosocial maturity and more positive teacher ratings of social competence. There were no associations between involvement in church activities and any indicators of adjustment. Activity involvement was unassociated with externalizing or internalizing behavior. Findings are discussed in terms of both selection into different types of extracurricular activities and the skills emphasized in the pursuit of such activities

Parental Influences on Adolescent Involvement in Community Activities

Youth involvement in extracurricular activities reflects both family socialization influences and civic development. Parents can promote such activity through examples set by personal involvement in the community and through reinforcement of their children's interests. Using data (N = 362) from the 9th and 10th grade waves of the Iowa Youth and Families Project (Conger & Elder, 1994), we find that both the behavioral model set by parents and their personal reinforcement of children's actions make significant differences in the extracurricular activity involvement of boys and girls. However, parental reinforcement is most consequential when parents are not engaged in community activities. In this situation, warm parents are likely to reinforce their children, and this reinforcement strengthens children's involvement in community activities. The family dynamics of civic socialization deserve more attention than they have received to date

Sex Differences in Associations Between Parental Behaviors and Characteristics and Adolescent Social Integration

One hundred and eight eighth grade students completed self-report questionnaires about their perceptions of parental warmth, structure, and psychological autonomy granting (used to compute a measure of perceived parental authoritativeness) and three measures of social integration: their own connectedness to their communities and involvement in school- versus community-based extracurricular activities. Parents of these students participated in telephone interviews during which they reported on their own relationships with their children’s friends and friends’ parents, and their own involvement in community activities. Parental community involvement was associated with stronger feelings of community connectedness and higher levels of community involvement among boys and more involvement in school- and community-based extracurricular activities among girls. Perceived parental authoritativeness was associated with stronger feelings of community connectedness and higher levels of involvement in community activities among girls. Parents’ relationships with children’s peers and peers’ parents were associated with greater involvement in school-based extracurricular activities among girls

Context and Companionship in Children’s Short-term versus Long-term Friendships

Children (N = 341) and their mothers participated in interviews when children were in fourth and fifth grades. Mothers and children worked together to identify children’s friends across various contexts of their lives. Children rated the companionship of each friendship and friendships were coded as either short term or long term. Higher levels of companionship were associated with increased odds of a friendship being long term, as was a friendship being maintained within the contexts of neighborhood, family friend, relative-as-friend, and efforts of parents. A friendship being maintained in more contexts was associated with increased odds of the friendship being long term. The findings are discussed in terms of implications for the understanding and support of children’s friendships

Incorporating Issues of Sexual Orientation in the Classroom: Challenges and Solutions

Family studies faculty have an opportunity and a responsibility to address issues related to the development and family lives of sexual minority individuals in graduate and undergraduate courses, This article identifies and discusses 6 challenges involving the incorporation of sexual orientation issues into the classroom: lack of student exposure to accurate information about sexual orientation, selecting a lecture topic, attitudes of intolerance among students, avoiding generalizations, making the topic of sexual orientation relevant to the lives of students, and instructor comfort level concerning the topic of sexual orientation