Two recent studies have challenged the well-established belief that offending behaviors are inversely related to the personality trait of conscientiousness. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore prisoners’ levels of traits according to the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality compared to control groups, with a focus on conscientiousness. Two separate samples of inmates in Swedish high-security prisons were investigated in three studies. Inmates and non-inmates completed a Swedish-language translation of Goldberg’s (1999) International Personality Item Pool questionnaire (IPIP-NEO, Bäckström, 2007). Male inmates (n = 46) in Studies 1 and 2 scored higher on conscientiousness than non-inmates (norm data based on approximately 800 males, and a students’ sample), which conflicts with previous results. Study 3 further explored the conscientiousness differences on the facet level. Male and female inmates (n = 131) scored higher on order and self-discipline (even after an adjustment for social desirability) than students (n = 136). In conjunction with previous findings, these differences are interpreted as being either temporal or enduring adjustments to the prison environment. It is suggested that researchers and clinical teams should cautiously interpret the FFM factor of conscientiousness (and its facets) when planning the further treatment of inmates.

Previous research has shown that about 30% of adolescent girls and 15% of adolescent boys suffer from disordered eating (DE) which can be defined as problematic eating below criteria for eating disorders according to DSM-V (Hautala et al., 2008; Herpertz-Dahlman et al., 2008). Even sub-clinical unhealthy weight-control behaviors have predicted outcomes related to obesity and eating disorders five years later (Neumark-Sztainer et al., 2006). However, two issues question the validity of DE. First, in contrast to eating disorders, under- or overweight/obesity are not necessary parts of DE. Second, some symptoms and correlates of DE are similar to those of depression. E.g., parent-adolescent relationships seem to play an important role in explaining both DE (Hautala et al., 2011; Berge et al., 2010) and internalizing problems (Soenens et al., 2012). Thus, this study examined associations between DE and a wide range of internalizing and externalizing problems, parent-adolescent relationship characteristics, and food intake and sleep habits in a general population of adolescents. Comparing results with and without controlling for depression reveals whether DE is a specific problem or merely a depressive symptom. This study also explored whether DE and the other variables under study are associated independently of weight status (underweight, overweight/obesity, and normal weight), specific to under- or overweight, or spurious if taking weight status into account.

The study is based on the first wave of an on-going longitudinal study, and all measures are child-reported (N=1,281). Adolescents attending grades 7 to 10 in a Southern Swedish municipality (age 12.5 to 19.3, M = 15.2, SD = 1.2) filled out questionnaires in class.  DE was measured using the SCOFF, a five-item screening scale validated for use in general populations (e.g. Muro-Sans et al., 2008; Noma et al., 2006).

The results of univariate ANOVAs indicate that associations with DE were largely independent of weight status. Moreover, most associations with disordered eating were spurious when controlling for depression. However, some associations remained. Above and beyond depression effects, adolescents with DE reported lower self-esteem, stronger feelings of being over-controlled by their parents and active withholding of information towards them, consumption of fewer meals during the week, and higher levels of daytime sleepiness. Boys with ED slept more hours during the week and ate more fruits and vegetables than boys without ED. In conclusion, despite an overlap between depressive symptoms and disordered eating, this study provides ample evidence that sleep, nutrition habits, self-esteem, and parental control issues distinguish eating disordered adolescents from those suffering from general depressive symptoms.

Previous research has shown that about 30% of adolescent girls and 15% of adolescent boys suffer from disordered eating (DE) which can be defined as problematic eating below criteria for eating disorders according to DSM-V (Hautala et al., 2008; Herpertz-Dahlman et al., 2008). Even sub-clinical unhealthy weight-control behaviors have predicted outcomes related to obesity and eating disorders five years later (Neumark-Sztainer et al., 2006). However, two issues question the validity of DE. First, in contrast to eating disorders, under- or overweight/obesity are not necessary parts of DE. Second, some symptoms and correlates of DE are similar to those of depression. E.g., parent-adolescent relationships seem to play an important role in explaining both DE (Hautala et al., 2011; Berge et al., 2010) and internalizing problems (Soenens et al., 2012). Thus, this study examined associations between DE and a wide range of internalizing and externalizing problems, parent-adolescent relationship characteristics, and food intake and sleep habits in a general population of adolescents. Comparing results with and without controlling for depression reveals whether DE is a specific problem or merely a depressive symptom. This study also explored whether DE and the other variables under study are associated independently of weight status (underweight, overweight/obesity, and normal weight), specific to under- or overweight, or spurious if taking weight status into account.

The study is based on the first wave of an on-going longitudinal study, and all measures are child-reported (N=1,281). Adolescents attending grades 7 to 10 in a Southern Swedish municipality (age 12.5 to 19.3, M = 15.2, SD = 1.2) filled out questionnaires in class.  DE was measured using the SCOFF, a five-item screening scale validated for use in general populations (e.g. Muro-Sans et al., 2008; Noma et al., 2006).

