Anne C. Fletcher

Parental Monitoring and Peer Influences on Adolescent Substance Use

OBJECTIVE To examine the joint influences of parental monitoring and peer influence on adolescent substance use over time. SUBJECTS 6500 adolescents attending six high schools in Wisconsin and northern California. DESIGN Longitudinal study. RESULTS Parental monitoring was negatively associated with substance use, whereas the more involved an adolescents peers were in substance use, the more likely he or she also was to use drugs and alcohol. Effects of monitoring and peer coercion were strongest for boys and girls at the transition into substance use, rather than at the transition from experimentation to regular use. The effect of parental monitoring on changes in adolescent substance use is mediated not so much by the nature of the adolescents peer associates, but by its direct effect on the adolescent. Specifically, poorly monitored adolescents are more likely to use drugs, and drug-using adolescents seek out like-minded friends. Once an adolescent associates with drug-using peers, his or her own substance use approaches their level. CONCLUSIONS Intervention effects should include both parents and community-level efforts. Parental monitoring is an effective tool both in the prevention of drug use and in the amelioration of drug use.

Parenting Style as a Moderator of Associations Between Maternal Disciplinary Strategies and Child Well-Being

The authors investigate whether parental use of punitive discipline and yielding to coercion varies in levels and associated child outcomes for mothers with different parenting styles. Participants were fourth-grade children (N = 370) and their mothers. Maternal parenting style was determined based on levels of responsiveness and demandingness. Authoritative mothers used less punitive discipline than indifferent mothers. Authoritative and authoritarian mothers engaged in less yielding to coercion than indifferent or indulgent mothers. More punitive discipline and yielding to coercion were associated with lower academic grades and more punitive discipline was associated with more social problems, with these effects not moderated by parenting style. Negative effects of yielding to coercion in terms of internalizing, externalizing, and social problems were observed only within authoritarian families. Greater use of punitive discipline was associated with more externalizing problems within the indulgent and authoritarian parenting style groups and more internalizing problems within the authoritarian group.

Parental Mediators of Associations Between Perceived Authoritative Parenting and Early Adolescent Substance Use

Assessed in this study was whether a variety of specific parental behaviors mediated associations between perceived authoritative parenting and early adolescent substance use. Eighth-grade students (N = 182) completed questionnaires about their perceptions of parental warmth, behavioral control, and psychological autonomy granting, which were used to compute a measure of perceived parental authoritativeness. Adolescents indicated their perceptions of parents’acceptance of, and likely responses to, substance use. During telephone interviews, one parent of each of 113 adolescents indicated the extent to which he or she used specific strategies aimed at preventing offspring from engaging in substance use. Perceived authoritative parenting was associated with lower levels of substance use among boys and among girls. Perceived parental disciplinary consequences of engaging in substance use mediated associations between perceived authoritative parenting and girls’substance use. Associations between perceived parental authoritativeness and boys’ substance use were not linked by any specific parental behaviors.

The Only 13- Year Old on Planet Earth Without a Cell Phone: Meanings of Cell Phones in Early Adolescents' Everyday Lives

Cellular telephones have become an increasingly prevalent feature of contemporary American life, with usage often beginning during early adolescence. With this in mind, twenty 7th graders and their mothers participated in separate qualitative interviews regarding early adolescents’ use of cell phones as well as perceived risks and benefits of such use. Analyses indicated that early adolescents and their mothers imbued cell phones with a variety of psychological meanings. These meanings included cell phones as a source of connection to family and friends, cell phones as facilitators of adolescent autonomy development, and cell phones as sources of social status.These findings are discussed in relation to psychosocial developmental tasks occurring in early adolescence.

