America's Youth | Parental Influence Is Important to America’s Youth

There is no shortage of efforts in homes, schools and communities to discourage teen-agers from taking drugs, smoking, drinking or having sex. The question is, What really works? One answer, from a major study of adolescents, is that families are more important than previously thought, perhaps as important as peers.

The portion of the study’s data that has been analyzed so far did not look at peer pressure, but the findings call into question the idea that peer relationships almost completely eclipse family relationships in their influence over teenagers’ behavior, said Dr....

[The entire page is 1034 words long]

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

eNotes Pass