The results of univariate ANOVAs indicate that associations with DE were largely independent of weight status. Moreover, most associations with disordered eating were spurious when controlling for depression. However, some associations remained. Above and beyond depression effects, adolescents with DE reported lower self-esteem, stronger feelings of being over-controlled by their parents and active withholding of information towards them, consumption of fewer meals during the week, and higher levels of daytime sleepiness. Boys with ED slept more hours during the week and ate more fruits and vegetables than boys without ED. In conclusion, despite an overlap between depressive symptoms and disordered eating, this study provides ample evidence that sleep, nutrition habits, self-esteem, and parental control issues distinguish eating disordered adolescents from those suffering from general depressive symptoms.

Aims: This study searches for developmental mechanisms explaining why parents possess less knowledge about their adolescent children, as these get older. Family processes related to adolescents’ striving for and parents’ granting of autonomy, and adolescents’ relations outside the family might be such developmental mechanisms.

Methods: A total of 2,415 Swedish adolescents aged 13 to 18 participated in at least two consecutive waves of a five-year time-sequential survey study with annual assessments. Of a sub-sample of 10-16 year-olds, 1,223 parents filled out questionnaires at Times 1 and/or 3. Multi-level analyses were conducted to test whether family process variables and adolescents’ relations outside the family explained intraindividual residual change of parental knowledge, and whether these effects explained normative age variations of knowledge.

Results: Adolescent-reported parental knowledge declined more and more steeply with age. Adolescents’ reduced disclosure of information and their defiance of parental requests explained about 40 percent of this normative age variation. Other processes such as increasing parental solicitation of information and adolescents’ improved peer relations had an enhancing effect on parental knowledge and thus slowed down the decline of knowledge. Few gender differences occurred.

Conclusions: Adolescents achieve autonomy from parents by managing information they provide to them and by acting against parental requests. These autonomy-related behaviors explain a large portion of the normative age decline of knowledge. However, increased parental solicitation and improved relations outside the family increasingly contribute to parental knowledge, thus limiting its decline. This suggests that family members balance adolescents’ autonomy and their connectedness with the family.

This study aimed to explain why parental knowledge of adolescents’ whereabouts declines with age. Such an investigation is important because previous studies have established an association between behavior problems and low levels of parental knowledge. A time-sequential sample comprising 2415 adolescents aged 13–18 years was investigated on five annual occasions. Each year, parental knowledge declined by .10 SD. Adolescents’ establishment of a private sphere (less disclosure; defiance) was the most important mediator of age effects on knowledge. Taken together, declining parental control and the establishment of a private sphere explained 37.5% of the age-related decline in knowledge. Parental control was, however, not a significant predictor any longer when disclosure and defiance were controlled for. Results also revealed that some of the mediating variables were stronger in early-to-mid adolescence. Other variables appeared to slow the age-related decline, especially in mid-to-late adolescence. These variables are therefore interpreted as parents’ and adolescents’ attempts to balance autonomy development and connectedness. If this balancing fails, adolescent behavior problems might arise along with low levels of parental knowledge early on.

Parents can support their adolescent child’s psychosocial development by a parenting style which is warm and involved, firm and consistent, and which grants psychological autonomy (the freedom to have one’s own thoughts and feelings). Psychological autonomy granting is regarded as particularly beneficial for the prevention of anxiety, depression, or other kinds of internalizing distress (McLeod, et al., 2007; Steinberg, 2001). However, longitudinal research has produced mixed evidence (Birmaher, et al., 2000; Colarossi & Eccles, 2003; Galambos et al., 2003; Steinberg, et al., 1994). Even less is known on long-term effects into young adulthood. Besides parental behaviors, also the parent-adolescent relationship might be important. Teens who feel close to their parents and who communicate frequently with them might experience a “secure base” which protects against depression and fosters the children’s well-being even in the future. Thus, this study examined reciprocal effects between parenting styles (psychological control and affection) and the parent-adolescent relationship (felt closeness to and communication with parents) and emotional, social and psychological well-being, and depression.

This study used the 2002, 2005, and 2007 waves of an ongoing longitudinal study, representative for the USA. Out of 1,319 adolescents aged 11-19 in 2002, 575 young adults, then 18-22 years old were re-interviewed in 2005. By 2007, more adolescents had reached young adulthood, thus, 878 young adults of age 18-24 were re-interviewed in 2007. Also 224 of the originally youngest adolescents were re-interviewed in 2007 as a separate sample. Parenting styles were assessed in the adolescent data collections 2002 and 2007, and parent-child relationships and well-being at all occasions.

Albeit adolescents’ perceptions of mothers’ and fathers’ parenting styles were highly correlated, specific effects on well-being occurred in cross-lagged regression analyses. Maternal psychological control in 2002 predicted lowered levels of emotional and social well-being and elevated levels of depression in 2005 (β’s = -.10, -.08, and .11, resp.). In part, these effects were found even after five years in 2007. Maternal support did not have any significant effects. For fathers, only one effect was found, of psychological control 2002 on depressive symptoms 2007 (β = .08). Measures of the parent-adolescent relationship did not predict well-being, with the exception of communication to mothers in 2002 which predicted emotional well-being in 2005.

In the opposite direction of effects, depression predicted maternal psychological control five years later (β = .18, p = .023), despite the smaller sample of still adolescent respondents. Also some effects of parenting and of well-being on the parent-young adult relationship occurred.