Sex Differences in Associations Between Parental Behaviors and Characteristics and Adolescent Social Integration

One hundred and eight eighth grade students completed self-report questionnaires about their perceptions of parental warmth, structure, and psychological autonomy granting (used to compute a measure of perceived parental authoritativeness) and three measures of social integration: their own connectedness to their communities and involvement in school- versus community-based extracurricular activities. Parents of these students participated in telephone interviews during which they reported on their own relationships with their children’s friends and friends’ parents, and their own involvement in community activities. Parental community involvement was associated with stronger feelings of community connectedness and higher levels of community involvement among boys and more involvement in school- and community-based extracurricular activities among girls. Perceived parental authoritativeness was associated with stronger feelings of community connectedness and higher levels of involvement in community activities among girls. Parents’ relationships with children’s peers and peers’ parents were associated with greater involvement in school-based extracurricular activities among girls.

Links Between Social Network Closure and Child Well-Being: The Organizing Role of Friendship Context

Third grade children (N = 404) and their mothers completed questionnaires and participated in interviews designed to identify childrens friendships across multiple contexts, determine levels of social network closure for these friendships, and assess child well-being. Cluster analyses revealed distinct patterns in the contexts in which childrens friendships were maintained. Closure was highest for children whose friendship clusters heavily represented relatives as friends and lowest when friends were from schools and the broader community. Intermediate levels of closure were observed for the clusters of neighborhood friends and friends from church and school. Both friendship cluster and, to some extent, ethnicity moderated associations between closure and indicators of well-being.

The Extension of School‐Based Inter‐ and Intraracial Children's Friendships: Influences on Psychosocial Well‐Being

Childrens (N=142) school friendships with same versus different race peers were coded for prevalence and the extent to which parents maintained social relationships with these friends (a proxy for extension of friendships beyond the school context). Membership in integrated versus nonintegrated social networks at school was unassociated with psychosocial well-being. Out-of-school extension of interracial friendships was linked with greater social competence among Black children. Black children whose friendships with both same and different race peers were extended beyond the school context reported higher levels of self-esteem.

Race, Class, and Religious Differences in the Social Networks of Children and Their Parents:

The study is a qualitative investigation of mothers’ perspectives about and their role in negotiating and developing intergenerational closure across race, class, and religious differences and their management of children’s diverse friendships. Black and White mothers (n = 25) of third graders were interviewed about social networks, children’s friendships, and closure relationships. Race, class, and faith were critical vantage points from which parents thought about social difference and managed closure relationships. Mothers’ involvement in diverse networks reflected articulated ideologies, socialization goals, and active engagement of strategies to build relationships between parents and children. However, de facto social barriers and ideologies about the invisibility of social differences created barriers to building intergenerational closure across social differences as did mothers’ perceptions of these relationships as threats to aspired to or salient identities and values.

Maternal Authority Regarding Early Adolescents' Social Technology Use

Use of social technologies (e.g., cellular telephones, social networking sites) is highly prevalent among American adolescents, in some cases outpacing that of adults (Nielsen Company). Rapid cultural change such as that represented by technological advances comes with the potential to diminish elders’ authority over youth. We analyzed qualitative interviews with 20 African American and European American mother–early adolescent dyads to consider ways in which mothers would—or would not—exert authority over adolescents’ use of social technologies. Three distinct approaches emerged: abdication/loss of authority, conflicted authority, and retained authority. Mothers’ use of these different approaches varied based on factors that included mothers’ and adolescents’ expertise regarding the technology being used, mothers’ perceptions of risks associated with particular technologies, and mothers’ and adolescents’ beliefs and experiences with respect to social technology use.

Cell Phone Decision Making: Adolescents’ Perceptions of How and Why They Make the Choice to Text or Call

The primary aim of this study was to examine how and why adolescents make decisions regarding whether to conduct their communication via texting versus calling features of cellular telephones. Individual semistructured qualitative interviews were conducted with 41 adolescents aged 14 to 18 focusing on their use of calling and texting when communicating with friends, parents, and romantic partners. Through grounded theory analysis, a conceptual decision-tree emerged depicting a process of decision making based on communication content, communication partner, and situational limitations. Further analysis indicated that the adolescents consistently perceived texting as easier than calling in ways that were meaningful to their everyday lives. Findings reflect the complex interweaving of logic, personal preference, and concession to social constraints that goes into adolescents’ choices to call versus text.