Comparing parental monitoring, affiliation with delinquent peers, and high-risk behaviors in single-parent and two-parent male adolescents

Abstract

Single-parent families maybe exposed of personal, interpersonal and family problems. Thus, the aim of the current research wasthe comparison of parental monitoring, affiliation with delinquent peers and high risk behaviors between single parent and two-parent adolescents. 100 single-parent adolescents and 100 two-parent adolescents in Eslamabad-e Gharb city of Kermanshah, Iran, were selected through Convenience sampling method, and responded to parental monitoring and affiliation with peers delinquent questionnaires and adolescent risk-taking scale. The results showed a significant difference between single parent and two-parent adolescent in terms of all three compared variables. Actually, single parent adolescents obtained lower score in parental monitoring and higher scores in affiliation with delinquent peers and high risk behaviors in comparison with twoparent adolescents. According to the results, it can be said that single-parent families are more exposed to problems. Therefore interventions to teach appropriate parenting style forparentsof single-parent adolescents and proper trainingsareessentialto prevent affiliation with delinquent peers and high risk behaviors among single-parent adolescents.

Barriers to vulnerable adolescent girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health

“…Deviant family behaviors such as addiction, prison history, high-risk sexual behaviors and so on lead to inability of overseeing children’s performance adequately, and prevent their emotional needs from being met [ 25 ]. In single-parent male adolescents, parental monitoring has been reported lower than two-parent male adolescents; affiliation with delinquent peers together with high risk behaviors has been also higher than two-parent male adolescents [ 26 ]. Moral and religious beliefs in the family can also play a key role in preventing risky behaviors and social harms in adolescents [ 27 , 28 ].…”