The Relationship Between Perceived Parental Monitoring and Health Risk Behaviors Adolescents

Poor parental monitoring has long been associated with a number of adolescent health risk behaviors. Recent studies assert that parental monitoring is actually parental knowledge, rather than parenting behaviors suggesting that parents have less influence over their child than once thought. This study examines the associations between adolescents’ perceptions of parental monitoring and adolescent health risk behaviors. An ethnically diverse sample of 1,205 male and female students in grades 7-11 completed questionnaires regarding their perceptions of parent-child relationship quality, parental knowledge, parent monitoring behaviors, and health risk behaviors. Results indicate that there is a relationship between parental monitoring and health risk behaviors both directly through parental knowledge and indirectly through parenting behaviors. Implications for future research and health education practice will be offered.