Negative Parental Expectations Encourage Misbehavior in Teens
A new study indicates that teens are more likely to conform to negative stereotypes when their parents expect them to do so.
The study, conducted by professor of psychology Christy Buchanan of Wake Forest University and co-authored by Johna Hughes of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, included more than 250 adolescents and their mothers. The adolescents were surveyed in sixth or seventh grade and then again a year later.
Buchanan commented on the implications of the study: "Parents who believe they are simply being realistic might actually contribute to a self-fulfilling prophecy. Negative expectations on the part of both parents and children predict more negative behaviors later on. Higher expectations for risk-taking and rebelliousness predict higher levels of problem behavior, even controlling for many other predictors of such behavior."
Buchanan believes that parents who expect their children to become rebellious when they become teenagers may be making a significant mistake. Parents' assumptions that their kids will act a certain way may communicate to their children that something is wrong if the children don't act that way:
"Sometimes parents expect more negative behavior from their own adolescents than they should, based on the adolescent's history of behavior. By thinking risk-taking or rebelliousness is normal for teenagers and conveying that to their children, parents might add to other messages from society that make teenagers feel abnormal if they are not willing to take risks or break laws. This can mean, for example, that when parents expect teens to drink before they turn 21 or to engage in other risky behaviors, kids are less likely to resist societal pressures to do so."
(Source: sciencedaily.com)
Labels: behaviors, parents, teen risk taking
posted by Aspen Education Group @ 8:54 AM
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