Mothers' influence on their adolescents' tendency to seek medical care

Mothers' influence on their adolescent's tendency to seek medical care is examined in a national sample of 12- to 17-year-old children. A similar measurement model fits mother's and adolescent's tendency to seek medical care for the symptoms of a sore throat, stomachache, and vomiting. Maternal influence persists as the predominant effect on adolescents' tendency to seek medical care when sex, age, race, birth order, socioeconomic status, and intellectual ability are controlled. Older and more intellectually capable adolescents have a lower tendency to seek medical care. An adolescent's tendency to seek medical care is not influenced by gender and/or birth-order differences. Socioeconomic status variables indirectly influence adolescents' tendency to seek medical care through their primary influence on adolescent's intellectual ability.