HHS HealthBeat (April 13, 2007)

Learning from their parents

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I'm Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Kids learn from Mom and Dad. So if Mom and Dad act badly, guess how the kids turn out?

Shannon Dogan of the University of California, Davis looked at high schoolers' assessments of what their parents did – things like using drugs or alcohol, driving recklessly, conflicts with others, and lying:

"I think the teens learned from their parents. The results of this study suggest that when adolescents are aware of their parents' antisocial behavior, they tend to engage in similar types of activities." (10 seconds)

Dogan thinks parents need to live right if they want to help their kids live right. And she says teens with parents who don't live right can try to learn better from other grown-ups.

The study in the journal Child Development was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at www.hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: April, 18 2007