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Degree

Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Psychology, 2006.

Abstract

Parental monitoring refers to the processes by which parents keep track of their adolescents. Parental monitoring is a deterrent to problem behavior, especially during adolescence when teenagers spend more time away from their parents and homes. Parent monitoring has always been examined as a predictor of adolescent problem behaviors but has never been studied as an outcome, specifically, there is limited research on variables that could explain important parenting acts, like monitoring. The current study hypothesizes that parent belief systems about adolescence will predict parent efficacy, both of which could influence monitoring levels. There is limited research on how efficacious parents feel in their role as parents of adolescents, and virtually nothing on parent efficacy in specific tasks relevant to adolescence such as monitoring and also none examined in another culture. The current study also examines the link between processes of parent monitoring, parent knowledge and parent trust in adolescents, a link previously examined only by Kerr and Stattin (2000) in Swedish families. The data for this study was gathered in two parts from families residing in Chennai, India through questionnaires. A preliminary study was conducted to assess the psychometric indices for two scales developed for the purpose of this study through factor analysis – parent beliefs scale and parent efficacy scale. The main study assessed the relationship between the variables measuring the causes and consequences of parent monitoring in Asian Indian families with a teenager and both his/her mother and father. Data analyses included examining confirmatory factor analysis, reliability of scales, bivariate correlations, multiple linear regression, and, mediated regression analyses. The exploratory factor analysis established a two-factor structure for Parent Beliefs scale and a three-factor structure for Parent Efficacy scale and these factor structures held with good model fit indices when a confirmatory factor analysis was performed on the new sample of Asian Indian couples gathered in the main study. Parents’ specific expectations for their parenting partially mediated the relationship between parents’ generalized beliefs about adolescence and parent efficacy. Parent efficacy completely mediated the relationship between parents’ specific expectations for their parenting and the processes of parent monitoring. Voluntary child disclosure, parent solicitation, and parent control significantly predicted parent knowledge about daily activities of their teenagers unlike Swedish families where only child disclosure mattered. Voluntary child disclosure and prior knowledge of teenager delinquency predicted parent trust in their teenagers. This research makes a number of contributions to the monitoring literature. Implications for theory development and application are discussed.

Subject Headings

Psychology, Developmental

Keywords

Parent monitoring; Asian Indians; Parent efficacy

Advisor

Raymond Montemayor

Pages

157p.

Document number: osu1148654525
Permalink: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1148654525

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