Parental Norms Research Articles

Influences on Swedish schoolchildren's dietary selection: focus on fat and fibre at breakfast

One important aim of the Swedish Action Programme for Nutrition is to increase the consumption of dietary fibre and decrease fat intake. The currently available extensive range of fat-reduced and fibre-enriched foods makes these dietary practices possible, but also makes the selection of a health promoting diet more complex. This thesis aims to contribute to the understanding of psychosocial influences on schoolchildren?s food choice, with specific attention to fat and fibre content. The focus was on breakfast because typical Swedish breakfast foods are important sources of fat and fibre. The Theory of Planned Behaviour formed the theoretical basis of the studies. All pupils in the 5th, 7th and 9th grades in M?lndal municipality (N=1730) were asked to complete a questionnaire and a 7-day food record. Interviews were performed with 181 of those subjects. A picture-sort interview technique, the ?stacking box methodology?, was employed to describe perceptions and habitual choices. Assessing diets of children and adolescents is not an easy task. As in all dietary surveys, reporting and participation biases may exist. The present study using food records illustrates several such biases, which should be taken into consideration in the design, analysis and interpretation of future studies. The ?stacking box methodology? seems promising, and appeared to have some advantages compared to traditional methods. However, the two dietary assessment methods generally yielded similar results. Reduced-fat choices of milk and margarine were common, although a considerable number of subjects consumed full-fat products. When it comes to the consumption of bread and cereals, the low-fibre alternatives dominated. At the age of 11 as well as 15, children?s own attitudes and underlying beliefs were of importance for breakfast food choices, as was parental influence. Parents influenced food choice by controlling food availability, acting as models and encouraging the child to consume. The perceived parental norms supported dietary changes towards products with more fibre but not towards fat-reduced products. However, the perception of parents? own consumption seemed to favour consumption of fat-reduced milk. Participants? attitudes were associated with health beliefs as well as taste perceptions. In general, the results suggest that taste may be a barrier to the consumption of high-fibre products, while consumption of low-fat products appears to be impeded by health beliefs. Contrary to several other studies, the present results suggest that some aspects of young people?s dietary behaviour are related to their knowledge. Specifically, the choice of high-fibre products was associated with knowledge of fibre sources and the choice of fat-reduced milk products was associated with a positive attitude towards limited fat intake.

Social norms and the prevention of alcohol misuse in collegiate contexts.

This article provides a review of conceptual and empirical studies on the role of social norms in college student alcohol use and in prevention strategies to counter misuse. The normative influences of various constituencies serving as reference groups for students are examined as possible factors influencing students' drinking behavior. A review of English language studies was conducted. Parental norms have only modest impact on students once they enter college beyond the residual effects of previously instilled drinking attitudes and religious traditions. Faculty could theoretically provide a positive influence on student drinking behavior, but there is little evidence in the literature that faculty norms and expectations about avoiding alcohol misuse are effectively communicated to students. Although the norms of resident advisers (RAs) should ideally provide a restraint on student alcohol misuse, the positive influence of RAs is limited by their negotiated compromises with students whom they oversee and by their misperceptions of student norms. Research reveals student peer norms to be the strongest influence on students' personal drinking behavior, with the more socially integrated students typically drinking most heavily. The widespread prevalence among students of dramatic misperceptions of peer norms regarding drinking attitudes and behaviors is also a consistent finding. Permissiveness and problem behaviors among peers are overestimated, even in environments where problem drinking rates are relatively high in actuality. These misperceived norms, in turn, have a significant negative effect promoting and exacerbating problem drinking. Interventions to reduce these misperceptions have revealed a substantial positive effect in several pilot studies and campus experiments.

Pathways to Adolescent Alcohol Use: Potential Mechanisms of Parent Influence

The purpose of this study was to clarify parents' role in the initiation of alcohol use of young adolescents. Subjects included 413 adolescent-parent dyads in which the youth had not begun drinking at the end of 6th grade. All dyads were participants in Project Northland (PN), an adolescent alcohol use prevention trial. A proposed etiologic model including parent norms related to underage drinking, household alcohol-related problems, family problems, and potential mediators of parent influence was tested using structural equation modeling techniques. To explore model differences between intervention conditions, separate models were estimated for intervention and reference samples. Among the parent constructs modeled, parent norms around underage drinking exhibited the strongest relationships with 7th- and 8th-grade alcohol use. Parent norms were directly related to adolescents' alcohol-related cognitions, and thereby had a significant indirect relationship with teenagers' alcohol use. No significant diffe...

