title: Parent-Child Engagement in Decision Making and the Development of Adolescent Affective Decision Capacity and Binge Drinking.
abstract: The goal of this study was to investigate how parents' engagement of their child in everyday decision-making influenced their adolescent's development on two neuropsychological functions, namely, affective decision-making and working memory, and its effect on adolescent binge-drinking behavior.We conducted a longitudinal study of 192 Chinese adolescents. In 10(th) grade, the adolescents were tested for their affective decision-making ability using the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and working memory capacity using the Self-ordered Pointing Test (SOPT). Questionnaires were used to assess perceived parent-child engagement in decision-making, academic performance and drinking behavior. At one-year follow-up, the same neuropsychological tasks and questionnaires were repeated.Results indicate that working memory and academic performance were uninfluenced by parent-child engagement in decision-making. However, compared to adolescents whose parents made solitary decisions for them, adolescents engaged in everyday decision-making showed significant improvement on affective decision capacity and significantly less binge-drinking one year later.These findings suggest that parental engagement of children in everyday decision-making might foster the development of neurocognitive functioning relative to affective decision-making and reduce adolescent substance use behaviors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bechara
authors.forename: Paula H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Palmer
authors.forename: Dennis R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Trinidad
authors.forename: Yonglan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.forename: C Anderson
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Johnson