- The Observer,
- Sunday April 14 2002
Exploding the myth that single mothers struggling to control their offspring are to blame for juvenile delinquency, the findings suggest that workaholic or distant parents with no time to listen to older children pose a greater threat.
The study will spark renewed debate over family life, placing question marks over the freedom granted to teenagers in modern Britain, and comes amid wide spread political concern over anti-social behaviour.
Teenagers who felt emotionally 'connected' to at least one parent were up to a third less likely to show some types of problem behaviour, according to the study of 12,000 American high-school students to be presented at a conference on Thursday organised by the National Family and Parenting Institute. Home Secretary David Blunkett will also address the conference.
Professor Robert Blum, the report's author, said that cramming teenagers' lives with joint family outings did not help. Instead parents should supervise free time - or get other trusted adults to do so - and make themselves available at the four key times of the day: early mornings, immediately after school, suppertime and bedtime.
'It's not about going to the football match or to the shopping mall with them,' said Blum, professor of paediatrics and adolescent health at the University of Minnesota.
'Know the names of your kids' friends, know who their parents are and speak with them, know your children's teachers. Be available when they need to talk, don't hesitate to talk to them even when you think they're not listening - and, when you are talking, turn off the television.'
Physically supervising teenagers' free time was more effective in preventing drug and alcohol use than other problems.
'There has been a big debate in the States that you have to be there after school, and for substance abuse - drugs, alcohol - that seems to be truer. But if there were a key time during the day, it would be dinner time,' Blum said.
Working parents not at home after school could compensate by telephoning or leaving notes.
In the study, schoolchildren between 12 and 18 answered 17 questions testing connection to parents, including feeling able to talk to and have fun with them. They also answered five questions on connection to school, including popularity with classmates and feeling well treated by teachers.
These answers were compared with reported experimentation with drugs and alcohol, depressive thoughts, teenage pregnancy and early sexual experience. The students have been tracked over six years. Results so far showed family connection was 'powerfully' linked to a lower risk of problem behaviour. Only 1 per cent of 'school-connected' teenagers became pregnant, while nearly one in five of those who scored as 'not at all connected' had.
Teenagers working more than 20 hours a week part-time were more at risk of drug and alcohol use and early sex. Single parenthoood, however, was a minor factor. 'Even if you have no parents, if there is another adult with whom you feel connected, that is still compensatory,' Blum said.
Kate Green, director of the National Council of One-Parent Families, said single parents would welcome the findings. 'Single parents have a hard and lonely job and they tend to be criticised for doing it,' she said.
