Parental beliefs about the development of adolescent friendships

Peer relations researchers are increasingly examining the role parents play in their adolescents' ability to form satisfactory social relationships. Ladd, Profilet and Hart (1992) have proposed a model for the linkages between parents' cognitions, motivations, their involvement in their children's social world and their of~springs' social behavior. This dissertation focused on two broad questions. First, what are the patterns of connections between parental historical factors (e.g., recollections of their adolescent peer relations), current cognitions (e.g., perceptions of their adolescent's social competence) and patterns of parental involvement. Second, what are the connections between peer ratings of adolescent behavior and patterns of involvement. To address these questions two studies were conducted. In study 1, mothers were found to provide more supervision, advice and coaching to their adolescents regarding peer relations then did fathers. Additionally, the mothers' level of involvement seemed related to their values or ideas about their roles. In contrast, fathers were more likely to become involved in their adolescents' social world when the father recalled a personal experience of being anxious, lonely or unaccepted in a social situation. Overall, parents engaged in more monitoring, advising or other involvement activities with post-pubescent daughters. Parental recollections varied by their adolescents' stage of physical development, and parental and adolescent gender. In study 2, parents were found to be more involved with adolescents with problematic social behaviors. Mothers were more accurate in their perceptions of their adolescents' social competence than were fathers. Finally, parents with positive recollections and fathers with anxious memories of their own adolescent relationships had adolescents who were well-liked and prosocial. The current studies supported some aspects of Ladd, Profilet and Hart's model, identifying linkages between several parental historical factors, cognitions and adolescent social behavior. Additionally, this research highlighted the need for future studies to modify the model to incorporate gender differences (for parents and adolescents), developmental information, and historical context for adolescent behavior.