Middle‐Class African American Parents’ Conceptions of Parenting in Early Adolescence

Conceptions of parenting were examined in 87 middle‐class African American parents (87 mothers and 51 fathers) of early adolescents (M= 13.11 years of age). Using semistructured interviews, parents were queried about two developmentally salient issues of early adolescence: parental limit‐setting and adolescent independence. Parents primarily defined firm limits in terms of nonnegotiation, strongly endorsed setting firm limits regarding a range of issues, and justified the importance of limits by focusing on adolescents’ socialization and psychological development. Mothers rated limiting adolescents’ behavior as more important than permitting or encouraging adolescents’ independence. Limits were seen as more important by mothers of younger rather than older early adolescent females, but mothers encouraged independence more for younger rather than older early adolescent males. Mothers permitted independent decisions regarding a limited range of issues such as clothes and appearance, based on psychological concerns with adolescents’ developing autonomy and competence; they encouraged independence primarily by encouraging greater responsibility. The results demonstrate that there is considerable heterogeneity in African American parents’ beliefs and goals about parenting in early adolescence.     

Examining the Quality of Adolescent–Parent Relationships Among Chilean Families

The purpose of this study was to examine if adolescents’ reports of warm and harsh parenting practices by their mothers and fathers varied as a function of demographic, youth and their mothers or mother figures’ individual and family characteristics. Data are from 707 community-dwelling adolescents (mean age = 14, SD = 1.4) and their mothers or mother figures in Santiago, Chile. Having a warmer relationship with both parents was inversely associated with the adolescents’ age and positively associated with adolescents’ family involvement and parental monitoring. Both mothers’ and fathers’ harsh parenting were positively associated with adolescent externalizing behaviors and being male and inversely associated with youth autonomy and family involvement. These findings suggest that net of adolescent developmental emancipation and adolescent behavioral problems, positive relationships with parents, especially fathers, may be nurtured through parental monitoring and creation of an interactive family environment, and can help to foster positive developmental outcomes.     

Parents' Involvement in Adolescents' Peer Relationships: A Comparison of Mothers' and Fathers' Roles

The goals of this study were to compare mothers' and fathers' direct involvement in adolescent girls' versus boys' peer relationships and to examine the links between parents' involvement and the qualities of adolescents' friendship and peer experiences. Participants were mothers, fathers, and firstborn adolescents (mean age = 15 years) in 187 working‐ and middle‐class families. Data were collected during home visits and a series of seven nightly telephone interviews. Parents' direct involvement was measured by parents' reports of their peer‐oriented activities, parents' knowledge about adolescents' peer experiences, and parents' time spent with adolescents and their peers. Findings revealed that mothers were more knowledgeable about adolescents' peer relationships than were fathers, that mothers with daughters reported the most peer‐oriented activities, and that both mothers and fathers spent more time with same‐sex adolescents and their peers. Parents' direct involvement was differentially related to girls' versus boys' peer experiences. Discussion highlights the role of parents' and adolescents' gender in shaping this dimension of family life in adolescence.     

Parent‐Adolescent Involvement: The Relative Influence of Parent Gender and Residence

The 1995 wave of the Add Health study is used to investigate the relative influence of parent gender and residence on patterns of parental involvement with adolescents. Adolescent reports (N =17,330) of shared activities, shared communication, and relationship quality with both biological parents are utilized. A multidimensional scaling analysis reveals that parent gender explains most of the variance in parent‐adolescent involvement, with residential status playing a secondary yet a fundamental role in accounting for these patterns. Resident mothers who do not live with adolescents’ biological fathers engage in the broadest range of activities with their children. Unpartnered resident fathers display patterns of parenting that are as similar to mothers as they are to other fathers.     

