Differentiating parent practices related to adolescent behavior in the free time context

The purpose of this study was to examine parenting practices associated with adolescent free time use. Interviews (n = 17) were conducted with parents of adolescents (12-14 years) in two communities. Eight were from a university-based community in the northern U.S., and nine were recruited from rural communities outside a large metropolitan center in Eastern Canada. The parents in this study used a number of practices to structure, regulate and support their adolescents' behavior in the free time domain. These practices extended from: (a) parents' beliefs and expectations of the free time context, (b) the ways in which parents communicated and enforced these beliefs and expectations, (c) parents' actions to direct their adolescents' activity engagement, (d) strategies used to monitor the adolescents' activities, (e) the provision of resources to support preferred activity engagement, and (f) parents' efforts to support autonomous behavior in the free time context. The results are discussed in terms of extant literature on parental structuring and support of adolescents' free time behavior and leisure interests.