Racial differences in risk factors for delinquency and substance use among adolescents

Risk factors for delinquency and substance use were used to explore racial differences in a sample of 567 adolescents. Factors used in this study included beliefs, peer and sibling influences, school attachment and commitment, family relationships, and academic and social skills. Data from surveys administered at ages 12 and 13 were used to predict delinquent and substance-using behaviors reported at ages 15 and 16. Multiple-group longitudinal analyses were conducted to test models in explaining race differences. Patterns and paths of the risk factors demonstrated a similarity across both substance use and delinquency for both groups. Some different paths were detected in the substance-use model across groups. Intervention implications of these findings are discussed. Key words: adolescents; delinquency; racial differences; risk factors; substance use Research has identified interpersonal and contextual risk factors that are predictive of increased probabilities of adolescent delinquency and substance use (Farrington & West, 1993; Hawkins, Catalano, & Miller, 1992; Resnicow, Ross-Gaddy, & Vaughan, 1995; Stouthamer-Loeber, Loeber, & Farrington, 1993; Williams, 1994). The level and amount of exposure to risk factors are hypothesized to lead youths on a pathway for involvement in problem behaviors (Barnes & Welte, 1986; Carpenter, Lyons, & Miller, 1985; Maddahian, Newcomb, & Bentler, 1986). Interpersonal risk factors that are influential in shaping behavior and setting values often are found in an adolescent's environment (Hawkins, Catalano, & Miller, 1992; Newcomb, Maddahian, & Bentler, 1986). Such risk factors include favorable attitudes toward problem behaviors, association with antisocial peers and siblings, low bonding and low commitment to school, and academic failure (Brook, Brook, Gordon, Whiteman, & Cohen, 1990; Catalano & Hawkins, 1996; Hawkins, Catalano, & Miller, 1992). Researchers also have investigated the effects of positive influences that inhibit the onset of or modify problem behaviors (Farrington & West, 1993; Rutter, 1985, 1990; Stouthamer-Loeber et al., 1993; Werner, 1989). Protective factors, or buffers, are hypothesized to reduce the influence of risk factors on behavior, thus helping reduce involvement in delinquency and substance use (Hawkins, Catalano, & Miller, 1992). Intervention and prevention strategies can seek to address risk by enhancing positive influences. Few studies have explored racial differences in risk factors either cross-sectionally or longitudinally. However, earlier research has shown that the constructs of peer influence, school, and family have components that distinguish African American youths from white youths (Maguin & Loeber, 1996; Peterson, Hawkins, Abbott, & Catalano, 1995; Wallace & Bachman, 1991; Williams, 1994). For example, earlier studies have found that peer relationships are more important for white youths in influencing alcohol and or drug use and delinquent behavior (Brannock, Schandler, & Oncley, 1990; Matsueda & Heimer, 1987), that racial differences in academic performance predict delinquency (Maguin & Loeber, 1996), and that the number of siblings involved in problem behaviors and parental norms regarding problem behaviors differ across racial groups (Brook, Gordon, Whiteman, & Brook, 1988; Peterson et al., 1995). The study discussed in this article investigated racial differences in risk Factors of delinquency and substance use, incorporating theoretical concepts from social bonding, social learning, and differential association theories. Social bonding theory states that lack of bonding to prosocial individuals predicts deviant behavior. Social bonding theory proposes four constructs of bonding to others: attachment, commitment, involvement, and beliefs that control the individual in the direction of conformity. This theory postulates that the stronger the bonds the more control, the weaker the bonds the higher probability of antisocial behavior (Agnew, 1985, 1993; Hirschi, 1969). …

Adolescent substance use: preliminary examinations of school and neighborhood context.

