Parental Roles in Adolescent Self-Care Practices

2003 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 14572284
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Clinical nursing
• Research Institution: University of Miyazaki
• Principal Investigator: KUSABA Hifumi University of Miyazaki, School of Medicine, Professor, 医学部, 教授 (30153282)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): NOMAGUCHI Chikaho University of Miyazaki, School of Medicine, Associate Professor, 医学部, 助教授 (40237871) ; NAKATOMI Rika University of Miyazaki, School of Medicine, Assistant, 医学部, 助手 (20347066) ; FUZIMARU Chihiro Kurume University, School of Medicine, Professor, 医学部, 教授 (40279237)
• Project Period (FY): 2002 – 2003
• Keywords: self-care practice / adolescence / parental role / parental support / time-attitude / health habit / perception of health / nursing theory

Research Abstract

The present study examines parental roles in the promotion of self-care practices of adolescents. The relationships between self-care practices of adolescents and those of their parents, the practices used by parents to promote self-care of their adolescent children, and various influencing factors are investigated.
Participants included 350 junior high school students and 250 parents (248 sets of students-parents) who completed self-reporting questionnaires.
Results of analyses are as follows :
1.From multiple regression analysis, factors affecting parental support for adolescent self-care practices were found to differ for male and female adolescents. For males, the enhancing factor of the parental support is "parent's health habits", while the reducing factor is "adolescent's self-care practices". For females, the parental support was affected by "adolescent's self-care practices", "parent's health habits", "mother's age", and "Limitation of activity"
2.The results of multiple regressio n analysis indicates that factors enhancing male adolescents' self-care include "time-attitude (positive emotional state)" and "Limitation of activity" for males, while include "time-attitude (positive emotional state)", "age", and "parent's support of adolescent's self-care".
3.Adolescents' feelings about their parents' self care support indicated they felt dissatisfied with the support (dissatisfied with mother: 24%, dissatisfied with father: 13%), or they felt the support was excessive (excessive support from mother: 48%, excessive support from father: 47%). Self-care practices were found to be low in children who reported feeling discontented with their parents' support.
4.Parents also reported feeling that support of self-care for their adolescent was insufficient (85%).
These results suggest that the parents' health habits and support of self-care influenced the self care of the adolescents. While children need self-care support from their parents, some differences exist between the parents' ideas about supporting self-care and the child's needs. The future research should investigate ways to lessen the gap between the parents' ideas and child's needs.