Which Parenting Competencies Are Most Helpful in Raising Teens?

Abstract

A new online questionnaire was used to measure 12 competencies that have been shown in empirical studies to be helpful in the parenting of teens. A concurrent study design was used to evaluate the new test with data obtained from a diverse online sample of 1,431 parents in 54 countries (74.4% from the U.S.). Total scores were positively correlated with four desirable self-reported parenting outcomes: relationship quality with offspring, happiness of offspring, success of offspring, and health of offspring, as well as with self-reported parenting ability. Regression analyses showed that the competency we called Love, Support, and Listen to Your Teen was the best predictor of desirable outcomes. We conclude that the parenting of teens can be broken down into trainable competencies, and our study provides some guidance regarding how such training should be conducted.

Keywords: parenting skills, parenting teens, online testing, competency tests, Epstein Teen Parenting Inventory, ETPI