Mothers’ Knowledge of Early Adolescents’ Activities Following the Middle School Transition and Pubertal Maturation

Abstract

This study tested a sequential mediation model to determine whether experiences, social cognitions, or parent-adolescent interactional processes account for lower levels of mothers’ knowledge of adolescents’ whereabouts and activities following early adolescents’ transition into middle school (MS) and pubertal development. Cross-sectional data were collected from 106 mother-adolescent dyads during the summer before the adolescent entered MS ( M age = 11.39 years, 55% female) and from an additional 85 mother-adolescent dyads during the summer following the adolescents’ 1st year of MS ( M age = 12.47 years, 49% female). Path analyses indicated that adolescents who had experienced the MS transition and who were more pubertally advanced had weaker authority beliefs and engaged in more unsupervised activities. Weaker authority beliefs were associated with less adolescent disclosure but with more maternal control. More unsupervised activities were associated with less maternal control. Experiencing the MS transition, more advanced pubertal development, weaker authority beliefs, more unsupervised activities, and less adolescent disclosure were associated with less maternal knowledge. This study concludes that between-group differences in mothers’ knowledge following the MS transition are partially explained by more unsupervised activities, weaker authority beliefs, and less adolescent disclosure among adolescents who have experienced the MS transition.