Why do parents parent the way they do? How do parenting and parent-child relationships change when children become teenagers? Can parents remain aware of their children's whereabouts, activities, and friends as the children move from elementary school into and through middle school? Is intrusive parenting avoidable during early adolescence? Will working to maintain a positive relationship with their children help parents remain aware and avoid becoming intrusive? Dr. Robert Laird seeks answers to these and other questions in his research funded by the National Science Foundation. Parents' awareness of their teenagers' whereabouts and activities protects children from many problem behaviors and outcomes including violence and delinquency; drug, tobacco, and alcohol use; early initiation of sexual intercourse and risky sexual behavior; and poor school performance. On the other hand, when parents frequently rely on psychological intrusion and manipulation to control their children, the children are more likely to experience anxiety and depression and to engage in aggressive and delinquent behavior. Dr. Laird seeks to understand how parents' awareness and interactions with their children change as children become teenagers. Parents report being more nervous and apprehensive about adolescence than any other period in their child's life but little is known about how parenting or parent-child relationships change when children become teenagers. Dr. Laird's research team will interview a group of 200 mother-child dyads once a year for three years beginning the summer after the child completes fifth grade. Dr. Laird will focus on identifying change in parents' awareness and intrusiveness and will attempt to connect these changes with developmental changes in the child such as growing older and going through puberty; aspects of the parent-child relationship such as conflict, communication, and trust; and parents' own feelings of confidence, depression, and hostility.
The intellectual merits of the project are derived from Dr. Laird's extensive focus on processes through which adolescents influence and determine the parenting they receive. The broader impacts of the study include information for parents, interventionists, and therapists on how the transition from childhood to adolescence influences parenting and parent-child relationships, and how such parenting and relationships may influence the development of adolescent behavior problems. This project also integrates research and education by providing opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to participate in research.
