Abstract
In the context of a model of health-related social control, we compared the associations among social control strategies, affective and behavioral reactions, and exercise for parental and peer influence agents. Late adolescent college students (n=227) completed questionnaires that focused on social control from a parent or a peer who attempted to increase their exercising. Results from this cross-sectional study revealed that most relationships in the model were similar for parent and peer influence agents, however, (a) negative social control was a stronger predictor of reactance among parents than peers; (b) positive affect was a stronger predictor of attempts to change among peers than parents; and (c) positive affect predicted frequency of strenuous exercise only among parents. Decreasing parents' use of negative social control strategies and increasing adolescents' positive affective reactions to parental social control agents may be keys to promoting positive lifestyle changes in late adolescence.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 543-554 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Journal of Adolescence |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 2014 |
Keywords
- Exercise
- Late adolescence
- Parents
- Peers
- Physical activity
- Social control
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health
- Social Psychology
- Developmental and Educational Psychology
- Psychiatry and Mental health