Boarding Schools for Girls

Teens have stronger ties to their parents today than any time in the past 30 years, according to a study from Project Teen Canada. Researchers said the results would probably be the same for the United States.

Every eight years, researchers with Project Teen Canada ask 5,500 teens the same questions about their relationships with their parents.

• This year only 42 percent of the surveyed teens said they had arguments at least once a week with their parents; in 1992, 52 percent of surveyed teens reported weekly arguments with their parents.
• Eighty percent of teens said they enjoyed their parents' company, compared to 70 percent in 1992.
• Fewer than 40 percent said their parents did not understand them, compared to 58 percent who answered this way in 1992.

Reginald Biddy, a sociologist at the University of Lethbridge, said that todays parents are doing a better job of balancing careers and family lives.

"Relational enjoyment requires focus, and focusing requires time," Dr. Biddy said in a May 14 article on the website of the New York Times Magazine. Parents are putting more time into their children, enjoying them more and having more influence over them, thus lowering stress for everyone, Dr. Biddy said in the Times article.

Positive relationships between parents and teens have been cited as among the most important positive influences in the effort to reduce issues including teen substance abuse, teen eating disorders, and teen pregnancy.

Labels: relationships, teenagers, parents, communication

Posted By: Aspen/CRC