Cultural patterns in Dutch and Surinam nonverbal behavior: An analysis of simulated police/citizen encounters

Differences in nonverbal behavioral patterns in a simulated police interview setting were examined. One group of subjects was asked to tell the truth to a police officer whereas the other group was asked to deceive the officer. Major differences between our study and other deception studies include the distinction between nonverbal behavior displayed while listening and while speaking, and the inclusion of black subjects. Results show that there are differences in nonverbal behavior between deceivers and those who tell the truth, and generally support the finding that deception is associated with changes in vocal characteristics and hand and arm movements. However, differences in hand and arm movements occurred only while the deceiver was listening. Furthermore, findings showed that blacks looked less frequently at their discussion partner, smiled and laughed more, made more speech disturbances, spoke slower, and with more pitch raises, and were livelier in the sense that they made more trunk movements and gestures than whites.We wish to thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on an earlier draft. This project was in part supported by the PSYCHON Foundation, which is subsidized by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research.     

Fathers and youths’ delinquent behavior

This paper analyzes the relationship between having one or more father figures and the likelihood that young people engage in delinquent behavior. We pay particular attention to distinguishing the roles of residential and non-residential, biological fathers as well as stepfathers. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we find that adolescent boys engage in more delinquent behavior if there is no father figure in their lives. However, adolescent girls’ behavior is largely independent of the presence (or absence) of their fathers. The strong effect of family structure is not explained by the lack of paternal involvement that generally comes with fathers’ absence, even though adolescents, especially boys, who spend time doing things with their fathers usually have better outcomes. There is also a link between adult delinquent behavior and adolescent family structure that cannot be explained by fathers’ involvement with their adolescent sons and is only partially explained by fathers’ involvement with their adolescent daughters. Finally, the strong link between adolescent family structure and delinquent behavior is not accounted for by the income differentials associated with fathers’ absence. Our results suggest that the presence of a father figure during adolescence is likely to have protective effects, particularly for males, in both adolescence and young adulthood.     

The Effect of Social Presence on the Facial and Verbal Expression of Emotion and the Interrelationships Among Emotion Components

Women were videotaped while they spoke about a positive and a negative experience either in the presence of an experimenter or alone. They gave self-reports of their emotional experience, and the videotapes were rated for facial and verbal expression of emotion. Participants spoke less about their emotions when the experimenter (E) was present. When E was present, during positive disclosures they smiled more, but in negative disclosures they showed less negative and more positive expression. Facial behavior was only related to experienced emotion during positive disclosure when alone. Verbal behavior was related to experienced emotion for positive and negative disclosures when alone. These results show that verbal and nonverbal behaviors, and their relationship with emotional experience, depend on the type of emotion, the nature of the emotional event, and the social context.     

Responsiveness in Parent‐Adolescent Relationships: Are Influences Conditional? Does the Reporter Matter?

This paper examines conditional and reporter effects of parental responsiveness using survey data from White 8th to 12th graders (N = 440) and their parents (N = 511). Adolescent reports of maternal and paternal responsiveness predicted higher GPAs, fewer delinquent behaviors, and less internal distress. Mothers’ and fathers’ reports of responsiveness were positively associated with adolescent responsibility. Looking within families, the more dissimilar mother and adolescent reports were, the more internal distress daughters reported. Looking across families, mothers’ responsiveness was associated with higher GPAs and fathers’ responsiveness was associated with lower substance use, but only for adolescents who reported less responsiveness than their parents and peers. The findings suggest using a single reporter to describe a relationship property is incomplete.     

Predictors of Adolescent Adjustment: Parent-Peer Relationships and Parent-Child Conflict

A telephone survey of 114 mothers and their sons, 132 mothers and their daughters, 64 fathers and their sons, and 64 fathers and their daughters investigated the predictors of adolescent adjustment, as separately estimated by parents and their children. Results revealed that the best predictors of adolescent adjustment were the level of conflict within the household over mundane domestic matters and the parent's general disposition towards the child's friends. When results were broken into parent-child gender dyads (mother-son, mother-daughter, father-son, father-daughter), it emerged that the father's perceptions tended to be the dominant predictor of adolescent male adjustment.     

When Children Have Two Mothers: Relationships With Nonresident Mothers,Stepmothers, and Fathers

Using data on 294 adolescents from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health who live with a biological father and have both a resident stepmother and a nonresident biological mother, this study examines the prevalence, antecedents, and consequences of adolescents’ closeness to each of their parents. Findings demonstrate that adolescents vary in their likelihood of having close relationships to resident fathers, resident stepmothers, and nonresident biological mothers, but when they can do so, they appear to benefit. Close relationships with both resident fathers and nonresident mothers are associated with fewer adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems. Closeness to resident stepmothers, however, is unrelated to these two outcomes. Results suggest that fathers play a particularly important role in these families.     

