4 Troubled Teens Blog

Contrary to popular belief, relationships between parents and teenagers are getting better. Results from surveys of 5,500 teens found that nine out of ten say their mothers carry a "high" level of influence and more than eight in ten say the same thing about their fathers. Both of these statistics are up by about ten percent since the 1980s.

Weekly arguments are down from 52 percent a decade ago to 42 percent, the survey shows. Teens are also reporting a greater degree of understanding between themselves and their parents: just 39 percent are troubled about not being understood, compared with 58 percent in 1992. (Source: The Vancouver Sun)

These results were released by sociologist Reginald Bibby of the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. Though the survey evaluated the quality of parent-teen relationships in Canada, experts estimate that the results are indicative of what would be found in the United States.

The survey statistics are good news for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that effective parent-teen communication has been cited as a strong positive influence in the effort to keep kids from engaging in a wide range of dangerous teen behaviors.

Labels: relationships, parental_involvement, communication

Posted By: Aspen/CRC