Risk acceptability in families with adolescents

This study has the goal to study the antecedents of deviance risk behavior, starting from consolidated results between beliefs and behavior (Torregrosa, 2007; Attanasio, 2011). For this purpose, we decide to examine the influence of the parental risk beliefs on the development of adolescents risk’s beliefs. In particular, the present study that has involved 41 families with an adolescent 14 -17 years old has the aim to analyze the intergenerational continuity of risk’s beliefs between parents and their children. In this study, we explored the construct of risk acceptability. We investigated the presence of a relation between parental risk’s beliefs and adolescent risk’s beliefs and the influence on this relationship of parental dynamics. Results showed that the parental risk acceptability predict the children risk acceptability but not children risk behavior. Again, we found that when children perceive low maternal warmth and high antagonism, the link between parental and adolescents risk acceptability increase in size. On the contrary, paternal high warmth and low antagonism influences the relationship between two beliefs. So, results support the current literature in emphasize parental framework as highly influencing the adjusted or misadjusted outcomes.