“Peers I Can Monitor, It’s Media That Really Worries Me!”

Abstract

The current study examines proactive parenting strategies used to deal with potentially conflicting messages of values presented by agents outside the family. Forty European American mothers with children ages 11 to 16 participate in semistructured, in-depth interviews. Quantitative and qualitative findings reveal that parental strategy choice varies depending on the source of influence parents are combating, with parents using more controlling strategies in response to media influences than peer influences. Findings also suggest that parental cognitions of the degree of threat to values, the child’s susceptibility, and the importance of values are differentially predictive of parental strategy choice as a function of the source of influence. Parental goals have the most consistent influence on strategy choice, with more controlling goals consistently predicting more controlling parenting strategies. The current study adds to our knowledge of parenting in the face of conflicting sources of values and provides important questions for future research.