In considering the influences of microsystems on adolescent substance use, familial and peer contexts have received the most extensive attention in the research literature. School and neighborhood settings, however, are other developmental contexts that may exert specific influences on adolescent substance use. In many instances, school settings are organized to provide educational services to students who share similar educational abilities and behavioral repertoires. The resulting segregation of students into these settings may result in different school norms for substance use. Similarly, neighborhood resources, including models for substance use and drug sales involvement, may play an important role in adolescent substance use. We briefly review literature examining contextual influences on adolescent substance use, and present results from two preliminary studies examining the contribution of school and neighborhood context to adolescent substance use. In the first investigation, we examine the impact of familial, peer, and school contexts on adolescent substance use. Respondents were 283 students (ages 13 to 18) from regular and special education classrooms in six schools. Although peer and parental contexts were important predictors of substance use, school norms for drug use accounted for variance in adolescent use beyond that explained by peer and parental norms. Data from a second study of 114 adolescents (mean age = 15) examines neighborhood contributions to adolescent substance use. In this sample, neighborhood indices did not contribute to our understanding of adolescent substance use. Implications for prevention are presented.

Parent-child relationships, child temperament profiles and children's alcohol use norms.

The purpose of this study was to examine the contributions of child temperament, parents' alcohol use norms for their children and parent-child relationship quality to children's alcohol use norms. Observational and self-report data on these variables were gathered from mothers, fathers and target children during home visits to a purposive random sample of 171 intact white families with a 10- to 12-year-old child, 85 with girls and 86 with boys. Liberality in children's norms was associated with active, sensation-seeking temperament, liberality in parents' norms and poor parent-child relationship quality. Positive parent-child, particularly father-child, relationships were associated with less liberal child norms even when parents' norms were liberal and children's temperaments were active and sensation oriented. Positive parent-child relationships have a conventionalizing effect on children's alcohol use norms that moderates the effects of temperament and parental norms. The development of alcohol use norms is best described by transactional models.

Children's development of alcohol use norms: Contributions of parent and sibling norms, children's temperaments, and parent-child discussions.

Children's development of alcohol use norms: Contributions of parent and sibling norms, children's temperaments, and parent-child discussions.

Passing on the Faith: how mother‐child communication influences transmission of moral values

This paper examines religious affiliation and commitment of teenagers as a function of the quality of mother‐child interaction and the mothers’ religious commitment, as an illustration of the principle that transmission of parental norms and values to their children is facilitated or inhibited by the quality of their interaction. We expected that in cases where mother‐child interaction was good, parents would be better able to impose their own values upon their children, resulting in a lower disaffiliation and higher religious commitment in high quality of family‐interaction families. This expectation was tested using data from 223 British adolescent‐mother pairs, by means of logistic and ordinary regression analysis. The results largely supported the hypotheses, exemplifying how mothers in their role of moral agents may profit from good mother‐child relationships.

Alcohol and sexual victimization: a longitudinal study of Norwegian girls

In a study of sexual victimization and alcohol consumption, a population sample of Norwegian adolescents from the Oslo area was followed-up through five data collections over a 6-year time span. By means of generalized structural equation modeling, alcohol-related predictors and consequences of sexual assaults were investigated; 17% of the girls reported that they had been sexually assaulted at some time: 7% in childhood, 6% in early adolescence (13-16 years) and 4% in late adolescence (17-19 years). Only 1% of the boys reported having been sexually victimized. Female childhood sex victims reported increased alcohol consumption from their mid-teens, with dramatic increase in alcohol-related problems (using DSM-III-R criteria) at the end of their teens. However, the analyses showed that alcohol consumption was not influenced by childhood sexual abuse when parental use of tobacco and alcohol and normative standards imparted to their children were taken into consideration as confounding variables. There was, on the other hand, a strong effect on alcohol problems. Thus, the victims of childhood sexual abuse seem to be at high risk for alcohol abuse and dependency. Further, early alcohol debut and high alcohol consumption combined with permissive parental norms increased the risk of sexual assault in early adolescence. The girls who were assaulted in early adolescence also reported a high number of sexual partners and early intercourse debut. There was no increase in subsequent alcohol consumption after assaults in this group. Late adolescent victims did not report increased alcohol consumption either prior to or after the assault.

