The nature and amount of support college-age adolescents request and receive from parents

While older adolescents appear to spend less time with their families, some research has shown parents to be the preferred source of support. The purpose of this study is to determine if adolescents receive instrumental and emotional support as requested from each parent, and if the support they receive is perceived as helpful. Study participants included 206 two-year college students (39% males and 61% female) with a mean age of 18.9 years. A mother/father-adolescent interaction inventory was used to measure perceived parental support and the "Who Helps With Your Problems?" inventory was used to measure received parental support within a two-week period. Results indicated that adolescents received support almost every time it was requested, although few requests were made. Gender differences were present for the type of support received, where females received significantly more emotional than instrumental support from both mothers (t = 3.88, p < .001) and fathers (t = 1.98, p < .05). Additionally, a positive correlation was found between perceived and received instrumental and emotional support from mothers (r = .33 and r = .27, p < .001 and p < .10, respectively) and fathers (r = .33 and r = .37, P < .001), respectively) for females only. Possible reasons for gender differences may be due to the roles society has ascribed to males and females. Recommendations for future research are discussed.