Parental social control in reaction to a hypothetical lapse in their child's activity: The role of parental activity and importance

BackgroundActivity lapses have been identified as common in adolescents, and parents have been identified as trying to regulate a child's decline in activity by using social control. However, little is known about what prompts the use of social control by parents. Two possible antecedents include parents' activity and the importance parents place on their child's activity.ObjectivesThis study explored whether parent activity and importance for their child's activity would predict parents' intended use of social control following a hypothetical activity lapse by their child.MethodsParents (n = 148) were recruited from their child's activity program. Parents were provided with a vignette describing a hypothetical lapse in activity by their child and asked the likelihood that they would use positive, collaborative and negative social control to help their child become active again. Also, parents reported the importance they placed on their child being active and their own activity behavior.ResultsBoth the importance parents placed on their child's activity (sr = .28) and parent activity (sr = .18) were significant predictors of collaborative social control (R2 = .13). In terms of positive social control, parent activity and importance interacted to predict parents' intended use of this type of social control (R2 = .15). However, for negative social control, parent activity and importance were not significant predictors.ConclusionsThis study suggests that parent activity and the importance parents placed on their child being active may be important factors to consider when exploring parents' reaction (positive and collaborative social control) to an activity lapse by their child.