Parent-Adolescent Communication
Compared to young children, adolescents spend much more of their waking hours away from home. Teenagers are granted more freedom to interact with peers and engage in activities at school and in the community. However, parents remain an important socializing context during adolescence. Parents play an especially important role when it comes to teenagers’ engagement in problem behaviors and illicit substance use, such as cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption. The Adolescent Social Development Lab is interested in the ways in which parents and adolescents communicate about different issues in adolescents’ lives. For example, how do parental messages about distinct problem behaviors influence teens’ own behaviors.? Do parents use the same communication strategies when communicating about different behaviors, including eating, internet and cell-phone use, alcohol use? We are equally interested in the the role that adolescents’ themselves play in these processes, including how they interpret parent's messages and the strategies they use to manage parents’ information (e.g., keeping secrets, lying).
Highlights
- The Parent-adolescent relationship is an important context for adolescent social cognitive development.
- Our mixed-methodological approach provides the opportunity to study domain specific family communication processes within actual parent-adolescent dyadic discussions.
- The way adolescents and parents think about and conceptualize different issues in teens’ lives influence family communication processes.
- Strategies parents and adolescents use to communicate about different issues in teens’ lives vary based on the issue.
Family Communication Project
Our lab utilizes novel methodologies to examine parental solicitation, adolescent disclosure, and adolescent information management about distinct issues in teens’ lives. We video-record parent-adolescent dyadic discussions about teen issues such as eating habits, internet and cell-phone use, alcohol use, and civic engagement. This allows us to examine domain-specific messages parents’ convey to their teens, various ways in which parents ask their teens about their problem behaviors (directly ask, indirectly ask, ask about friends’ behavior, etc.), and the ways in which adolescents’ respond to their parents’ inquiries. In addition to parent-adolescent video-recorded discussions, the project collected self-report data regarding parents’ and adolescents’ beliefs about the different issues.
Adolescent technology-mediated communication is a recent behavior category that involves the potential for multiple risks, including cyber-bullying and internet predators. Little is known about whether cyber-bullying is a salient danger to parents when talking with their children about cyber communication. Research has also not explored parents’ messages regarding their reactions to learning their own adolescent has been victimized. We coded videotaped, dyadic discussions about cyber communication to identify parental messages regarding potential cyber dangers and reactions to cyberbullying (Babskie, Metzger, & Baldrige, in preparation). We found that parents seemed to be more worried about their teens meeting strangers online than the potential for cyber victimization. Contrary to adolescents’ previously reported fears, parental messages regarding their reactions to cyberbullying revealed that they would be more likely to take the situation to authority figures, such as the school or bully’s parents, than take away online privileges (Babskie et al., in preparation). Using the social domain framework we have begun to study how parents and adolescents conceptualize risky cyber behaviors compared to other behaviors that pose risks to adolescents (e.g., alcohol). We found that adolescents and parents conceptualize risky cyber behaviors similarly to alcohol use with regard to potential harm; however, older teens believed that they made a majority of decisions about their cyber behaviors (Babskie & Metzger, poster presented at SRA 2014). In addition, we have found that adolescents’ beliefs are related to levels of disclosure about their cyber behaviors and how much they actively conceal cyber information (Babskie & Metzger, in preparation). Interestingly, we found that adolescent age and restrictive parenting moderated relations between teens’ beliefs and cyber-specific information management strategies (Babskie & Metzger, in preparation).
We have utilized the video-recorded dyadic conversations to examine what parents say when they talk about civic duty (see civic development) and found that both parents and teens discuss a variety of civic duties, including participation in community service, political activities, obeying laws, and being a productive member of society (e.g., working, becoming educated; Oosterhoff, Metzger, & Babskie, accepted). We also found that adolescents’ beliefs about different civic duties were related to the duties parents and teens talked about (Oosterhoff & Metzger, under review).
Adolescent technology-mediated communication is a recent behavior category that involves the potential for multiple risks, including cyber-bullying and internet predators. Little is known about whether cyber-bullying is a salient danger to parents when talking with their children about cyber communication. Research has also not explored parents’ messages regarding their reactions to learning their own adolescent has been victimized. We coded videotaped, dyadic discussions about cyber communication to identify parental messages regarding potential cyber dangers and reactions to cyberbullying (Babskie, Metzger, & Baldrige, in preparation). We found that parents seemed to be more worried about their teens meeting strangers online than the potential for cyber victimization. Contrary to adolescents’ previously reported fears, parental messages regarding their reactions to cyberbullying revealed that they would be more likely to take the situation to authority figures, such as the school or bully’s parents, than take away online privileges (Babskie et al., in preparation). Using the social domain framework we have begun to study how parents and adolescents conceptualize risky cyber behaviors compared to other behaviors that pose risks to adolescents (e.g., alcohol). We found that adolescents and parents conceptualize risky cyber behaviors similarly to alcohol use with regard to potential harm; however, older teens believed that they made a majority of decisions about their cyber behaviors (Babskie & Metzger, poster presented at SRA 2014). In addition, we have found that adolescents’ beliefs are related to levels of disclosure about their cyber behaviors and how much they actively conceal cyber information (Babskie & Metzger, in preparation). Interestingly, we found that adolescent age and restrictive parenting moderated relations between teens’ beliefs and cyber-specific information management strategies (Babskie & Metzger, in preparation).
