4 ms·
>I will say emphatically that parents of teens are the most influential people in their lives I don't work in behavioral science, but this isn't my understandi
by bumby 5y ago
>I will say emphatically that parents of teens are the most influential people in their lives
I don't work in behavioral science, but this isn't my understanding. I was under the impression that research indicates peers are the larger influence, which can be tempered somewhat by parents. For an easy example, whether or not peers smoke is a better predictor than whether parents smoke.
- true_religion 5y agoSure but in the long run parents can choose the peer group for children.
- bumby 5y agoI’d argue it may be possible in the short term but not in the long term unless the idea is to raise your child like a house cat.
- true_religion 5y agoWell to elaborate on that… kids under 16 go to the schools their parents decide on, live in the neighborhoods their parents decide on, and associated with the kids of their parents friends when they were younger. Those are their peers. They aren’t their friends. Kids make their own friends, but it’s unusual for them to be able to make lifestyle choices like where they live before adulthood. To note, your peers aren’t people on Instagram per se. I’d guess a study on the issue would say that a peer group they associate with on daily basis like in school would have more of an effect on their choices than Instagram influencers.
- bumby 5y ago>kids under 16 go to the schools their parents decide on, live in the neighborhoods their parents decide on, and associated with the kids of their parents friends when they were younger. True, but for most people this is only available within a subset of constrained choices. Parents in rural Appalachia or the rust belt probably aren’t going to have a lot of Phillips Academies to choose from
- RhysU 5y agoAs a person who grew up in rural Appalachia certainly Phillips was not an option. But, choosing a municipality with an emphasis on the value of education certainly was something my parents actively did. And, we had families across the economic spectrum in my school.
- bumby 5y agoThanks for weighing in with your experience. I grew up in a dying industrial town in the rust belt and choices were very limited. It might be possible for a slightly better school by moving but it would incur penalties most families couldn’t afford (higher home prices, 2-3 hr round trip commutes etc)
- mensetmanusman 5y agoNot true in educational outcome. Almost all educational outcome is correlated with parent situations, effect of the school is within the noise.
- bumby 5y agoFair point. Most of the studies I came across were focused on aberrant behavior.