Longitudinal associations of parental monitoring and delinquent peer affiliation: The potential influence of parental solicitation and monitoring rules.

INTRODUCTION: Poor parental monitoring has been theorized as a key risk factor for an adolescent's association with deviant peers. However, measurements of parental monitoring often only measure parental knowledge rather than parental monitoring actions, leaving the true longitudinal associations between parental monitoring and peer delinquency unclear. METHODS: The current sample consisted of 1095 male justice-involved adolescents (13-17 years old at baseline collected between 2011 and 2013) from across the United States who provided survey data every 6 months for 3 years. Longitudinal associations between parental monitoring constructs (i.e., parental solicitation and monitoring rules) and peer delinquency were tested using random intercept cross-lagged panel models to investigate both between-individual associations and within-individual bidirectional effects. RESULTS: Although parental monitoring and peer delinquency were negatively related at a between-individual level, very few within-individual directional effects were found. The few within-individual effects present indicated that parental solicitation predicted greater peer delinquency and peer delinquency predicted fewer parental monitoring rules over time. CONCLUSIONS: Current findings indicate that, while greater overall parental monitoring is associated with less peer delinquency, there is little evidence that changes in parental monitoring lead to reductions in peer delinquency over time. Results support previous findings suggesting parental monitoring should not be the sole target of intervention for reducing peer delinquency.

Lability in Parent- and Child-Based Sources of Parental Monitoring Is Differentially Associated with Adolescent Substance Use.

Parental knowledge about adolescents' whereabouts and activities remains one of the strongest predictors of reduced adolescent substance use. A recent study found that across middle childhood and adolescence, parental knowledge is characterized by fluctuations on a year-to-year basis, termed lability, even more-so than by linear trends, and that lability too is a predictor of adolescent substance use (Lippold et al., Dev. Psychol. 17, 274-283, 2016). The present study replicates Lippold et al. (Dev. Psychol. 17, 274-283, 2016) by quantifying developmental change and lability in parental knowledge across adolescence and examining associations with drinking, smoking, and other drug use later in adolescence, and extends the study by examining the sources of knowledge: child disclosure, parental solicitation, and parental control, separately. Using a community-based sample of 1023 youth in the Northeastern region of the USA, all three sources of knowledge were characterized by developmental change and lability. In general, higher levels and steeper developmental declines in knowledge were associated with substance use outcomes. Findings for child disclosure replicated the prior findings: increased lability of child disclosure predicted substance use. Unexpectedly, decreased lability of parental solicitation and control was associated with worse substance use outcomes. Findings suggest different mechanisms by which lability in child- and parent-driven cultivation of knowledge is associated with substance use. If replicated in studies that address causality, these mechanisms could be leveraged for prevention/intervention efforts. For example, increasing the consistency of child disclosure may help prevent substance use, but teaching parents to be more responsive to time-specific challenges with adolescents may be more effective than increasing the consistency of parents' knowledge-building parenting behaviors.

Further insight into adolescent personal identity statuses: Differences based on self-esteem, family climate, and family communication.

INTRODUCTION: During adolescence, youngsters are faced with the challenging task of forming an identity. This process can be either supported or hindered by adolescents' family context. The present study used a six-process model of personal identity including the five identity processes described by the dual-cycle model of identity (exploration in breadth, commitment making, exploration in depth, identification with commitment, and ruminative exploration) as well as a sixth identity process of reconsideration of commitment, commonly described in the three-factor model of identity. In the current investigation, we sought to evaluate how adolescents in identity statuses derived from this six-process model differed based on psychological adjustment, perceived family climate, and family communication. METHOD: A total of 1105 Swiss adolescents (Mage = 15.08; 51% female) completed self-report questionnaires at one time point. Using a person-centered approach, identity statuses were empirically derived and unique profiles for each identity status were identified. RESULTS: We identified six identity statuses: Achievement, Foreclosure, Ruminative Moratorium, Reconsidering Achievement, Troubled Diffusion, and Carefree Diffusion. Statuses with the highest degree of commitment showed the most optimal profiles of psychological adjustment and perceived family climate, whereas those with the lowest levels of commitment demonstrated the least optimal profiles. Adolescents in the Reconsidering Achievement status, however, reported high levels of both parental support and psychological control. CONCLUSION: The use of the six-process model of identity allowed for the derivation of six identity statuses and provided further insight into how adolescents in different identity statuses confront identity-related issues in the context of their family.