FAMILY ASSESSMENT DEVICE: REPORTS FROM MOTHERS, FATHERS, AND ADOLESCENTS IN COMMUNITY AND CLINIC FAMILIES

This study compared responses on the 60-item version of the Family Assessment Device (FAD) obtained from mothers, fathers, and adolescents in two groups of families. The clinic group consisted of 94 families in which the adolescent had been referred to a mental health service in metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia. The community group consisted of 94 families, also containing an adolescent, living in the Adelaide community. Members of the clinic families consistently rated their families as less healthy than did families in the community. Importantly however, adolescents in both groups of families rated their families as significantly less healthy than their parents. Thus, while the results of the study provide support for the discriminative validity of the FAD, they also emphasize the need to consider separately self-reports on family functioning obtained from different members of the same family.     

Unique Influence of Mothers and Fathers on Their Children's Antisocial Behavior

The social development model ( Catalano & Hawkins, 1996 ) was adapted to examine the unique influence of mothers and fathers on their children's antisocial behavior. Analyses examined 325 families with sixth‐grade children. Structural equation modeling was used to assess unique influences of constructs specific to mothers or fathers. Multiple‐group comparisons were conducted to identify differences in the relationships between constructs for daughters versus sons. Results suggested that, although the relationships were often similar for both parents and for both daughters and sons, mothers and fathers uniquely influenced their child's antisocial behavior depending on the child's gender. Overall, cross‐gender influence appeared to be particularly important for fathers’ control of their daughters’ antisocial behavior. Implications for the prevention of antisocial behavior are discussed.     

Parental Expertise,Trustworthiness, and Accessibility: Parent‐Adolescent Communication and Adolescent Risk Behavior

A communication framework of persuasion and attitude change was utilized to analyze parent‐adolescent communication about adolescent risk behavior. Three parent dimensions were deemed important: (a) perceived expertise, (b) perceived trustworthiness, and (c) perceived accessibility. Data were collected in surveys from 668 mother‐adolescent dyads in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods in New York City (N= 668). Results showed weak correspondence between how expert, trustworthy, and accessible mothers thought they were on the one hand and how their sons and daughters characterized them on the other. All dimensions were related to how often adolescents said they talked with their mothers about a risk behavior, which, in turn, was predictive of lower levels of adolescent risk behavior. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Nonverbal communication between parents and adolescents: A study of approach and avoidance behaviors

This study investigated nonverbal approach and avoidance behaviors exhibited by 30 families with a target child between 7 and 16 years old during a family interaction task. It was hypothesized that avoidance in the form of shame and contempt would be displayed more frequently by early and mid-adolescents than by younger pre-adolescents. It was also expected that approach behaviors would not differ across these age groups. Results provided evidence for increased avoidance and stability of approach behaviors in the parent-child dyad from pre-adolescence to mid-adolescence. Compared to pre-adolescent children (7–10), early adolescents (11–13) displayed more avoidance behaviors toward their parents, particularly shame. Both older adolescents (14–16) and their parents displayed increased avoidance in the form of reciprocated contempt. Despite increased avoidance in adolescence, no age group differences emerged in the amount of approach displayed between mothers, fathers, and children. This dynamic of attachment and separation occurred in both mother-child and father-child dyads, suggesting that both parents play an important role in the adolescent's developing autonomy.This research is based on the doctoral dissertation of Patricia E. Kahlbaugh under the direction of Jeannette M. Haviland at the Graduate School at Rutgers University. We thank the families who gave of their time to participate in this project and the individuals who helped in data recruitment, collection, and coding.     

