Department of Public Administration and Sociology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Department of Methodology and Statistics, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands.
J Res Adolesc. 2023 Dec;33(4):1179-1195. doi: 10.1111/jora.12868. Epub 2023 Jun 22.
Parents' monitoring efforts are thought to be effective in reducing children's future externalizing problems. Empirical evidence for this claim, however, is limited, as only few studies have unraveled the temporal ordering of these constructs. The present six-wave longitudinal study contributed to the existing literature by examining within-family linkages between monitoring efforts (behavioral control and solicitation) and adolescents' externalizing behaviors while controlling for between-family differences. In addition, it was assessed whether these associations differed when using child versus parent reports, differed for less versus more autonomy-supportive parents, and differed for fathers' versus mothers' monitoring efforts. Longitudinal data (six annual waves) of 497 adolescents (56.9% boys, M at T = 13.03, SD = 0.46), their mothers (N = 495, M at T = 44.41, SD = 4.45), and their fathers (N = 446, M at T = 46.74, SD = 5.10) of the Dutch study Research on Adolescent Development and Relationships (RADAR) were used. Results showed no evidence for the claim that parents' monitoring efforts predict future externalizing problems. In contrast, we found some evidence for the idea that parents' monitoring efforts change in reaction to changes in externalizing problems; when adolescents reported higher levels of externalizing problems than usual in 1 year, this predicted less behavioral control from mothers in the next year. Linkages between monitoring efforts and externalizing problems did not differ between less or more autonomy-supportive parents. Overall, our findings suggest that monitoring efforts are not effective, but also not damaging, in relation to adolescents' externalizing problems.
父母的监督努力被认为可以有效减少孩子未来的外化问题。然而，这一说法的经验证据有限，因为只有少数研究揭示了这些结构的时间顺序。本六项波纵向研究通过检查监测努力（行为控制和征求意见）与青少年外化行为之间的家庭内联系，同时控制家庭间差异，为现有文献做出了贡献。此外，还评估了使用儿童与父母报告时这些关联是否不同，对支持自主性较少与较多的父母是否不同，以及父亲与母亲的监测努力是否不同。荷兰研究“青少年发展与关系研究”（RADAR）的 497 名青少年（56.9%为男孩，T1 时的平均年龄为 13.03，标准差为 0.46）、他们的母亲（N=495，T1 时的平均年龄为 44.41，标准差为 4.45）和他们的父亲（N=446，T1 时的平均年龄为 46.74，标准差为 5.10）的纵向数据（六个年度波）被用于本研究。结果表明，没有证据表明父母的监督努力可以预测未来的外化问题。相反，我们发现了一些证据表明，父母的监督努力会根据外化问题的变化而变化；当青少年在一年内报告的外化问题水平高于平时时，这预示着下一年母亲的行为控制会减少。在支持自主性较少或较多的父母中，监测努力与外化问题之间的联系没有差异。总的来说，我们的研究结果表明，在青少年的外化问题方面，监督努力没有效果，也没有损害。
