Parental monitoring, negotiated unsupervised time, and parental trust: the role of perceived parenting practices in adolescent health risk behaviors

Abstract

Purpose-To compare two different parenting practices (parental monitoring and negotiated unsupervised time) and perceived parental trust in the reporting of health risk behaviors among adolescents.Methods-Data were derived from 692 adolescents in 9th and 10th grades (X̄ = 15.7 years) enrolled in health education classes in six urban high schools. Students completed a selfadministered paper-based survey that assessed adolescents' perceptions of the degree to which their parents monitor their whereabouts, are permitted to negotiate unsupervised time with their friends and trust them to make decisions. Using gender-specific multivariate logistic regression analyses, we examined the relative importance of parental monitoring, negotiated unsupervised time with peers, and parental trust in predicting reported sexual activity, sex-related protective actions (e.g., condom use, carrying protection) and substance use (alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana).

Structural relations between sources of parental knowledge, feelings of being overly controlled and risk behaviors in early adolescence

“…There is a possibility that parents are more protective of girls, because of the traditional values in upbringing of boys and girls, where girls, more often than boys, are taught to be caring and conforming individuals (Fontaine, Carbonneau, Vitaro, Barker, & Tremblay, 2009). There is empirical evidence that it is mainly the trust between parents and their child that is protective in regard to girls' behavioral outcomes, while parents of boys in particular need to be informed of their adolescent children's whereabouts in order to protect them (Borawski, Ievers-Landis, Lovegreen, & Trapl, 2003). Boys also seem to be more sensitive to overprotectiveness from parents (Kakihara et al, 2010), which consequently may relate to more involvement in risk behaviors.…”

Family Context Factors and the Risk of Smoking among Male Adolescents in Saudi Arabia

“…Adolescence is a critical period characterized by physiological and behavioral changes that can be affected by the social environment (Gladwin et al, 2011), Having divorced parents and living in non-standard family structures such as single parent families have been associated with an increased likelihood of risky behaviors among adolescents such as smoking, drinking alcohol, substance abuse, and risky sexual behaviors (Kirby, 2002;Orgilés et al, 2012;Carlsund et al, 2013), There is also evidence that perceived parental support and trust reduce the likelihood of smoking, drinking alcohol and risky Abdulmohsen H Al-Zalabani* sexual behaviors, (Borawski et al, 2003) while mixed results have been reported concerning the relationship between parental support and physical activity (Peterson et al, 2013). Parental supervision and monitoring have been associated with smoking and other risky health behaviors such as consuming alcohol, the early onset of sexual activity and unsafe sexual practices (Mahabee-Gittens et al, 2012;Kaynak et al, 2013;Kalina et al, 2013).…”

Does engagement in Forest School influence perceptions of risk, held by children, their parents, and their school staff?

“…In terms of the adults, the practitioners' responses tended to be clustered around either 'risk-averse' or 'permissive' constructs, whereas parents' responses tended to contain elements of both, suggesting a somewhat schizophrenic stance: they wanted to keep their children very safe but also to help them develop strong and confident attitudes to risk. This finding might be explained by the fact that, as Borawski et al (2003) point out,…”