“You are your father’s son” is a common phrase used to compare offspring to their parents. Although it is often in reference to an action or gesture that both the offspring and parent share, this statement holds more truth to it than one might think. Parents play a major role in child development. In The Nurture Assumption, according to Judith R. Harris (2009), it is evident that children sustain certain traits from their parents’ genes and the environment impacts them. However, parents deserve more credit in how they raise their children as well. The adolescent stage often includes the rebellious phase, but parents still impact their teen's behavior. Parents have control over their teen's environment. They greatly impact adolescent emotional regulation and externalization, and the teen's health. Moreover, different parenting styles affect the adolescents' overall outcome. An adolescent in most instances is usually dependent on their parent for most of their needs. It is from this relationship that the element of parental influence arises.
First and foremost, parents affect an adolescent's emotional regulation and externalizing behavior. The social and psychological health heavily relies on the emotional regulation of an individual. Parents play a vital role in defining emotion regulation in their children. According to Morris et al. (2017), emotional regulation among children is acquired through emotion-related parenting practices as well as a child’s observation of emotion regulation by their parents. According to Moges and Weber, (2014) parental attachment plays a vital role in shaping the emotional and externalization behavior in adolescents. The formation of a self-image in children relies upon their external environment, in which guardians and parents are most conspicuous. De Vries et al. (2016), asserts that the availability and responsiveness of the parents largely inform a child's sense of self-worth. In the event that a child's sense of self-worth is informed by insecure working models of attachment, then the child is likely to exhibit a lack of confidence in themselves and be emotionally unavailable to his or her peers. Parental monitoring is another major influencer of emotional regulation in adolescents. Morris et al. (2017), asserts that parental supervision goes a long way in informing the sense of trust in a child. Monitoring entails spending considerable time with an adolescent in which the parent gets to learn of the child's daily activities, feelings as well as thoughts. This process brings about self-disclosure in both child and parent and results in the formation of trusting relationships. A parent is also able to capture any aspects of delinquency and antisocial behavior and thus rectify them before they can become habitual. In essence, inconsistency in parental monitoring is linked to the promotion of deviant behaviors and attitudes among children.
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Health is a crucial component in the life of an individual. The observance of health behavior often comes about as a result of an individual's environment, with parents and family as the greatest influencers. One of the challenges experienced among adolescents is that of drug use. Dealing with this particular issue relies upon an in-depth understanding of its causes and manifestation. According to Berge et al. (2016), parenting has a major impact on health and drug use among adolescents. The aspect of drug abuse comes about in two distinct ways, which are observation and parenting approaches. In regards to observation, an adolescent observes the actions of their parents in relation to the use of drugs and other substances.
An adolescent with parents that are a substance or drug abusers is likely to engage in this type of behavior. The other major way that parents impact drug use among adolescents is through the parenting approaches. Parents that choose to get involved in the lives of their children are likely to note changes in the behaviors of their children and thus respond accordingly (De Vries et al. 2016). Aspects such as disciplinary approaches and openness to conversation and interaction are also vital in informing an adolescent's behavioral outcomes. For instance, parents that adhere to stern measures disciplinary measures are likely to encourage delinquency among their children.
Another crucial element worth considering in the relationship between parents and adolescent outcomes is parenting styles. In other words, different parenting styles affect adolescents overall outcomes. Kopko (2007) proposes four major parenting styles, namely, authoritative, authoritarian, permissive and uninvolved parenting. Authoritative parents are characterized by a sense of firmness and warmth. While they encourage independence in their children, they are also resolute on the behaviors that should be avoided. The most significant distinguisher among authoritative parents is their reliance on engagement and discussion with their children. Adolescents raised in such settings have been found to be responsible and autonomous having understood the importance of negotiation as well as that of having a personal opinion (Kopko, 2007). Permissive parents depict a sense of passiveness and non-indulgence in the upbringing of their children. While they may be cordial towards their children, they are often undemanding, a great deal of decision making is left for the children. In failing to engage in the upbringing of children, adolescents raised in such settings often lack a sense of rules and boundaries.
In effect, self-control becomes a daunting task for such teens. For authoritarian parents, ultimate control of a child's behavior and activities is paramount. They choose to impose rules and boundaries that are to be adhered to without question (Kopko, 2007). For children raised in such an environment, obedience and adherence to rules become more valuable than independence. In most cases, therefore, such children tend to remain dependent and rebellious. Uninvolved parents are characterized by a sense of neglect and indifference to the needs of their children. The fact that they minimize their time of interactions with their adolescent children means that they lack a sense of understanding of the activities of their children. This type of parenting is linked to the bringing of adolescents that have issues with self-regulation (Cui et al. 2014). The impulsive behaviors that are seen in adolescents raised by uninvolved parents are linked to the degree of permissiveness they have been accustomed to the home environment.
One counterargument often presented in relation to the intricate relationship between parenting and adolescent outcomes are that parenting and adolescent development is correlational and not causational. In other words, this argument preempts that actions and efforts by parents do not necessarily bring about a change in their children. In this case, therefore, factors such as parenting styles are deemed less influential in adolescent development. It is important to note that correlational relationship still hints at the existence of a degree of influence.
For instance, while substance abuse among adolescents may come about as a result of multiple factors in the child's environment, the parent still falls within this particular social context and as such their role cannot be undermined. In other words, correlation can still be used to establish patterns and behaviors. This discussion offers vital insight into the role of parenting by moving it beyond the provision of a child's survival needs. It is clear, from the discussion above that a parent has a direct impact on the behavioral outcomes of an adolescent. In this case, therefore, greater attention should be placed on developing and enhancing parenting styles and approaches to ensure the realization of more favorable results among adolescents.
References
Berge, J., Sundell, K., Öjehagen, A., & Håkansson, A. (2016). Role of parenting styles in adolescent substance use: results from a Swedish longitudinal cohort study. BMJ Open , 6 (1), e008979.
Cui, L., Morris, A. S., Criss, M. M., Houltberg, B. J., & Silk, J. S. (2014). Parental psychological control and adolescent adjustment: The role of adolescent emotion regulation. Parenting , 14 (1), 47-67.
De Vries, S. L., Hoeve, M., Stams, G. J. J., & Asscher, J. J. (2016). Adolescent-parent attachment and externalizing behaviour: the mediating role of individual and social factors. Journal of abnormal child psychology , 44 (2), 283-294.
Kopko, K. (2007). Parenting styles and adolescents. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University .
Moges, B., & Weber, K. (2014). Parental influence on the emotional development of children. Developmental Psychology at Vanderbilt . Retrieved from https://my.vanderbilt.edu/developmentalpsychologyblog/2014/05/parental-influence-on-the-emotional-development-of-children/.
Morris, A. S., Criss, M. M., Silk, J. S., & Houltberg, B. J. (2017). The impact of parenting on emotion regulation during childhood and adolescence. Child Development Perspectives , 11 (4), 233-238.
