Parental Monitoring of Risky Teen Behavior

It’s never been clear if the ad campaigns encouraging parents to pay attention to their teens behavior concerning drug use had any data to back up the claims. Does parental monitoring have an effect on risky adolescent behavior? A new study looking into over 35,000 responses indicates that while not a sure thing, parental monitoring does seem to be an effective preventative measure in many cases. The study found this to be especially true with girls.

The authors note, “Our review suggests that parents are far from irrelevant, even when it comes to an illegal and often secretive behavior on the part of their children.” They conclude that the information gleaned from this analysis may be useful for marijuana-based prevention programs that target parents and might provide some insight into alleviating risky adolescent behavior.” See Shrink Rap

The value of these findings does not hold in all cases. And certainly lack of effective parental monitoring can not be understood as a root cause in the risky behavior of teens. Our experience with the parents of the at-risk students that attend the Family Foundation School, a therapeutic boarding school,often reveals instances where parental monitoring had little effect in lessening risky behaviors.