Teen Time with Parents is Important

Wiley Online Library. August 23, 2012. (English). -One-on-one time between teens and parents increases in early to middle adolescence, a finding that has substantial effects on teens’ wellbeing. Teenagers who spent more time with their parents, especially their fathers, from early to late adolescence have better social skills and higher self esteem, according to a study in the journal Child Development.

The development and adjustment correlates of parent–child social (parent, child, and others present) and dyadic time (only parent and child present) from age 8 to 18 were examined. Mothers, fathers, and firstborns and secondborns from 188 White families participated in both home and nightly phone interviews. Social time declined across adolescence, but dyadic time with mothers and fathers peaked in early and middle adolescence, respectively. In addition, secondborns’ social time declined more slowly than firstborns’, and gendered time use patterns were more pronounced in boys and in opposite-sex sibling dyads. Finally, youths who spent more dyadic time with their fathers, on average, had higher general self-worth, and changes in social time with fathers were positively linked to changes in social competence.

To view full article online, click here.

To download full article on PDF, click here.