A Longitudinal Study on the Effects of Parental Monitoring on Adolescent Antisocial Behaviors: The Moderating Role of Adolescent Empathy.

In adolescence, youth antisocial behaviors reach a peak. Parents can use different strategies, such as parental solicitation and control, to monitor their children's activities and try to prevent or reduce their antisocial behaviors. However, it is still unclear if, and for which adolescents, these parental monitoring behaviors are effective. The aim of this study was to examine if the impact of parental solicitation and control on adolescent antisocial behaviors depends on adolescent empathy. In order to comprehensively address this aim, we tested the moderating effects of multiple dimensions (affective and cognitive) of both trait and state empathy. Participants were 379 Dutch adolescents (55.9% males) involved in a longitudinal study with their fathers and mothers. At T1 (conducted when adolescents were 17-year-old) adolescents filled self-report measures of antisocial behaviors and trait empathy during one home visit, while their state empathy was rated during a laboratory session. Furthermore, parents reported their own monitoring behaviors. At T2 (conducted 1 year later, when adolescents were 18-year-old), adolescents reported again on their antisocial behaviors. Moderation analyses indicated that both affective and cognitive state empathy moderated the effects of parental solicitation on adolescent antisocial behaviors. Results highlighted that solicitation had unfavorable effects on antisocial behaviors in adolescents with high empathy whereas the opposite effect was found for adolescents with low empathy. In contrast, neither state nor trait empathy moderated the effects of control on adolescent antisocial behaviors. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Parental solicitation, parental control, child disclosure, and substance use: native and immigrant Dutch adolescents.

OBJECTIVES: The present study examined whether the relation of parental solicitation, parental control, and child disclosure with adolescent alcohol and cannabis use is similar for native and non-Western immigrant Dutch adolescents. DESIGN: Questionnaire data from two study-samples were used with a combined sample of 705 adolescents (mean age 16.2 years; 47.2% female; 25.2% non-Western immigrant background). RESULTS: Native Dutch adolescents reported more weekly alcohol use than immigrant adolescents, while rates of cannabis use by native and immigrant adolescents were similar. Immigrant females reported lower levels of parental solicitation and child disclosure, but higher levels of parental control than native females. There were no differences in the sources of parental knowledge between native and immigrant males. Regression analyses showed no significant interaction effects of parental solicitation, parental control, or child disclosure with ethnic background for both alcohol and cannabis use (all p values > .05). CONCLUSION: Despite mean level differences in various factors, we did not find evidence of an interaction effect of the sources of parental knowledge with ethnic background on alcohol and cannabis use. This suggests that theories and prevention strategies focusing on these sources of parental knowledge in relation to substance use can be applicable to both native and immigrant Dutch adolescents.

The influence of parental monitoring and parent-adolescent communication on Bahamian adolescent risk involvement: a three-year longitudinal examination.

The literature suggests that parental monitoring can best be conceptualized and measured through the domains of parental knowledge, youth disclosure, parental solicitation, and parental control. Using longitudinal data on 913 grade-six Bahamian students followed over a period of three years, we examined the unique and independent roles of these domains of parental monitoring and parent-adolescent communication in relation to adolescent involvement in delinquency, substance use, and sexual risk behaviors. The results obtained with mixed-effects models indicate that parental knowledge, youth disclosure, and parental control are negatively associated with both delinquency and substance use. Open parent-adolescent communication was associated with decreased sexual risk behavior, whereas problematic parent-adolescent communication was associated with increased sexual risk behavior. The results obtained with path models indicate that youth disclosure is a significant longitudinal predictor of reduced adolescent delinquency and that parental control during early adolescence predicted reduced substance use in middle adolescence. The findings suggest that parental knowledge, youth disclosure and parental control differ in their impacts on substance use, delinquency and sexual risk behaviors. Problematic parent-adolescent communication is consistently associated with increases in all three types of adolescent risk behaviors. Future parental monitoring interventions should focus on enhancing parents' interpersonal communication skills and emphasize the differences in and importance of the unique components of parental monitoring.