The Family Environment and Adolescent Well-Being: Exposure to Positive and Negative Family Influences
By action and by example, parents shape the lives of their children from birth through adulthood. In adolescence, the influence of friends and peers take on greater importance, but research clearly demonstrates the continued significance of parents in shaping the behaviors and choices of teens as they face the challenges of growing up. Close parent/adolescent relationships, good parenting skills, shared family activities and positive parent role modeling all have well-documented effects on adolescent health and development. These are also areas where parents can make choices to make positive changes for their children, and where social policy can help support parents in taking such steps. In this brief, the authors report data on teens' experiences in their families with a particular focus on differences across social groups. Their purpose is to identify where disparities exist and where a need for intervention is greatest. They end with a brief discussion on the implications for parenting and for policy. (Contains 1 footnote, 7 figures, and 3 tables.)
Book, 2006
Child Trends. 4301 Connecticut Avenue NW Suite 350, Washington, DC 20008. Tel: 202-572-6000; Fax: 202-362-8420; Web site: http://www.childtrends.org, 2006