In conclusion, advice to parents might focus on how to avoid psychologically controlling behaviors, especially for mothers were these might conflict most with North-American gender roles. Future research should investigate why such detrimental behaviors occur in response to adolescents’ emotional problems. That parental support as a general style proved unimportant does not mean that support never would be needed: It might be that in key situations of danger or adolescent problems, adolescents need the impression that parents care, and not only abstain from psychological control (Olsson & Wik, 2009).

According to Individuation Theory, adolescents become more and more autonomous while the level of parent-adolescent connectedness is constant. However, connectedness is hypothesized to attain a more reciprocal, peer-like quality. These assumptions were tested using a sample of 968 students of ages 13 and 16 The sample was quite representative with respect to the various German school tracks. Besides effects of age on the relationship, corresponding age differences in the levels of authoritative parenting (affection, behavior control, and psychological autonomy granting) were investigated. At age 16, adolescents claimed more autonomy from parents, and parents had less knowledge of their offspring's life. The parent-adolescent connectedness remained fairly constant across age, that is, it did not change towards reciprocity. Older participants experienced less paternal support than younger subjects. With age, parental behavior control decreased. Fathers also were less affective with increasing age of participants. The father-adolescent relationship was less close than the mother-adolescent relationship, especially for girls. Furthermore, school track differences were revealed. The results are discussed with respect to Individuation Theory and notions of detachment.

Inconsistent findings exist on the effects of young adult-parent relationships on developmental status transitions into adulthood. Such transitions in turn predicted less conflicted and closer young adult-parent relationships. But systematic investigations of reciprocal effects between developmental transitions and young adult-parent relationships are lacking. A total of 477 participants initially aged 20-32 (M = 23.9, SD = 1.5) were interviewed twice, once in 1993 and again in 1995/1996. Subsamples were drawn that had not yet undergone the transitions to work, leaving home, cohabitation with a romantic partner, marriage and parenthood at Time 1. It was assessed whether the levels of mutual trust, instrumentality of relationships, and critical discussions at Time 1 predicted developmental transitions by Time 2, and whether developmental transitions were followed by changes in the relationship measures. The more the participants trusted in their parents, the more likely they were to marry or to have children. Cohabitation was followed by decreased instrumentality. Higher discussion frequency predicted cohabitation and was a consequence of starting to work and leaving home. The results are discussed with regard to individuation theory of adolescent and young adult-parent relationship development.

Barber (e.g., 1996, 2005) has proposed that parental behavioral control has a unique effect on adolescents’ normbreaking, even if psychological control and support are statistically controlled.  Barber uses a scale of parental knowledge as a measure of behavioral control.  However, parental knowledge and normbreaking are more closely associated with adolescents’ free disclosure of information than with behavioral control.  Moreover, disclosure explains part of the association between knowledge and normbreaking, whereas behavioral control does not (Kerr & Stattin, 2000; Stattin & Kerr, 2000).  This makes parental knowledge a questionable measure of behavioral control, and it suggests that family communication and relationship processes affect normbreaking more than behavioral control does.  However, Kerr and Stattin did not specifically test Barber’s theory.  They did not statistically control psychological control and support which might have “cleaned” parental knowledge of its relationship and communication-associated facets and thus might have left a more valid measure of parental control.  Thus, the first aim of this study is to test whether the unique association of parental knowledge with adolescent normbreaking, after controlling psychological control and parental support, can be explained by parental behavioral control—as Barber proposes—or rather by family relationship processes—as Stattin and Kerr suggest.

Given previous empirical findings (e.g., Kerr & Stattin, 2000; Stattin & Kerr, 2000), interpreting parental knowledge as an index of relationship properties or as behavioral control might both be insufficient.  As an alternative, this paper takes an action-theoretical perspective and views parental knowledge as an expectancy in an expectancy-value model.  The extent to which adolescents ascribe knowledge about themselves to their parents can be seen as adolescents’ expectancy that the parents will gain knowledge about their actions.  A value that together with this expectancy might predict less adolescent normbreaking is adolescents’ desire to please and comfort their parents.  According to Individuation Theory (Youniss & Smollar, 1985), this is a common desire among adolescents.  If adolescents expect their parents will be knowledgeable about their activities, and if they do not want to worry them, they might engage in less normbreaking than adolescents who either do not care about their parents’ worries or who expect that the parents will not know about their normbreaking.  The second aim of this study is to test this interaction effect on normbreaking.

A German sample of 968 13- and 16-year-olds filled out questionnaires at school.  Scales for parental knowledge, psychological control, parental support, and normbreaking were identical to Barber’s (2005) study.  Behavioral control was measured with scales for spare-time control (curfew rules, low laissez-faire), school control, and harsh punishments.  Family relationship processes were tapped by scales of parental warmth and openness and of adolescents’ caring for their parents.  The latter measure aimed at assessing family processes similar to those covered by Kerr and Stattin’s scale of free disclosure of information.  Finally, the desire to please and comfort their parents was measured with a newly developed scale.  All measures evinced adequate psychometric properties.

