Maternal Disapproval of Friends: Impact on Peer Status and Child Conduct Problems

Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH)

Maternal Disapproval of Friends: Impact on Peer Status and Child Conduct Problems
In this Papers Podcast, Professor Goda Kaniušonytė and Professor Brett Laursen discuss their co-authored JCPP paper ‘Maternal disapproval of friends in response to child conduct problems damages the peer status of pre- and early adolescents’. There is an overview of the paper, key findings, and implications for practice.
Learning Objectives
1. Definition of what ‘low peer status’ looks and feels like from the child’s perspective.
2. The types of things mothers were doing to show their disapproval and how this impacted their children.
3. Why this type of parental interference proved counterproductive in terms of conduct behaviours and the children’s peer status.
4. Why peer status decreases when mothers disapprove of friends and why this leads to greater behaviour problems. 5. Advice for parents who disapprove of their child’s friends.
6. Implications of findings for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH) professionals.