* Paragraph 1: Less than half of adolescents and teens report receiving consistent emotional and social support from their parents.* Paragraph 1: Less than half of adolescents and teens report receiving consistent emotional and social support from their parents. * Paragraph 2: A study based on data from the National Health Interview Survey found that only 27.5% of teens reported always receiving the support they need, while 76.9% of parents believed their teens always received adequate support. * Paragraph 3: Boys and younger teens were more likely to report higher levels of perceived support. * Paragraph 4: Black and Hispanic teens, as well as sexual and gender minority teens, were less likely to report having enough support. * Paragraph 5: Teens from families with higher incomes and educational attainment, and those living in non-metropolitan areas and the Northeast were more likely to report receiving adequate support. * Paragraph 6: Teens with adequate support were less likely to experience health problems, depression, and poor sleep quality. * Paragraph 7: Researchers emphasize the need for further research on the quality and types of support that teenagers receive.
A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that adolescents and teens report that less than half of their parents say they always get the emotional and social support they need. In one survey, less than 30 percent of young people said they always get such support.
The analysis, released last week, is based on data collected by the National Health Interview Survey, which interviews a representative sample of U.S. residents. Nearly 1,200 adolescents ages 12 to 17 and about 4,400 parents were interviewed between July 2021 and December 2022.
When teens were asked how often they receive the social and emotional support they need, 27.5 percent answered “always,” 31 percent “most of the time,” 12.5 percent “rarely,” and 7.4 percent “never.”
But 76.9 percent of parents said their teens always get the support they need. The discrepancy could reflect differences in the survey, parents’ unwillingness to answer sensitive questions negatively for an interviewer, or different ideas about what constitutes social and emotional support, the researchers wrote.
Boys were more likely to report feeling higher levels of perceived support overall, and teens under 15 were more likely to report always or usually receiving such support than older teens.
Black and Hispanic teens were less likely to report having enough support than their white counterparts. Teens who are sexual and gender minorities also reported receiving less support than their counterparts. Teens whose parents had a bachelor’s degree or higher and whose families had higher incomes were more likely to report receiving enough support all or most of the time. This was also true for teens living in nonmetropolitan areas and the Northeast.
The researchers write that teens who reported having adequate support were less likely to have health problems, depression and poor sleep quality than their peers with less support.
The researchers call for continued research into the quality and types of support teenagers receive.