We have utilized the video-recorded dyadic conversations to examine what parents say when they talk about civic duty (see civic development) and found that both parents and teens discuss a variety of civic duties, including participation in community service, political activities, obeying laws, and being a productive member of society (e.g., working, becoming educated; Oosterhoff, Metzger, & Babskie, accepted). We also found that adolescents’ beliefs about different civic duties were related to the duties parents and teens talked about (Oosterhoff & Metzger, under review).
Parental Knowledge and Information Management
Recently, research on parent-adolescent communication has become interested in the ways in which parents seek to gain knowledge of their teens’ activities outside of the house. For instance, research has been interested in parental solicitation as a means of gathering information in the hopes of attenuating their adolescents’ problem behavior (Stattin & Kerr, 2000; Kerr, Stattin, & Burke, 2010). High levels of parental knowledge are associated with reduced levels of adolescent engagement in problem behaviors including illicit substance use, such as cigarette smoking and alcohol use. Interestingly, research has found that teens’ willing disclosure of their activities is an important way through which parents get information (Kerr et al., 2010; Smetana, 2008). That is, teenagers directly impact parents’ knowledge and may have a great deal of control over the amount of information parents’ have about their teens’ activities.
However, adolescents might want to keep some of their activities secret from parents either because they view some activities as personal and “none of their parents business” or because their parents may disapprove of the activities in which the teen is engaged. For instance, teenagers who smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol may not want their parents to know they are engaged in those activities. Research has found that adolescents utilize information management strategies to keep some activities secret from their parents such as full disclosure, lying, avoidance, or partial disclosure (holding back some information) (Smetana, 2008). The majority of previous research in this area has relied on self-report, questionnaire data. With such measures it is difficult to dis-aggregate activities that adolescents were engaged in but did not disclose to their parents from those which adolescents were never engaged. In addition, little is known about what parental solicitation and adolescent information management look like in the moment.
However, adolescents might want to keep some of their activities secret from parents either because they view some activities as personal and “none of their parents business” or because their parents may disapprove of the activities in which the teen is engaged. For instance, teenagers who smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol may not want their parents to know they are engaged in those activities. Research has found that adolescents utilize information management strategies to keep some activities secret from their parents such as full disclosure, lying, avoidance, or partial disclosure (holding back some information) (Smetana, 2008). The majority of previous research in this area has relied on self-report, questionnaire data. With such measures it is difficult to dis-aggregate activities that adolescents were engaged in but did not disclose to their parents from those which adolescents were never engaged. In addition, little is known about what parental solicitation and adolescent information management look like in the moment.
Communication about Problem Behaviors
Research has been interested in the ways in which parents may impact their adolescents’ engagement in problem behaviors such as cigarette smoking or alcohol consumption. A great deal of this research has focused on parental messages about cigarette smoking. Specifically, research has been interested in whether parental messages affected teen behavior. For instance, research has demonstrated the incremental utility of “smoking-specific socialization” practices (including anti-smoking messages) over and above general parenting in reducing adolescent cigarette use (Chassin, et al 2005; Kodl & Mermelstein, 2004). However, these questionnaire measures do not distinguish the content of parental messages (e.g., why is smoking bad?).
According to Social domain theory (Turiel, 2006), why an activity is bad may be essential. Social domain theory postulates that individuals’ understanding of their social world is differentiated and individuals develop different types or domains of social knowledge. Parents’ messages may fall into different domains, which could affect how the message is received, as well as its efficacy. For example, cigarette smoking is a multi-faceted activity and parents may focus on different aspects of smoking including the potential deleterious health issues (prudential), legal or family prohibitions (social conventional), or the effects on others (moral), while some parents may see smoking as a personal choice. Our lab is interested in parents’ and adolescents’ domain conceptualizations regarding adolescent issues such as eating habits, internet and cell-phone use, alcohol use, and civic engagement.
According to Social domain theory (Turiel, 2006), why an activity is bad may be essential. Social domain theory postulates that individuals’ understanding of their social world is differentiated and individuals develop different types or domains of social knowledge. Parents’ messages may fall into different domains, which could affect how the message is received, as well as its efficacy. For example, cigarette smoking is a multi-faceted activity and parents may focus on different aspects of smoking including the potential deleterious health issues (prudential), legal or family prohibitions (social conventional), or the effects on others (moral), while some parents may see smoking as a personal choice. Our lab is interested in parents’ and adolescents’ domain conceptualizations regarding adolescent issues such as eating habits, internet and cell-phone use, alcohol use, and civic engagement.