Parents Helping Teens Choose 'Good' Friends

While parents often worry about the influence peers have on their adolescent children, a new study indicates that they can play a role in helping their teens choose ‘good' friends. The results showed teens are more likely to have good friends – ones who don't fight and who have plans for college, for instance – if they have a warm relationship with their parents and if their parents choose to live in a neighborhood with high-quality schools.

Parents' monitoring and supervision are also associated with adolescents' choice of friends, but not as consistently.

Peer Influence

“We know from many other studies that peers have a strong influence on the behavior of adolescents, so the process of friendship formation is important to understand,” said Chris Knoester, lead author of the study and assistant professor of sociology at Ohio State University.

“In fact, some scholars have even suggested that parents exert virtually no influence on their children's behavior when they are teens — peers are seen as that much more important. However, we found evidence that parents can act as architects of the friendship choices that their children make.”

The researchers found that specific parenting practices are linked to friends' characteristics even after taking into account the influence that parents themselves have on their children's behaviors and the likelihood that their children will select friends who are similar to themselves.

Knoester conducted the study with two other Ohio State sociologists, assistant professor Dana Haynie and graduate student Crystal Stephens. Knoester presented the results Aug. 13 in Philadelphia at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association.

The study used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, which included interviews with a national sample of 11,483 seventh to 12 th grade students and their parents.

The researchers thought that parents could influence their children's choice of friends through manipulating their environment (such as choosing where they live), monitoring and supervising them, teaching them how to behave, and forming close relationships with them.

Parent / Teen Relationships Matter

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