Disentangling the Effects of Parental Drinking, Family Management, and Parental Alcohol Norms on Current Drinking by Black and White Adolescents

We examine three family influences identified 8.s risk factors for adolescent alcohol abuse, parental alcohol consumption, poor family management practices, and parental norms permissive of alcohol use by adolescents. To sort out the unique effects of these influences on alcohol use by Black and White adolescents, we present data from a longitudinal study and compare current alcohol users with noninitiators at ages 14 to 15. Data collected when the youths were 12 to 13 years old show parental drinking frequecy as a predictor of current alcohol use at ages 14 to 15 for both ethnic groups. This effect appears to be mediated by family management practices and proscriptions against involving children in other family members' alcohol use. Good family management practices decreased the likelihood of current adolescent alcohol use. Parental attitudes regarding adolescent alcohol use did not predict current adolescent use over and above the effects of parental drinking and family management practices, but a norm-...

Personality and sociodemographic influences on adolescents' substance use: a path analysis.

Five hundred and seven students 14- to 16-years-old gave self-report responses to a substance use questionnaire, the Norwicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale, and The Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale. Path analysis revealed that the influence of peers' and parents' use and norms on adolescents' alcohol and tobacco use is mediated by personality, age, sex, and social status effects. Adolescents with external locus of control or low self-esteem "behavior" were more influenced by their peers to smoke. Younger students and girls were more influenced by parental norms than were older students and boys, but only for alcohol and not for tobacco use. Other findings were that girls were not as strongly influenced by their own norms and that girls and low social status adolescents were more influenced by their friend's smoking and drinking. The peers' findings are discussed in relation to substance prevention strategies.

Environmental Correlates of Adolescent Substance Use and Misuse: Implications for Prevention Programs

The research in the areas of peer, family and community environmental effects on adolescent substance use and misuse clearly and consistently shows that peer substance use behavior is the primary predictor of adolescent alcohol use. Peer norms, however, are more important in the prediction of adolescent alcohol misuse. Parental norms and monitoring are secondary to the peer variables, but still of significance in the prediction of adolescent alcohol use and misuse. The intrapersonal construct of susceptibility to peer pressure is as important as the peer and parent variables in the prediction of both alcohol use and misuse in adolescence.

Teenage fertility and its social integration correlates: a control theory explanation.

"This study uses control theory to explain teenage fertility in one [U.S.] southeastern state. Control theory explains deviance from societal norms in terms of weak social bonding or integration. An important assumption of the study is that teenage parenting violates American parenting norms, and can thus be conceptualized as deviant behavior. Consequently, this study hypothesizes that teenage fertility should covary with measures of social integration. This study uses data from 64 parishes in Louisiana, and the results suggest that measures of social integration (i.e., divorce rates, percentage of population living alone, and personal alienation) are significant predictors of teenage fertility in nonurban settings and explain approximately 53% of the variance in teenage fertility. However, among urban parishes, socioeconomic status is the only significant predictor of teenage fertility, explaining almost 44% of its variance."

扶養規範の構造分析

扶養規範の構造分析

Parent attitudes and child personality traits in hemophilia: a six-year longitudinal study.

Using standardized instruments, personality traits of twenty-two hemophilic boys and child-rearing attitudes and practices of their parents were evaluated at the beginning and end of a six-year period, during which psychosocial services were provided in a comprehensive care hemophilia program. The children changed significantly in a positive direction on two traits, enthusiasm and self-reliance. No significant negative personality trait changes were found. Scores remained within the normal range on the remaining traits, with the exception of a significant positive elevation on the intelligence dimension at both pre- and posttest. Mothers and fathers scored positively compared with parental attitude norms during both the initial and follow-up evaluations, without significant changes in overall mean scores. Strong relationships were revealed between individual changes in child personality and parent attitude scores. Despite the fact that between pre- and posttest boys with hemophilia and their parents became aware of the risk of contracting AIDS from blood product use, personality traits and parent child-rearing attitudes remained positive.

