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Study shows teens
care what family thinks
(January
2008 Issue)
By Elinor Nelson
It may not seem like it much of the time, but teenagers really
do care what their families think. New findings from the Simmons
Longitudinal Study (SLS) show that adolescents who feel valued by
their families and who believe they can rely on family members for
advice have significantly improved chances for healthy social and
psychological development as well as positive academic achievement.
The study has been in operation for 30 years, following nearly
400 residents of Quincy, Mass. from the time they entered kindergarten
until their mid-30's today. This study is one of the nation's longest-running
and most comprehensive mental health research. Participants, as
well as parents, guardians, teachers, spouses and significant others
have all been interviewed over the years and principal investigator,
Helen Reinherz, Sc.D, MSW, MS, hopes to interview the participants
once more, when they reach age 40.
In this aspect of the SLS, investigators revisited questions that
had been put to the participants when they were nine, 15, and 18
years of age, inquiring into their feelings about being valued by
the families, how well they got along with family members and how
significant they felt within their families. "If they didn't feel
valued," says Reinherz, "they tended to have less self esteem and
more depression, interpersonal problems, drug abuse and behavioral
problems."
Other studies had shown that cohesive families were helpful in
decreasing the risk of negative outcomes among at-risk children,
but the Simmons study explored elements of family interactions among
children who weren't necessarily high risk, but might nevertheless
experience later difficulties.
Adolescent functioning was assessed by mental health status, academic
achievement, suicidal behavior and social, psychological, and behavioral
functioning. These factors, investigators discovered, impacted both
positive and negative outcomes, but the patterns of associations
differed. For example, feeling valued by the family was associated
with all types of social, psychological and behavioral functioning,
but not with academic performance. Family social support and cohesion,
on the other hand, correlated with academic functioning but fewer
areas of social, psychological and behavioral functioning. Only
feeling valued reduced the risk for serious depression later. "This
shows," Reinherz states, "that family experience must encompass
more than one form of health promotion."
"Effective parenting," the study determines, "has been found to
be more influential in promoting positive adolescent behavior than
peers and the media in promoting problem adolescent behavior," she
said.
"Adolescents [may] seem to be self-sufficient," concludes Reinherz,
"but they are deeply impacted by family. When asked who they would
pick as a hero, more than 50% of them picked family members, not
sports heroes, actors or astronauts."
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