A study of almost 5,000 U.S. teenagers has led researchers to the somewhat startling conclusion that teenagers who are given more freedom are less likely to have sex than are those whose parents are overly strict.
Though the researchers emphasized that they had not established a cause-effect relationship between
parenting styles and sexual activity, their evaluation noted that parents who engaged in "negative and psychologically controlling behaviors" were more likely to have more sexually active children.
"Warm, more democratic relationships - in which parents do not use negative and psychologically controlling behaviors - could help parents to communicate values, increase adolescents' identification with their parents, help youth to develop healthy decision-making skills, and also keep youth away from negative peer influences," said the study's lead author, Boston College professor Rebekah Levine Coley.
According to a July 25, 2008, article on the
ScienceDaily website, Coley and her colleagues reached their conclusions after analyzing data collected during a survey of 4,980 American teens who had been born between 1980 and 1984.
Don Operario, a professor at England's Oxford University, told
ScienceDaily that the Boston College study emphasizes the significant role parents play in the lives of their children. Even as modern youth are being bombarded with media-generated images and lifestyle advice, Operario said, the analysis by Coley and her co-researchers "reminds us of the foundational role of parents in determining whether their teens engage in risky sexual behaviors."
Labels: parenting_styles, strictness, trust