Concerning the first aim of this study, parental knowledge was strongly related to low normbreaking (Model 0), even after controlling psychological control and parental support (Model 1).  Although the various facets of behavioral control were associated with normbreaking (Model 0), only punishments explained a small part of the effect of parental knowledge (Model 2c).  But punishments were inversely related to parental knowledge and predicted more instead of less normbreaking.  Out of the two family relationship process variables, caring for parents explained a small part of the effect of parental knowledge (Model 2e).  In total, however, the largest part of the effect of parental knowledge remained unexplained (Model 3).  Thus, the results do not support Barber’s idea that parental knowledge is an index of behavioral control.  The findings support Stattin and Kerr’s (2000, Kerr & Stattin, 2000) critique of knowledge as a measure of behavioral control.  However, also family relationship processes explained only little of the association between parental knowledge and normbreaking.

The results testing the expectancy-value model of parental knowledge and the desire to please the parents, explaining low normbreaking, were as follows.  Parental knowledge, the desire to please the parents, and their interaction predicted low normbreaking (if latent main effect factors were scaled to SD = 1, beta = –.39, –.22, and ‑.06, resp., all p’s < .05).  The stronger the desire to please the parents, the steeper the decline of normbreaking with increasing parental knowledge.  Most adolescents desired strongly to please their parents.  However, results suggest almost no effect of parental knowledge if adolescents have no desire to please their parents.  In summary, the proposed expectancy-value model is supported by the data.

Barber has described parenting as a unidirectional process.  This description rests on studies using parental knowledge as an index for parental behaviors.  As in previous studies, this interpretation of parental knowledge is not supported.  This paper provides initial support for a new view on parental knowledge:  Adolescents actively decide about what they do, in the light of what they expect the consequences to be and how they evaluate them.

Parental support predicts low levels of depression in teenagers, and psychological control high levels. However, this pattern holds true for cross-sectional research only whereas longitudinal support is mixed at best. Moreover, few studies have investigated long-term effects into young adulthood. This study explores effects of teenagers’ experienced parental support and psychological control on depression and parent-child relationships in young adulthood, three and five years later. It also explores parental behaviors as outcomes of teen depression. Out of 1,319 U.S. American adolescents aged 11-19 in 2002, those who had reached young adulthood by 2005 (n = 575) and 2007 (n = 878), respectively, were re-interviewed. Also the youngest participants, who still were in adolescence, took part in 2007 (n = 224). In cross-lagged panel regressions, maternal psychological control predicted depression and low well-being over time whereas maternal support predicted close parent-child relationships. For the youngest participants, effects on parenting were tested, and depression predicted increased maternal psychological control after five years. Only few effects were found for fathers. These findings suggest that psychological control does not make young adults withdraw from the relationship, despite their increased independence. Instead, they still expose themselves to this parenting behavior, resulting in increased depression. Depression also contributes to psychological control, resulting in a vicious circle of maternal psychological control and youth depression. Parental support in contrast is linked to relationship closeness over time, but largely unrelated to both depression and psychological control. The differential roles of psychological control and support will be discussed further.

Paradoxically, knowledge that parents posses about their adolescent children’s activities declines with age, but low levels of knowledge are associated with externalizing and internalizing problems. Might there only be a small group of adolescents with steeply declining parental knowledge? Or, are interindividual differences in knowledge and its normative decline independent of each other? This study will explore different trajectories of knowledge in order to answer this question.

Second, why is low parental knowledge associated with adolescent problems? Focusing on internalizing problems, does parental knowledge really predict them over time, or do they reduce parental knowledge, for example because a depressed or unconfident adolescent tends to withdraw from conversation? This study will determine the direction of effects.

Third, if parental knowledge predicts internalizing problems, why is this so? Previous studies suggest that both knowledge and internalizing might result from family interaction processes (Kerr & Stattin, 2000), but the same results could also be read as mediation from knowledge via family interactions to internalizing. Furthermore, knowledge was only partly explained by parent-adolescent interaction processes, lending doubt to the interpretation of parental knowledge as a mere expression of them (Barber, 2005). Thus, parental knowledge might either be an indicator of parent-adolescent communication or a causal factor in its own. This study will contribute to clarification. Aversive parental behaviors and adolescent non-disclosure and oppositional behavior were chosen as predictors because they belong to problematic parent-adolescent interactions and because of their links to adolescent internalizing problems.

A representative Swedish community sample of 1,744 adolescents of age 10-14 at T0 was re-assessed at four annual occasions T1-4. Each year, adolescents filled out questionnaires at school.

Using Growth Mixture Modeling, three trajectories of parental knowledge, and two trajectories each of self-esteem and depression were revealed across T1-4. The three knowledge trajectories differed in level, but each trajectory had virtually the same age decline.

In all subsequent analyses, the effects of predictor variables at T0 on T1-4 trajectories of either knowledge or depression, or self-esteem were tested, above and beyond the stability of the respective dependent variable since T0. These analyses revealed effects of parental knowledge on trajectories of depression and self-esteem, but not vice versa.

A conceptual model was concluded from a series of analyses including parent-adolescent interaction variables. If parents exerted aversive behaviors such as being harsh or making fun of their children, these disclosed not much information and behaved oppositional which in turn predicted low levels of parental knowledge. Although knowledge had predicted adolescent depression and low self-esteem when entered in the analyses alone, it did not consistently predict these variables if adolescents’ opposition and non-disclosure were taken into account.

