Parental Responsiveness and Adolescent Susceptibility to Peer Influence: A Cross-Cultural Investigation

From a developmental perspective, this research focuses on how parental responsiveness affects adolescent susceptibility to peer influence both directly, and indirectly, through the key elements of adolescent self-concept (i.e., interdependent self-construal, self-esteem, and self-monitoring). Culture is incorporated as a moderator of these effects. The overarching finding in this study is that in individualist cultures such as Canada, responsiveness reduces susceptibility mainly through an indirect effect by undermining interdependent self-construal, fostering self-esteem, and impairing self-monitoring. However, in collectivist cultures such as China, responsive parenting reduces susceptibility primarily through a direct effect. These findings are largely due to the cultural differences in socialization goals oriented toward individualism versus collectivism.