The Parent-Self-Peer Model

Adolescents are often susceptible to the opinions of peers,such as their friends, activity partners and co-workers. In twostudies, we test an integrative model of adolescent susceptibilityto peer influence that includes parenting style as driver, theadolescent self-concept as mediator, and the cultural context asmoderator of the level of susceptibility. The overarching findingin our studies is that responsive parenting reduces susceptibilityby influencing the adolescent self-concept, while psychologicallycontrolling parenting increases susceptibility without influencingthe adolescent self-concept. We also show that culture can modifythese effects of parenting such that, within collectivist easterncultures, psychological control influences susceptibility to peerinfluence through changes in adolescents? self-concept.

Autorentext
Zhiyong Yang (BSc, MSc, MBA, and Ph.D.) received his doctoraldegree in Marketing from Concordia University, Montreal, Canada in2007. His current research interests include family consumptionbehavior, online information processing, and cross-culturalstudies.

Klappentext
Adolescents are often susceptible to the opinions of peers, such as their friends, activity partners and co-workers. In two studies, we test an integrative model of adolescent susceptibility to peer influence that includes parenting style as driver, the adolescent self-concept as mediator, and the cultural context as moderator of the level of susceptibility. The overarching finding in our studies is that responsive parenting reduces susceptibility by influencing the adolescent self-concept, while psychologically controlling parenting increases susceptibility without influencing the adolescent self-concept. We also show that culture can modify these effects of parenting such that, within collectivist eastern cultures, psychological control influences susceptibility to peer influence through changes in adolescents? self-concept.