In conclusion, the normative decline of parental knowledge and interindividual differences are two independent phenomena which might have different causes. This study has contributed to an understanding of how parent-adolescent interactions lead to interindividual differences in knowledge. Low levels of knowledge were not a consistent causal factor for adolescent internalizing symptoms, but clearly indicated parent-adolescent problems.

Associations between parenting behaviors of support, behavior control and overcontrol, and psychological control/disrespect with adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems have been studied extensively (Barber et al., 2012; Kerr & Stattin, 2000), and also adolescent behaviors of disclosure and secrecy in the context of these problems (Frijns et al., 2010). However, few studies have assessed how parent and child behaviors might moderate each other’s associations with problems (Keijsers et al., 2009). This study investigates interaction effects of the above-mentioned parent and adolescent behaviors when predicting depression, loneliness, and low self-esteem (internalizing), and delinquency, aggression, and drug/alcohol use (externalizing). Given the variety of behaviors and problems under study, it is hypothesized that various kinds of moderation effects will emerge.

An ethnically diverse sample of 1,281 adolescents attending grades 7 to 10 in a Southern Swedish municipality (age 12.5 to 19.3, M = 15.2, SD = 1.2) filled out questionnaires in class. All scales have been published internationally; however, some items were added to short scales. Each of the internalizing and externalizing problems was regressed on all possible combinations of one of the four parenting variables and one of the two adolescent behaviors under study, resulting in 48 regression analyses.

Confirming previous findings, parent psychological control and overcontrol were associated with internalizing and externalizing problems, and behavior control and insufficient support with internalizing problems. Adolescent disclosure predicted low levels of both kinds of problems and secrecy predicted high levels. Two-way interactions of parent and adolescent behaviors added significantly (p < .05) to the variance in 13 of 48 analyses which is beyond chance level (p < .001). In addition to the inspection of significant effects, t-values across all analyses were analyzed in order to distinguish between more general trends and solitary effects on specific internalizing or externalizing problems only. Confirming the hypothesis, interaction effects varied across the combinations of parent and adolescent behaviors (η² = .26) and were further moderated by the distinction between internalizing and externalizing problems (η² = .38). These effects were grouped into five kinds of interaction effects: In mutually enhancing and mutually exacerbating effects, two positive or two negative, respectively, behaviors increased each other’s associations with problem levels. In protection effects, usually adolescents’ behavior reduced associations between negative parenting and problems. Relationship split effects might reflect an alienated parent-adolescent relationship in which negative behaviors cannot do much additional harm. Finally, maintained relationship/sabotage means that the lowest level of problems occurred if one generation maintained the relationship by a positive behavior and the other generation abstained from “sabotaging” it by a negative behavior. Otherwise, problem behaviors increased sharply without the other generation’s behavior having any large effect any longer.

In conclusion, analyses provide ample evidence that adolescents’ behavior moderates links between parents’ behaviors and adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing problems. Possible causal interpretations include adolescents as “gatekeepers” of parenting efforts, families’ functional and dysfunctional adaptations, and parent and child behavior combinations as consequences of internalizing and externalizing problems.

Is there another way to predict adolescents’ depressive symptoms than by trait-like parenting characteristics, such as affective support (Barber, Stolz, & Olsen, 2005)? Drawing from a systems perspective (Lollis & Kuczynski, 1997) and Social Domain Theory (Smetana & Asquith, 1994), this paper suggests that parental responses in key situations might be important for the development of adolescent depression: (a) adolescent-parent conflict; (b) dangerous situations; (c) need of help with a problem. These three situations require steering adolescents’ behaviors in a responsive way, i.e., combinations of demandingness and responsiveness. Thus, the roles of authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, and indifferent parental responses in these key situations will be rested.

In order to have a standard of comparison, well-established parenting styles (Barber, et al., 2005; Steinberg, 2001) will be evaluated, too. Lack of support has been found to predict depressive symptoms. The prediction by behavior control and the support-by-control interaction will be tested as well, for a better comparability to the test of parental responses in specific situations.

A total of 108 Swedish adolescents aged 14-15 (67 girls, 41 boys) filled out questionnaires at school. For depressive symptoms and parental support, well-established American scales were used. Behavior control was measured by scales tapping parental control and solicitation of information, respectively. 3 (situations) by 4 (parental responses) by 2 (parent genders) scales of parental responses in key situations were newly developed. For each type of situations, the respondents received two typical examples (e.g., having problems with a friend or a girlfriend/boyfriend as an example of a problem) and rated the frequencies of various parental responses. Because all mother and father scales were highly correlated, they were standardized and added (complementary analyses with either mother or father data yielded similar results; so did analyses including adolescent gender).

Parental responses in key situations explained 30% of variance of adolescent depression. Authoritative responses to problems were associated with low levels of depression. Moreover, indifferent responses to all three kinds of situations predicted higher levels of depression.

