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Protective Effect of Parental Monitoring on Early-to-Mid Adolescents Displaying High-Level and Increasing Aggressive
Panpan Yang1, Melissa A Lippold2, Gabriel L Schlomer3
1Center for Research on Child Wellbeing, Princeton University.
Applied Developmental Science
|July 15, 2024
Summary
Parental monitoring protects adolescents with high aggressive behavior problems. This protective effect was not observed in adolescents with low or medium-increasing aggression, suggesting targeted interventions are needed.
Area of Science:
- Child Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Parental monitoring is often studied separately from parental knowledge.
- Previous research has yielded inconsistent findings on the protective effects of parental monitoring on adolescent behavior problems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if parental monitoring is more strongly associated with adolescent behavior problems in specific subgroups.
- To identify which adolescent subgroups benefit most from parental monitoring.
Main Methods:
- Group-based trajectory modeling was used to analyze changes in aggressive behavior problems from early to mid-adolescence.
- Associations between maternal and paternal monitoring and adolescent aggressive behavior were examined across identified subgroups.
Main Results:
- Three distinct trajectories of adolescent aggression were identified: Low Aggression, Medium-Increasing Aggression, and High-Increasing Aggression.
- Increased maternal and paternal monitoring were significantly associated with fewer aggressive behavior problems, but only within the High-Increasing Aggression group.
Conclusions:
- Parental monitoring acts as a protective factor for adolescent aggressive behavior, particularly for those with high and increasing levels of aggression.
- The impact of parental monitoring varies across adolescent subgroups, highlighting the need for tailored approaches in addressing behavior problems.
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