Adolescents' perceptions of the democratic functioning in their families

• Democratic family functioning has traditionally been interpreted as effects of parenting, leaving little room for the child in shaping the democratic climate. Based on a bidirectional view of family relationships, we argued that families characterized by openness and fair treatment should be the families adolescents experience as democratic. It should be the same families where parents know much about their adolescents’ whereabouts outside home. We used a longitudinal study following a group of 13-15 year old adolescents (N = 527) over two years, and we combined variable- and person-oriented methods. The results using variable-oriented methods confirmed that both adolescent and parental behaviors were concurrently, prospectively, and bidirectionally linked to adolescents’ perceptions of the democratic family climate. Using person-oriented methods, we found that adolescents perceived a highly democratic family climate in families characterized by both parental and adolescent openness and parental fair treatment. Parental knowledge was also highest in these families. Over time, increases or decreases in family functioning corresponded to increases or decreases in adolescents’ perceptions of their influence in family matters and in parental knowledge. We conclude that conceptions of the democratic functioning of the family have to include the behaviors of both parents and adolescents and that mutual responsivity is a marker of the democratic family functioning.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

family democracy

adolescents

parent-adolescent relations

family system

parenting

Psychology

Psykologi

SOCIAL SCIENCES

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

Social sciences

Socialvetenskap

Psychology

Psykologi

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)