Sexuality-Related Outcomes of Adolescent Children of Teen Mothers

The relationship between being an adolescent child of a teen mother and sexuality-related outcomes was investigated using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Adolescents whose mothers were teenagers at first birth were more likely to have had sex by age 16 than other adolescents. Gender moderated this effect, as this relationship was stronger for sons than for daughters. In addition, children of mothers with a lower level of education, adolescents who lived in poverty, and adolescents who resided with less than two biological parents at the start of the study were more likely to have had sex.     

Family Processes and Problem Behaviors in Middle‐Class African American Adolescents

This study examined the joint association between mothers’ and adolescents’ ratings of parental behavioral control and adolescents’ and observers’ ratings of mother – adolescent communication with adolescent problem behaviors in a sample of 86 middle‐class African American early adolescent boys and girls (age: M= 13.08 years, SD= 1.32) and their mothers. Consistent with hypotheses, greater adolescent‐rated parental behavioral control and better observer‐rated mother – adolescent communication were associated with lower levels of adolescent problem behavior, as examined using structural equation modeling. Furthermore, interrelationships between age and adolescent problem behavior were partially mediated by adolescents’ reports of parental behavioral control and observers’ ratings of positive mother – adolescent communication, which both decreased with adolescents’ age. Although the sample was primarily middle class, higher socioeconomic status was associated with more positive mother – adolescent communication, as rated by observers. Problem behavior was greater among boys than girls, but the hypothesized indirect effect of gender on problem behavior through associations with parenting was not observed. The findings demonstrate the utility of conceptually distinguishing between parenting and parent – adolescent relationships, and suggest that both have unique influences on middle‐class African American adolescents’ problem behavior.     

Nonresident Fathers' Contributions to Adolescent Well-Being

Using data from 453 adolescents in Wave 2 of the National Survey of Families and Households, we examine how multiple dimensions of nonresident father involvement are associated with different dimensions of child well-being. Father-child relationship quality and responsive fathering are modestly associated with fewer externalizing and internalizing problems among adolescents. The quality of the mother-child relationship, however, has stronger effects on child well-being. Nevertheless, even if adolescents have weak ties to mothers, those who have strong ties to nonresident fathers exhibit fewer internalizing problems and less acting out at school than adolescents who have weak ties to both parents. Adolescents are worst off on a range of outcomes when they have weak ties to both their mothers and nonresident fathers.     

Adolescent Fathers: What We Know and What We Need to Know

Research into adolescent parenting involvement has focused primarily on mothers while neglecting fathers. This article concentrates on factors that influence the parental involvement of adolescent fathers. These factors must be acknowledged and addressed by practitioners working with adolescent parents. Issues relevant to the parental involvement of African-American adolescent fathers are highlighted in order to balance the negative portrayal this particular group continues to experience. Implications and suggestions for social work practitioners, policy makers, and social researchers are also discussed.     

Absent Fathers as Providers: Race/Ethnic Differences in Support for Adolescent Mothers

Race/ethnic differences in the prevalence of and characteristics associated with low support provided by fathers of babies born to pregnant adolescents were examined among 719 adolescent mothers who were interviewed postpartum. Low support was reported by 41.9% of African-American, 26.2% of Mexican-American, and 19.4% of Caucasian adolescent mothers. Across race/ethnic subgroups, fathers who provided limited support were characterized by chronic substance use, gang or police involvement, or partner-directed violence. Policies advocating universal father involvement without concomitant programs designed to address their many needs may ultimately be detrimental to the welfare of mother and child.     

Mothers' and Fathers' Well‐Being in Parenting Across the Arch of Child Development

Limited research on parental well‐being by child age suggests that parents are better off with very young children despite intense time demands of caring for them. This study uses the American Time Use Survey Well‐Being Module (N = 18,124) to assess how parents feel in activities with children of different ages. Results show that parents are worse off with adolescent children relative to young children. Parents report the lowest levels of happiness with adolescents relative to younger children, and mothers report more stress and less meaning with adolescents. Controlling for contextual features of parenting including activity type, solo parenting, and restorative time does not fully account for the adolescent disadvantage in fathers' happiness or mothers' stress. This study highlights adolescence as a particularly difficult stage for parental well‐being and shows that mothers shoulder stress that fathers do not, even after accounting for differences in the context of their parenting activities.