Social control and strenuous exercise among late adolescent college students: Parents versus peers as influence agents

Abstract

In the context of a model of health‐related social control, we compared the associations among social control strategies, affective and behavioral reactions, and exercise for parental and peer influence agents. Late adolescent college students (n = 227) completed questionnaires that focused on social control from a parent or a peer who attempted to increase their exercising. Results from this cross‐sectional study revealed that most relationships in the model were similar for parent and peer influence agents, however, (a) negative social control was a stronger predictor of reactance among parents than peers; (b) positive affect was a stronger predictor of attempts to change among peers than parents; and (c) positive affect predicted frequency of strenuous exercise only among parents. Decreasing parents' use of negative social control strategies and increasing adolescents' positive affective reactions to parental social control agents may be keys to promoting positive lifestyle changes in late adolescence.

Demystifying sexting: Adolescent sexting and its associations with parenting styles and sense of parental social control in Israel

“…Hirschi (1969) identified four components of social bonds: attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief, arguing that strong bonds dissuade individuals from acting on their natural deviant dispositions and also discourage them from associating with delinquent companions (Hirschi, 1969). As it has been established that socialization takes place within the context of close relationships (Pugliese & Okun, 2014), the research literature identifies parenting as one of the most important factors influencing adolescents' social control quality (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990;Unnever et al, 2003). Therefore, adolescents' parental attachment (bonds with parents) and involvement (time spent doing shared activities), are considered components of parental social control.…”

“…Therefore, adolescents' parental attachment (bonds with parents) and involvement (time spent doing shared activities), are considered components of parental social control. Parental social control refers to parents' efforts to influence and regulate their children's behavior (Pugliese & Okun, 2014). During adolescence, parental social control appears to be associated with parents' rule regulation and adolescents' rule compliance (Lewis et al, 2004).…”

The Role of Self-efficacy and Social Support in Emerging Adults' Physical Activity

“…Social support. Emerging adults spend more time communicating and with their friends compared to their family (Fraley & Davis, 1997;Pugliese & Okun, 2014). Thus, it may be possible that a specific source of support may be more influential in regard to physical activity.…”

“…It may be possible that social support from family is more influential in regard to physical activity because family members tend to have each other's well being in mind. It may also be possible that social support from friends could be more influential because emerging adults spend more time with their friends compared to their family (Pugliese & Okun, 2014).…”

“…However, the studies that have examined the effects of different sources of social support on physical activity report equivocal findings. Pugliese and Okun (2014) assessed 227 emerging adults' (age range 18 -22) self-reported number of attempts made by their parents and friends to engage in a physical activity. Results indicated that emerging adults were more likely to ignore their parents and engage in less physical activity when their parents encouraged physical activity compared to when their friends encouraged it.…”