'Argumentative teens less likely to succumb to peer pressure'

Researchers at the University of Virginia found that teenagers who stand up for themselves when they disagree with their parents are far from being reckless and less likely to succumb to peer pressure.

In contrast, those who readily bend to their parents' will and abandon their opinion in order to avoid conflict are less autonomous and may be less equipped to resist pressure from friends, the researchers found.

"The healthy autonomy they'd established at home seemed to carry over into their relationships with peers," Dr Joseph Allen, who led the study, was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph.

The scientists also reported that teenagers who had high levels of support from their mothers at the 13 were less likely to adopt the same patterns of substance use as their friends by their mid-teens, possibly indicating that they were more independently-minded.

For their study, published in the Child Development journal, the researchers studied a group of more than 150 teenagers and their parents when the children were aged 13, 15 and 16 to examine how factors like their relationships with family and friends and social skills might influence their chance of using alcohol or drugs.

They found that children who at 13 were able to defend their view in a reasoned argument with parents about subjects like school grades, money or household rules were less likely to share the same pattern of drink and drug use as their friends at the age of 16.

Study co-author Joanna Chango said: "It is not a case of shouting, pressuring or whining to get what they want -- it is being persuasive in a reasoned, calm manner.
"If teens can learn how to do that at home they are largely able to take that into their peer group as well."