Negative stereotypes can lead to teen misbehaviour

Washington, Oct 18 (ANI): A new study, conducted by Wake Forest University researchers, has shown that when parents expect their teenage kids to conform to negative stereotypes, those teens are in fact more likely to do so.

"Parents who believe they are simply being realistic might actually contribute to a self-fulfilling prophecy. Negative expectations on the part of both parents and children predict more negative behaviours later on," said Christy Buchanan, professor of psychology.

In her study, Buchanan found that adolescents whose mothers expected them to take more risks and be more rebellious reported higher levels of risk-taking behaviour than their peers one year later. The same was true for adolescents' negative expectations.

"Higher expectations for risk-taking and rebelliousness predict higher levels of problem behaviour, even controlling for many other predictors of such behaviour," Buchanan said.

More than 250 adolescents and their mothers participated in the study. The adolescents were sixth or seventh graders at the beginning of the study; they were resurveyed a year later.

The researchers said that parents who expect their kids to suddenly become James Dean when they turn 13, even if they have not been rebellious earlier in life, might be making an important mistake.

"Sometimes parents expect more negative behaviour from their own adolescents than they should based on the adolescent's history of behaviour," Buchanan said.

"By thinking risk-taking or rebelliousness is normal for teenagers and conveying that to their children, parents might add to other messages from society that make teenagers feel abnormal if they are not willing to take risks or break laws. This can mean, for example, that when parents expect teens to drink before they turn 21 or to engage in other risky behaviours, kids are less likely to resist societal pressures to do so," Buchanan added.

Buchanan said that because negative risk-taking during adolescence can lead to a variety of problems, parents should not be naïve about the possibility of such behaviour.

However, expectations that teenagers can not only resist such pressures but also exhibit positive behaviours might help reduce the incidence of negative risk-taking.

The study has been published in the Journal of Research on Adolescence. (ANI)