Walking the walk: The moderating role of proactive parenting on adolescentsʹ value-congruent behaviors

The current study longitudinally examined adolescentsʹ internalization of values in four domains (drug use, prosocial, school, friends), and how these values were differentially related to behaviors (delinquency, prosocial behavior, school engagement, and deviant peer association) as a function of proactive parenting. Participants included 335 adolescents (M age of child at Time 2 = 12.28, SD = .99, 51% female) and their parents. Analyses examined associations between adolescentsʹ values at Time 3 and corresponding behaviors at Time 4, and the moderating role of proactive parenting (assessed at Time 2 using cluster analysis). Results suggested that adolescents with the most consistent value-congruent behavior had parents who used deference or reasoned deference as an approach to proactive parenting, highlighting the importance of autonomy supportive parenting in the encouragement of self-generated values and corresponding behaviors. Discussion focused on value-congruent behaviors and associations between values and behaviors across domains.