CHRONIC MEDICAL CONDITIONS AND PERCEIVED HEALTH STATUS AMONG MEXICAN-AMERICAN CHILDREN

The health status of Mexican-American children (MAC) has been difficult to assess because of the lack of data about this population. Utilizing the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 3, 710 MAC, ages 6 mos. - 18 yrs., were evaluated as to the prevalence of chronic medical conditions, and perceived health status as determined by the physician, mother, and child. The results demonstrated that 140 subjects, or 3.8%, of MAC had at least one chronic condition. There were no differences with respect to poverty status. Physicians rated children (6 mos. - 11 yrs.) in poor health only 1% of the time, while mothers rated them in poor health 15% of the time (P<.001). The national parental norm is 3%. Children 6 years to 11 years and 12 years to 18 years reported poor health 11.3% and 19% of the time respectively. In contrast, the physician's report was 1.2% and 0.7% respectivly. The physician's perception of the child's health status was worse if the child had a chronic condition or lived in poverty (P<.025) while the mother's perception of her child's health was most affected by poverty (P<.001). The child's perception (age 6-12 yrs.) was not associated with either poverty or chronic condition. These results suggest that MAC have prevalence rates of chronic conditions similar to the U.S. norms, but MAC are perceived to be in poorer health by their mothers and themselves than by physicians.

Attitudes of Nigerian medical students towards use and abuse of tobacco, alcohol and drugs.

The questionnaire devised by WHO as a standardized instrument for use across cultures, and modified to suit an African culture, was completed by 104 clinical medical students (male and female) selected at random. After statistical analysis, the results were discussed regarding attitudes (approval/disapproval); perceived availability; social connotation; perceived harmfulness; perceived problems; perceived parental norms; religion; and exposure to use. A significant finding was that 78% of the medical students disapprove of people using all the listed drugs, 11% disapprove slightly and only 11% do not disapprove.

Comparative Research on the Social Determinants of Adolescent Drinking

Previous research concerned with social influence and with adolescent behaviors has suggested the utility of distinctions between modeling and normative influence, parental and peer influence, instrumentality and internalization, internalization through own norms versus preferences, and among cultural contexts. Most studies investigate the effects of variables derived from only one or a few of these distinctions. In this study, interviews conducted in Australia, France, Norway, and the United States provide data to examine the utility of these distinctions for the prediction of alcohol use by adolescents. As predicted, internalization rather than instrumentality is the reason for effective social influence in all four countries, and internalized effects occur by means of preferences rather than own norms. Both peer modeling and peer norms have significant, internalized effects on adolescent drinking in allfour countries, and parental modeling has significant, internalized effects on adolescent drinking in Australia and France, but not in Norway and the United States. Contrary to predictions, parental norms are related to adolescent drinking in Australia and the United States, but not in France and Norway. Reasons for these findings and their implications for studies of social influence and adolescent behavior are discussed.

Similarity of university students' and their parents' attitudes toward alcohol.

It is proposed that older adolescents become more sensitive to parental norms about alcohol use. Seventy-two father-mother-daughter triads and 30 father-mother-son triads rated structural attitude statements about alcohol and drinking. Factor analyses yielded six dimensions of attitudes toward alcohol. Sons and parents had similar attitudes overall, with perceptions differing more on the sociability factor. There were a larger number of differences in the attitudes of parents and their daughters, especially concerning women drinking, moderate uses of alcohol and social status benefits from drinking. Daughters' attitudes were more likely to be different from both parents' attitudes than were sons' attitudes. The attitudes of daughters toward alcohol were discussed with reference to changes in women's roles and differences in their education and lifestyle.

Predicting Adolescent Sexual and Contraceptive Behavior: An Application and Test of the Fishbein Model

This paper presents a test of a multivariate model designed to predict the pregnancy risk-taking behavior of a sample of adolescent females. Pregnancy risk is conceptualized as the frequency with which adolescents engage in sexual intercourse without the use of an effective contraceptive method. This model known generally as the Fishbein model of behavior prediction led to the hypothesis that an adolescent females sexual and contraceptive behavior can be predicted from a linear combination of her attitudes toward performing the behavior and her normative beliefs weighted by her motivation to comply with those norms. Analyses of data drawn from a sample of 244 female adolescents ages 13 to 18 yielded mixed support for the model. Whereas the attitudes and parental norms weighted by motivation to comply are strongly related to both measures of contraceptive use none of the variables are related to the frequency of sexual intercourse. Peer norms are only weakly related to any of the pregnancy-risk behavior measures. The departure of these findings from those of previous tests of the Fishbein model is discussed including methods and subject variance factors. Previous tests of the model have also focused on predicting behavioral intentions as opposed to actual behavior. That certain elements of the Fishbein model were found to be predictive of adolescent pregnancy-risk behavior despite the significant differences in methodology adds weight to the generalizability of the model and its potential usefulness for generating a clearer understanding of adolescent behavior. (authors)