The development of parental monitoring during adolescence: A meta-analysis

Francesca Lionetti*, Benedetta Emanuela Palladino, Christina Moses Passini, Marta Casonato, Oriola Hamzallari, Mette Ranta, Antonio Dellagiulia, Loes Keijsers

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

77 Citations (Scopus)
129 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

As adolescents grow up, one of the important developmental tasks is to individuate themselves and to become more autonomous from parents. This requires a realignment of the parent-adolescent communication. The current meta-analytic study aims at identifying developmental changes in parent-adolescent communication, conceptualized within the parental monitoring framework, as entailing parental solicitation, control and knowledge, and adolescent’s disclosure and secrecy. Thirty-one longitudinal studies published between 2000 and 2015 were identified and included in the current meta-analysis. Informants, age at assessment and study duration were tested as moderators. Results showed a low to medium normative decline in parental control (Cohen’s d = −.395, 95% CI [−.541, −.249]), knowledge (d = −.245,95% CI [−.331, −.160] and adolescence disclosure (d = −.147, 95% CI [−.204, −.090]), and an increase in adolescent’s secrecy (d = .194, CI [031, .356]). Parental solicitation decreased based on parents’ (d = −.242, 95% CI[−.376, −.109]) but not on adolescents’ reports (d = .038, 95% CI[−.099, .175]). Another significant moderator was the duration of the study, with studies longer than 2 years being able to detect a more pronounced change in parental control than studies lasting less than 2 years (≤2 years, d = −.139 vs. duration > 2 years, d = −.581). Limitations of the current knowledge and new directions of studies are discussed.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)552-580
JournalEuropean Journal of Developmental Psychology
Volume16
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019

Keywords

  • CHILD COMMUNICATION
  • GENDER-DIFFERENCES
  • INFORMANT DISCREPANCIES
  • KNOWLEDGE
  • LONGITUDINAL ASSOCIATIONS
  • PRIVACY INVASION
  • PROBLEM BEHAVIOR
  • Parental solicitation
  • SELF-DISCLOSURE
  • SOLICITATION
  • UNITED-STATES
  • adolescent disclosure
  • adolescent secrecy
  • parental control
  • parental knowledge
  • parental monitoring

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