Question 2
If this study had also been conducted on the participants’ parents, do you think the results would differ greatly? If so, how?
posted by Meredith @ 6:05 PM
16 comments
ISU Dietetic Internship Journal Club
Objective: To become familiar with current scientific literature on a variety of nutrition topics and to gain experience in gathering, organizing, critically evaluating, presenting and facilitating group discussion of the literature and the implications to practice.
16 Comments:
I believe the results would have been different if parents were surveyed as well. Middle/high school students are at the typical age for disagreeing with their parents and testing their boundaries. This may skew the perceptions they have of their parents parenting style. For example, if one of the study’s participants was recently grounded during the time of the survey, they more than likely viewed their parents as authoritarian. Parents may have a more level-headed view on their own parenting styles, thus affecting the results.
I think that it could have differed, but I’m not sure if it would have been significantly. I think that having the parents complete the survey also would have given them a better picture of what is really going on. You don’t really know how credible the responses are when they are coming only from teenagers. Their responses could be skewed for a number of different reasons that can’t be controlled for. I think that having more participants and different viewpoints could have only made the results stronger, but not necessarily different.
I think it is possible that there could have been some differences in results if the parents took the survey as well, but I would think for the most part, when you are living with someone you have a pretty good idea of how they are in terms of their parenting style. As the research stated, parenting styles are those that stay steady over time, this is why I feel that there would not have been significant differences in the results. With that said there are many other factors that may have affected the survey results of the young-teenager responses, but I still do not believe the results so differ in a significant amount.
I actually was very surprised to see that the teenagers were surveyed and not the parents. I think that the parents would have been more credible participants than teenagers because, like the others mentioned, who knows what was going on with that teenager when they filled out their survey. They could have been upset with their parents or they could have exagerated their answers. The parents could have also done the same thing to make them seem better as a parent but I do not think a teenager's answer to questions regarding their parent's parenting style is credible. However, I do not think the results would have differed significantly but I think the study would have had stronger results if parents had answered the survey questions and not the teenagers.
I absolutely believe that the results of the study would have been different if the parents had been surveyed. I believe that the students likely exaggerate the expectations/demandingness of their parents, and that parents would likely do the opposite. Middle school is a time when kids rebel against their parents, and therefore perceive rules to be more stringent than they might be in reality. It would have been interesting to see this study conducted on the parents and the students and then measure the discrepancy.
Rose, I agree with you, with the temperament of teenagers, you can never be sure what may be influencing their responses. Not to discount their feelings or responses as inaccurate, but remembering back to my middle school/high school years, it makes sense.
I do think the results would differ greatly. Regardless of anonymity, I doubt many parents would feel comfortable admitting that their parenting style is something other than what they perceive to be "best" or "desired." The study may also trigger their thoughts to really evaluate their styles and the occurrence of any meal time causing them to have skewed responses. Kids are very honest and seem more likely to respond with more truthful answers than the parents.
Rose, you make a very valid point. The teenagers responses could be very skewed. Many questions trigger ideas in their minds that may cause their responses to be a bit off. Also, whether or not their current feelings toward their parent(s) is their typical or common feelings or simply altered due to a particular experience.
I agree with Amy that many parents wouldn’t feel comfortable admitting their parenting style is poor or what they perceive as a poor style. Also, like Bethany mentioned, I am also surprised that the parents weren’t surveyed in this study. It seems like it would be difficult to get valid results from this study considering the parents weren’t surveyed.
I think that the results would most likely be skewed since children at the middle/high school age tend to start rebelling against their parents and if they were causing issues in the household and the parents were reacting, the students could consider that being authoritarian. Then again, if the parent has been authoritative throughout the child's entire life, they may not feel the need to rebell and thus have a more level head about their parents parenting style.
Bethany brings up a good point that the parents may also skew results by answering questions to make themselves look like better parents. It is possible that both parties may skew the results for different reasons, but hopefully the parents would understand that importance of answering honestly more than the children.
I think that there would be bias on both ends, and probably in different directions. I definitely grew up with authoritative parents, and at the time, I thought they were too restrictive on certain subjects (I wasn't allowed to pierce my ears and had a very strict curfew during my teenage years). However, in hindsight, I can better understand why my parents raised me the way they did, and can look at it more objectively. My parents, on the other hand, will never be able to look at their parenting skills objectively because they weren't the one the parenting was directed at. I experienced this parenting style, and now that many years have passed, I think I could have some interesting things to say if someone interviewed me about it now. My parents, on the other hand, probably have a more static opinion of their parenting style, since they were the ones practicing it and who had control over it throughout the course of their children's lives.
I love your point Amy, I agree that kids are typically very honest (and open!) about how they feel about something. So, even if we as researchers wouldn't agree with the children's opinions, at least it would be a very truthful opinion. A parent's opinion involves self-reflection, so that honesty might not be as prevalent.
~Anna
I feel like the results would be different if the participants’ parents were surveyed. I feel like children are not always truthful or may exaggerate their responses at that age, specifically if they are not happy with their parents at the time. Parents today are also so busy with everything happening in their lives, that though having family meals together may be important, it is not very probable that it can happen every night, no matter how authoritarian they may act.
I agree with you Amy, that parents may not admit if they are poor parents and they may exaggerate the truth as well. I don't think many adults are willing to admit that they are neglectful parents.
This study could be compared to the arguement about the reliability of a food frequency questionnaire or 24-hour recall. Like most have mentioned, whoever takes the survey can have bias and exageration towards their answers and the results. This is why I think Sarah makes a great suggestion by having both the parents and the teenagers be participants and then compare the results of the two. However, again I am going to have to say that I do not think the results would be that different because hearing that an authoritative parenting style produces a higher frequency of family meals is not at all surprising and in fact makes a lot of sense. So could this study be improved, absolutely but I think the researchers got the results they were looking for.
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