A reinterpretation of parental monitoring in longitudinal perspective

• A commonly used measure of parental monitoring is parents’ knowledge of adolescents’ daily activities. This measure has been criticized on the grounds that parents get more knowledge about teenagers’ daily activities through willing youth disclosure than through their own active monitoring efforts, but this claim was based on cross-sectional data. In the present study, we re-examine this claim with longitudinal data over two years from 938 7th and 8th graders and their parents. Youth disclosure was a significant longitudinal predictor of parental knowledge in single-rater and cross-rater models. Neither measure of parents’ monitoring efforts—control or solicitation—was a significant predictor. In analyses involving delinquency, parental monitoring efforts did not predict changes in delinquency over time, but youth disclosure did. We conclude that because knowledge measures do not seem to represent parental monitoring efforts, the conclusions from studies using these measures should be reinterpreted.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Parental monitoring

adolescence

problem behavior

Psychology

Psykologi

SOCIAL SCIENCES

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

Social sciences

Socialvetenskap

Psykologi

Psychology

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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