Main effects of parenting style variables explained 14% of the variance of depression. Adding the interactions between support and parental control and solicitation explained additional 8% of variance. Most of this effect was due to an interaction between acceptance and solicitation. Authoritarian parenting predicted the highest depression levels whereas supportive styles predicted low depression. When entering either reactions in key situation first into the regression equation and parenting styles next, or vice versa, each of them predicted significant portions of variance above and beyond the other. However, reactions in key situations produced the larger increase in explained variance.

Albeit cross-sectional data do not allow for causal conclusions, this study has generated important hypotheses for future studies: If parents constantly bother their adolescent child with requests to talk about something, in combination with low levels of support, the child is likely to show elevated levels of depression. Even more deleterious might be adolescents’ experience to be left alone when they need their parents.

Traditionally, parents’ firm and consistent behavior control has been regarded as effective protection against adolescents’ drug use and delinquency (Steinberg, 2001). However, the validity of findings has been questioned (Stattin & Kerr, 2000; Kerr & Stattin, 2000). The widely-used indicator of behavior control, parental knowledge, appears rather to reflect a trusting relationship (Masche, 2010). However, little is known about which facets of the relationship are most important: Is it more “nasty,” guilt inducing and interfering behavior, i.e. psychological control, which leads to substance use and deviance? Or is it parents’ ability to be “nice” and create close family relations marked by solidarity that prevents these problem behaviors?

A total of 143 adolescents attending grade 9 (age 15-16, 58% male) in two medium-sized Swedish cities filled out questionnaires at school. Scales on alcohol and drug use focused on frequency and intensity of use and on symptoms of substance abuse. The deviance scale ranged from minor delinquency to violent acts. Adolescents answered also scales on their experienced relationship quality to their parents, on parents’ psychological control and behavior control (e.g., needing permission before going out on the evening). Mother and father scales were summed because of their high inter-correlations. Drug consumption was generally low, and several items did not even vary between participants. Still, all scales were sufficiently reliable (α’s ≥ .80). Because 44% of the sample had other than Swedish ethnic background – in most instances were the parents born in the Middle East –, ethnicity, gender, and their interaction were included into the analyses, but did not predict substance use or deviance.

Although alcohol use and deviance were highly correlated, these two problem behaviors were somewhat differently associated with parenting and relationship variables: Adolescents who consumed a lot of alcohol tended to have poor relationships to psychologically controlling parents. However, deviant adolescents reported in the first place psychologically controlling parents and only to a lesser degree also a poor relationship quality. Drug use (which generally was low) was only associated with psychological control. Multiple regression analyses revealed whether each parenting and relationship variable uniquely predicted substance use and deviance. The results were similar to the bivariate correlations, confirming the general importance of psychological control. Relationship quality still predicted low alcohol use, but was not any longer important for deviance when controlled for psychological control. Behavior control did not predict any of these problem behaviors in any analysis.

This study confirms findings questioning the role of behavior control (Kerr & Stattin, 2000; Stattin & Kerr, 2000). It tells what might be important instead. Hostile, guilt-inducing behavior was consistently associated with externalizing problems whereas a close relationship showed more specific associations. To the degree that parents affect adolescents’ externalizing behaviors rather than are affected by them, these findings suggest that parents above all should avoid being “nasty,” i.e. psychologically controlling. Being “nice,” i.e., to contribute to a close companionship with their children, also appears important, but more specifically against alcohol consumption.  

According to individuation theory of parent-adolescent relationships, the primary parent-child hierarchy is gradually replaced by a peer-like reciprocity of parents and adolescents. However, it is questioned whether a peer-like relationship is the aim of development. Within a time span of about half a year, 41 families with school leavers after 10th grade of non college-bound school track were interrogated three times, regarding their mutual influences. Between-subject factors were the kind of educational transition (into professional training vs. to a different school track) and. the existence of younger and of older siblings. According to the family members' statements, parental influences prevailed at all time points. Both generations influenced each other for the adolescents' benefit, especially concerning school and career. Further results indicated that greater mutuality in the parent-child relationship was more intensively pursued by the parents rather than by the adolescents.

According to individuation theory of parent-adolescent relationships, the primary parent-child hierarchy is gradually replaced by a peer-like reciprocity of parents and adolescents. However, it is questioned whether a peer-like relationship is the aim of development. Within a time span of about half a year, 41 families with school leavers after 10th grade of non college-bound school track were interrogated three times, regarding their mutual influences. Between-subject factors were the kind of educational transition (into professional training vs. to a different school track) and the existence of younger and of older siblings. According to the family members' statements, parental influences prevailed at all time points. Both generations influenced each other for the adolescents' benefit, especially concerning school and career. Further results indicated that greater mutuality in the parent-child relationship was more intensively pursued by the parents rather than by the adolescents.

Föräldrar och barn till 962 familjer med elever i årskurserna 2, 4, 6 och 9 fyllde i enkäter om barns cyklande till skolan och till fritidsaktiviteter, i syftet att få kunskap om möjliga bakomliggande faktorer. Förutom lokala förhållanden som återspeglas i skillnader mellan deltagande skolorna hade föräldrars förebild som cyklister och barns egna cykelvanor de starkaste samband med barns cyklande, dessutom i viss mån barns och föräldrars attityder. Artikeln drar slutsatser om möjliga strategier för att öka barns säkra cyklande.

