Adolescent Abortion and Parental Notification: Evidence for the Importance of Family Functioning on the Perceived Quality of Parental Involvement in U.S. Families

Abstract

This study was an investigation of the relationship between family variables and the perceived quality of parental involvement following parental notification of an adolescent's decision to have an abortion. Demographics, family religiosity, and family functioning variables were examined. Pregnant adolescent clients from seven abortion clinics in three states completed a survey assessing their perception of the quality of parental involvement and the family variables. Only family functioning variables were significantly related to the perceived quality of parental involvement. Family adaptability (the family's ability to change its power structure, role relationships, and relationship rules in response to situational and developmental stress) was the most predictive. Adolescents from adaptable families had a more positive experience with parental involvement than adolescents from less adaptable families.

Grounded in the Reality of their Lives: Listening to Teens Who Made the Abortion Decision Without Involving their Parents

“…In a study with a somewhat different focus, Mary S. Griffen-Carlson and Paula J. Schwanenflugel examined the factors that might be useful predictors of the quality of parental involvement for those teens who do disclose. 431 They concluded that the most important variable was family functioning, with "adaptability" being the most significant attribute.…”