Yes, parents, it reflects on you: Norms and Metanorms regulating teen daughters and parents

Objective

Examine normative expectations of teens and parents related to teen behaviors in multiple domains.

Background

Parenting expectations have strengthened in an increasingly evaluative context. Existing literature does not address whether parents are evaluated based on their teens’ actions. We argue that understanding the pressures parents face is facilitated by an understanding of norms, which regulate behavior, and metanorms, which regulate the sanctioning of norm violations.

Method

Using an online vignette experiment, we tested three hypotheses about norm expectations evaluating a 16-year-old female's behavior and metanorm expectations evaluating her parents based on the teens’ behavior. 786 US adults were randomly assigned to one of eight vignettes varying a teen daughter's behavior with respect to contraception, number of sexual partners, shoplifting, and academic performance.

Results

Participants expected negative reactions to the teen girl when she engaged in nonnormative behaviors. They also expected she was more likely to be pregnant, even when the nonnormative behavior was not sexual. They expected more negative reactions to her parents based on her nonnormative behavior, even when nothing was known about their parenting. In some cases, the effects were smaller for parents than for the girl but still notable.

Conclusion

Parents and teens are both held accountable for teens’ behavior.

Implications

The study extends the theoretical understanding of metanorms and has implications for understanding parental reactions to teens’ behaviors.