As children grow up, they expand their territorial range (Andrews, 1973). This increasing autonomy allows them for reaching new places of activities, thereby attaining further developmental tasks. However, less is known about what children and adolescents do that makes them familiar with an increasing area. Various means such as walking, riding a bicycle, taking a bus or getting a lift by car differ in the mobility and the knowledge about the environment they provide (Rissotto & Tonucci, 2002) and in the motor, perceptual, and cognitive skills required to use them. Thus, these means of transportation may not only be tools for autonomy development, but becoming able to use them might be a part of autonomy development (Bullens et al., 2010). Thus, the frequencies of walking, riding a bicycle or a bus, and of being given a lift by the parents, will be explored in two domains: transportation to school and to spare-time activities. The former focuses on the use of means of transportation to a mandatory destination whereas the latter explores the twofold autonomy to make use of a means of transportation and to access targets which might change with age.

A total of 715 children (54.4% girls) attending grades 4, 6, and 9 (ages 10, 12, and 15) and 497 parents of children (51.5% girls) attending grades 2, 4, and 6 (ages 8, 10, and 12) filled out questionnaires. Both parents and children indicated on how many days of the week the child walked, cycled, took the bus, and was driven to school and to free-time activities, respectively. Multilevel analyses were used because participants were nested in 16 schools which were nested in 6 municipalities in adjacent regions of Denmark and Southern Sweden. Predictor variables were grade, gender (dummy-coded), and distance to school (four categories, recoded to approximate kilometers). In the next step, country was added into equations, in order to explain part of the variance between municipalities. Finally, theoretically meaningful interactions between grade, gender, and distance from school were added. The final model for each dependent variable was the one with the best fit (AIC, BIC). Variables had been transformed to approach normal distribution.

Walking and riding the bicycle (especially in girls) were mainly used for shorter distances. In contrast, bus and the family car were used for more distant destinations. Danish children used more active, individual ways of transportation whereas Swedish children used public transport. Girls tended to use more passive means such as being driven by car or riding the bus whereas boys, at least at certain ages, walked more or rode their bicycles. Although age effects were similar on a global level, such as that children depended less of their parents’ help to get somewhere, details differed. The youngest children did not any longer need the car ride to school, but it were the oldest ones who did not any longer get lifts to spare-time activities nearby. Thus, age trends in how to get to school did not explain age trends in accessing spare-time activities. On the contrary, when controlling for getting lifts to school, the absence of net age effects in parent-reported car rides turned out to be the sum of the opposite trends towards independence from parents and towards having more destinations to reach.

The results show that children choose varying means of transportation according to their development of needs and skills. The differences between the age trends for the two types of destinations suggest a larger flexibility than known previously. Still, gender and cultural differences affect this facet of autonomy development.

Based on Schaie's (1965) general developmental model, various data-driven and theory-based approaches to the exploration and disentangling of age, cohort, and time effects on human behavior have emerged. This paper presents and discusses an advancement of data-driven interpretations that stresses parsimony when interpreting the results of sequential models. Second, a synthesis of data-driven and theory-based approaches examines the specific predictors of patterns of cross-sectional, longitudinal, and time-lag differences. This approach is exemplified with data from two cross-sectional samples. In 1991 and 1996, representative samples of 13- to 29-year-old Germans were interviewed orally. Parts of these samples were analyzed employing a time-sequential and a cross-sequential strategy (analyzed N=6105). While the data-driven approach allowed for two alternative interpretations, the second approach revealed that parental emotional help for their children declined with age, partly due to the children leaving home. Help provided for parents generally increased with age, however, leaving home had the opposite effect so that overall, only small and inconsistent age increases in help for parents were found.

Psychological control and lack of warmth are widely assumed to cause internalizing symptoms in adolescents (Hunter et al., 2015; Steinberg, 2001). However, most research has been cross-sectional, and longitudinal findings have been mixed (e.g., White et al., 2015) or the used statistical methods were not optimal to support causal conclusions (Hunter et al., 2015). Only few studies have inspected child effects on parenting (Brenning et al., 2015). Thus, evidence is lacking on whether parenting style affects adolescent internalizing symptoms such as depression, loneliness, and poor self-esteem. Moreover, from a systems perspective, further factors should be explored such as adolescents’ and parents’ perceptions of each other, goals, and strategies to change their mutual relationship. This study examines bidirectional effects of all these facets of parent-adolescent relationships and parenting behaviors and adolescent internalizing symptoms.

Using two annual data collections (N = 1,281/1,274/824 at T1/T2/overlap, resp.) in a representative Swedish community sample of adolescents originally in grades 7-10 (Mage = 15.2, SD = 1.2), effects of perceived parenting (warmth, psychological control, behavior control, overcontrol), adolescent relationship satisfaction, goals (establishing autonomy, submission under parental authority), and strategies (disclosure, secrecy) on internalizing problems (depression symptoms, loneliness, low self-esteem) and vice versa were examined, controlling for the respective dependent variable at T1, gender, and school grade. Parental attitudes (e.g., perceived child depression, satisfaction, and feelings of giving up) were assessed at T2 in a sub-sample (N = 290), allowing for the prediction of these attitudes by T1 internalizing. In order to preserve as much information as possible, missing data were multiply imputed (20 datasets), reaching over 95% efficiency of analyses. Still, those analyses involving parent attitudes are tentative due to the lack of T1 measures and the large number of missing data, reducing power and introducing bias if data were not missing at random (e.g., non-response of dissatisfied parents being not entirely predicted by adolescent data).

