Parental influences on friendships of low-income ethnically diverse adolescents: A longitudinal analysis of adolescent perspectives

The purpose of this longitudinal investigation was to examine the influence of adolescents' perceptions of parental beliefs and rules regarding friendships (direct effects) and adolescent/mother and adolescent/father relationships (indirect effects) on adolescents' friendship quality from middle to late adolescence. In addition, this study also examined if the association between adolescents' perceptions of parental beliefs and rules regarding friendships may vary by race/ethnicity or gender of adolescent. A sample of 160 Black, Latino, and Asian American adolescents completed questionnaires at five time points assessing their perception of parental beliefs and rules regarding friendships and their relationship quality with their mothers and fathers. Adolescents also completed questionnaires assessing the quality of their relationship with their friends. Results indicated that both parental direct (parental rules regarding friendships) and indirect (relationship quality with mother and father) influences are associated with their friendship quality over time. In other words, as adolescents' perception of parental rules becomes lenient over time, their friendship quality becomes closer. In addition, as adolescents perceive their relationships with their mothers' and fathers' to become better over time, their relationship with their friends also grows closer. Ethnic/racial and gender differences in the association between adolescents' perception of parental rules regarding friendships and adolescents' friendship quality was also found, indicating that the association between adolescent perception of parental rules regarding friendship and friendship quality is stronger for Latino than Asian American and for boys as compared to girls. Additionally, adolescent perception of parental rules regarding friendships mediated the relationship between adolescent perceptions of parental beliefs regarding friendships and their friendship quality. This finding suggests that adolescents' perception of parental beliefs regarding friendships influences their practices (rules regarding friendships), which in turn influences adolescents friendship quality.