Parental monitoring intervention: practice makes perfect

Data from a randomized, controlled longitudinal study of African-American parent-adolescent dyads were analyzed to assess the impact of a parental monitoring intervention on (a) the similarity of parent and adolescent reporting of adolescent involvement in risk and protective activities, and (b) the reported rates of risk involvement by youth. Self-reported and parental perception of youth risk and protective activities were collected at baseline and 12 months postintervention. There was no significant difference between self-report and parent perception of youth activities among intervention dyads at follow-up. By contrast, parents in the control dyads significantly underestimated youth protective and risk activities. There was no evidence of a direct intervention effect on self-reported risk behaviors. These data confirm earlier findings that a culturally-tailored parental monitoring intervention can increase agreement of youth risk involvement among youth and their parents and provide evidence that this effect endures over time. The data argue for the need to consider intervention strategies that address both parents and youth.