PsychCentral – Rick Nauert PhD
“While many parents may throw their hands up as they attempt to control their teen, new research suggests parents actually can make a difference by being involved in their teens’ life. Adolescence is admittedly a time when many children may consider experimenting with alcohol or drugs. Emerging findings, however, suggest that parents can reduce the risk by maintaining a healthy and open relationship with their children…Thomas Schofield, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of human development and family studies at Iowa State University, explains…“Parents who haven’t been deliberately investing time during middle and late childhood to build the relationship with their child — one that is very open, with lots of communication, respect, and understanding — all the scaffolding falls away when their child becomes an adolescent,” Schofield said. “The relationship is what the parent made it…””(more)