NCJ Number
209613
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 34 Issue: 2 Dated: April 2005 Pages: 61-72
Date Published
April 2005
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This study investigated the relations between parents’ category-based beliefs about the period of adolescence and their target-based beliefs about their adolescent children, and the associations between parents’ category-based beliefs and their children’s self-reported behaviors during middle and late adolescence.
Abstract
Research shows that many parents hold negative stereotypes about adolescence, including perceptions of the period as a time of rebelliousness, peer influence, and risk-taking. The question is, are these general beliefs or stereotypes related to parents’ expectations for their own adolescent or to the adolescents’ behaviors. This study investigated the relations between parents’ prior stereotypes about adolescence and their later beliefs about their own child during early and middle adolescence, relations between parents’ stereotypes and their own child’s behaviors during middle and late adolescence, and the role of congruency between mother’s and father’s beliefs about adolescence in predicting their child’s behavior. The main goal was to measure the relations between parents’ category-based (CB) beliefs about adolescence and their beliefs about their own adolescent children. The study found that parents who had strong CB beliefs or stereotypes about the period of adolescence perceived their own adolescent children as being more peer-focused and concerned about their social life than did parents who had weak stereotypes or CB beliefs about adolescence. In summation, strong relations were found between parents’ prior stereotypes about adolescence and their later beliefs about their own adolescent’s behavior, as well as with the self-reported behaviors of their child in middle and late adolescence. References