Youth behaviors that undermine family democracy : do they change the family climate as a whole?

• Family democracy is considered important for many reasons, but little is known about what determines or affects it. One cross-sectional study showed that youths’ perceptions of democracy in the family are determined by their own behaviors as well as their parents’ (Persson et al., 2004).  However, only one youth per family was included in their analyses. This leaves open the possibility that youths’ behavior only had implications for their own relationships with parents. In the present study it is tested whether youths behaviors can change the democratic family as a whole. Using three waves of data from 146 same-sex sibling pairs aged ten to fifteen years at Time 1, we examined whether youths delinquency, defiance, and non-disclosure had consequences for the democratic family climate as a whole. Results showed that older siblings’ democracy-undermining behaviors (and changes in these) predicted subsequent changes in younger sibling’s perceptions of family democracy. The findings support a family systems interpretation of the democratic workings of the family as a whole in that the behavior of one youth in the family had consequences for a sibling’s perception of family democracy.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

family democracy

youth

adolescents

longitudinal

problem behavior

decision-making

disclosure

Psychology

Psykologi

SOCIAL SCIENCES

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

Social sciences

Socialvetenskap

Psykologi

Psychology

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

ovr (ämneskategori)