Consistent with and expanding previous research, most parenting and parent-adolescent relationship variables were cross-sectionally correlated with adolescent internalizing symptoms (see Table 1). In most instances of significant within-time associations, also the predictions over time of the respective parenting and parent-adolescent relationship variables by teen internalizing symptoms were significant (Table 1). In contrast, only three effects in the opposite direction reached or approached significance: feelings of being overly controlled by parents increased depression and tentatively reduced self-esteem, and low child disclosure increased loneliness. Supporting a systems perspective, parent-reported feelings of giving up and of low relationship satisfaction mediated effects of adolescent depression on e.g. reduced warmth and increased psychological control over time.

Thus, the study has shown broad deteriorating effects of teen internalizing on parenting and parent-adolescent relationship quality and has provided first evidence of mediation by parent cognitions and feelings. However, parenting effects on internalizing were sparse and involved other than the expected variables. If adolescents felt overly controlled by their parents, they became depressed and their self-esteem was tentatively reduced. And if they did not disclose much information to their parents, they became lonelier over time.

Research on preventive effects of authoritative parenting against externalizing problems (Steinberg, 2001) has been criticized for invalid measurements of parental control (Stattin & Kerr, 2000), and that findings might reflect parental reactions rather than parental influences (Glatz et al., 2012; Kerr et al., 2012). However, few studies have assessed bidirectional effects between parenting and externalizing problems, and even less have attempted to explore how the parent-adolescent relationship might mediate these effects from a systems perspective.

Using two annual data collections (N = 1,281/1,274/824 at T1/T2/overlap, resp.) in a representative Swedish community sample of adolescents originally in grades 7-10 (M_age = 15.2, SD = 1.2), bi-directional effects between perceived parenting (warmth, psychological control, behavior control, overcontrol), adolescent relationship satisfaction, goals (establishing autonomy, submission under parental authority), and strategies (disclosure, secrecy), and externalizing problem behaviors (drug/alcohol use, delinquency, aggression) were explored, controlling for the respective dependent variable at T1, gender, and school grade. Parental attitudes (e.g., perceived child depression, satisfaction, and feelings of giving up) were assessed at T2 in a sub-sample (N = 290), allowing for the prediction of these attitudes by T1 externalizing. Missing data were multiply imputed. Still, those analyses involving parent attitudes are tentative due to the lack of T1 measures and the large number of missing data.

Cross-sectionally, all three externalizing behaviors were modestly associated with parenting and relationships in expected directions. However, despite large correlations between the three externalizing behaviors, longitudinal predictions differed. Aggression was not predicted and did not predict parenting and parent-adolescent relationships across time, suggesting that aggression develops at younger age.

Both delinquency and drug/alcohol use predicted parents’ feelings of low satisfaction, poor trust, and of giving up, but none of the adolescent-reported parenting behaviors. Unexpected predictions of high submission under parental authority and of low secrecy by drug/alcohol use could be explained by a statistical suppressor effect. Thus, although parents felt bad about their externalizing children, this did not result in deteriorated parenting as observed by the adolescents, in contrast to previous research (Kerr & Stattin, 2003), and unlike parents’ reactions to internalizing problems in this study.

Supporting parenting effects, low levels of delinquency were predicted by parental overcontrol and tentatively by parental control. Low drug/alcohol use was predicted by parental support, adolescents’ goals rather not to become autonomous but to submit under parental authority, disclosure of information, and low secrecy towards parents. Mediation analyses revealed that adolescents react to parental support by intentions to submit under parental authority and becoming less secretive, which both predicted decreased drug/alcohol use over time. The preventive effect of parental (over-)control against delinquency was found using scales developed by the Stattin/Kerr group rather than the questioned “monitoring” scale. Albeit no direct effect of control on low drug/alcohol use was revealed, a preventive effect of parental support was explained by adolescents’ willingness to accept parental authority and not to keep secrets from them. These findings support a parent-effects theory of authoritative parenting (Steinberg, 2001) and help understand how adolescents’ goals and behaviors mediate parental behaviors.

Little is known on whether the effects of marriage education programs such as the Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP) hold across genders or are moderated by risk factors (participants’ parents’ relationship instability, participants’ low level of education, being unmarried, previous relationship counseling, who initiated program participation, having many children). This trial of 889 participants revealed medium to large improvements in relationship satisfaction and communication from baseline to posttest. Only a few tentative moderating factors were identified. Women who were at risk, as indicated by previous relationship counseling, even caught up with others without such risk at the outset. However, men with little higher education did not improve on all measures. Thus, overall, PREP appears applicable for the prevention of intimate relationship problems in a broad range of circumstances. One of the strengths of this study includes the examination of PREP effects in a real-life application across an entire Scandinavian country.