The Social Ecology of Parental Monitoring: Parent–Child Dynamics in a High‐Risk Peruvian Neighborhood

• Published in: Family process 2021-03, Vol.60 (1), p.199-215
• Main Authors: Pizarro, Katherine W., Surkan, Pamela J., Bustamante, Inés V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Caregiving; Childrearing practices; Children; Crime; Disclosure; Ecology; Economic factors; Economic hardship; Families & family life; Family relations; Family roles; Father-child relations; Gender roles; Human ecology; Interviews; Latin America; Latin American cultural groups; Mothers; Neighborhoods; Parent participation; Parenting; Parents & parenting; Parent‐Child Relations; Perceptions; Peru; Prevention programs; Protective Factors; Risk behavior; Risk perception; Secondary schools; Social dynamics; Sociocultural factors; Substance abuse; Teenagers
• ISSN: 0014-7370; 1545-5300
• DOI: 10.1111/famp.12542

While parental monitoring is understood to protect adolescents from engaging in risk behaviors, little is known about how the family dynamics involved in parental monitoring differ across sociocultural contexts. We sought to gain an in‐depth understanding of parent–child relationship dynamics and parental knowledge of adolescents’ activities in an urban Peruvian neighborhood with high levels of crime and adolescent substance use. We conducted 15 in‐depth interviews and two focus groups with adolescents and 12 in‐depth interviews with mothers sampled from a secondary school in Callao, Peru. Our findings emphasize the importance of parent–child confianza (trust) as a foundation for parental awareness of adolescents’ lives and activities. Participants in our sample characterized confianza as encouraging adolescent disclosure and shaping how parental solicitation and rules were interpreted by adolescents. Participants described how confianza was rooted in features of the parent–child relationship, including shared parent–child time, parental affection, adolescent perceptions of parents’ ability to give good advice, and awareness of how parents would react to delicate topics. Participants linked these family dynamics, in turn, to economic hardship, parental feelings of sacrifice and stress, perceptions of neighborhood risk, and gender norms limiting fathers’ involvement in caregiving. Results have implications for the planning and adaptation of family‐based prevention programs for use in high‐risk contexts in Latin America. Resumen Si bien existe una comprensión en relación a que la supervisión de los padres protege a los adolescentes de participar en comportamientos de riesgo, se sabe poco acerca de cómo la dinámica familiar involucrada en la supervisión difiere en distintos contextos socioculturales. Se buscó obtener una comprensión profunda de la dinámica de la relación entre padres e hijos y el conocimiento parental acerca de las actividades de los adolescentes en un barrio urbano peruano con altos niveles de delito y de abuso de sustancias por adolescentes. Realizamos 15 entrevistas a profundidad y dos grupos focales con adolescentes, y 12 entrevistas a profundidad con madres, que fueron seleccionadas en una escuela secundaria en Callao, Perú. Nuestros hallazgos enfatizan la importancia de la confianza entre padres e hijos como la base del conocimiento de los padres sobre la vida y actividades de los adolescentes. Los participantes en este estudio caracter