In the shadow of Columbine Working parents rethink their strategies for raising teenagers

In the shadow of Columbine

Working parents rethink their strategies for raising teenagers

Kaplan

Elaine Bell

Kaplan, Elaine Bell

Author

University of California, Berkeley

Center for Working Families

University of California, Berkeley. Center for Working Families

Sponsor

text

working paper

Berkeley, CA Center for Working Families, University of California, Berkeley 2002 2002 monographic

Berkeley, CA

Center for Working Families, University of California, Berkeley

2002

monographic

English eng

English

eng

electronic application/pdf 1 p. born digital

electronic

application/pdf

1 p.

born digital

This study is based on in-depth interviews with thirty-two employed middle-class parents of teenagers. This study addresses the parent's notions about safety, danger, violence, the Internet and the care required to raise teenagers. The findings suggest that parents divide into two groups of parental care by age of the teenager: Each grouping captures these parents' belief systems about parenting, their own experiences as teenagers, and their desire to understand the world of their teenagers. This study reveals that each group of parents had to contend with a number of challenges to their parental authority and with institutional and cultural changes that affected their relationships with their teenagers. In this study, parents admit to feelings of insecurity, uneasiness, and of doubting their ability to parent teenagers. The study concludes by arguing that parents of teenagers need support from their communities and from the larger society.

Elaine Bell Kaplan is a Senior Postdoctoral Researcher at the Center for Working Families and Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Southern California.

Berkeley Center for Working Families Working Paper No. 57

Berkeley Center for Working Families Working Paper

No. 57

Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons "Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States" (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/)

wfn_bwpaper_33.pdf

MChB English eng

MChB

English eng

English

eng