Child Trends
Child Trends drew on data from the 2003 National Survey of Children’s Health to look at the relationships of parents and children living with them between the ages of 6 and 17 by analyzing parent-child closeness, the degree to which parents share ideas and talk about things that matter with their children and parents’ acquaintance with their children’s friends.
Results show that high parental involvement and positive parent-child interactions endure throughout childhood into the teenage years for most adolescents. Specifically, 87 percent of parents reported feeling very close to their children, 75 percent of parents reported that they can share and talk very well about things that really matter with their children and 85
These findings were apparent even among parents of adolescent children, ages 12 to 17, who are often presumed to feel distant from their children. Free, seven pages. (202) 572-6000, http://www.childtrends.org/Files//Child_Trends-2008_08_06_FS_ParentChild.pdf.
