To Örebro University

Supporting parents in their parenthood is animportant issue. The Swedish government decided in 2008 to implement a national strategy for supporting good parenthood. Previous research has focused on parental monitoring and involvement and studies of adolescents’ attitudes to and perception of parents. But there is a knowledge gap with regard to adolescents’ perceptions on how parents should be. In line with UN ChildConvention it is important to listen to their perceptions and ideas.

Objectives: The study aims at giving voice to adolescents’ views on parenthood and familylife. This study explores their perceptions of how they wish mothers and fathers to be like, and how young people wish the family to be.

Methods: Nineteen adolescents, 15 and 16 years old, were interviewed individually, and a thematic content analysis was used. Two researchers independently analyzed the interviews and differences in categorizations were settled after discussion. 

Findings: The adolescents describe the family as a unit, which has a commonresponsibility. The family may look different, but most important is the feeling of solidarity. The adolescent consider it very valuable to do things all together in the family. The adolescents had a lot of views on how they want a parent to be. They mostly expressed traditional expectations on both mothers and fathers. Parent attitudes are important as well as the communication between children and parents. Parents have a responsibility for the child and for the family. The adolescents also expressed wanted and unwanted parental behaviors.

Conclusions: The very positive attitude to parents among the adolescents is discussed, and also the traditional view on the mother’s role and the father’s role. Parentsupport programs should consider adolescents’ views on the family and on parents.