Most people recognize that babies and young children need and love their parents. But what about teens? Even an adolescent's own parents can despair and wonder how their loving child has apparently become so rejecting.

But "apparently" is the crucial word. Results from a nationally representative survey of U.S. teens about the nature of their relationships with their parents, and the results of recent studies on parent-adolescent bonding, indicates otherwise.

The national survey shows that, in general, adolescents respect, admire and like their parents and enjoy spending time with them. These results dovetail and support the link between the quality of parent-child relationships and a wide range of positive outcomes for teens found in the studies on bonding. Moreover, the results mirror similar findings in industrial countires elsewhere in the world.

More specifically, the bonding research indicates that:

• Children and teens who have positive relationships with their parents tend to have better academic outcomes.

• Good relations between parents and adolescents lessen the likelihood that teens will exhibit problem behaviors.

• High quality parent-adolescent relationships have been linked repeatedly to mental, social and emotional well-being in adolescents and youth.

• Growing evidence shows that the apparently strong influence of the parent-child relationship on child and adolescent outcomes extend into adulthood.

The survey and bonding research results appear in an excellent review article entitled, Parent-Teen Relationships and Interactions: Far More Positive Than Not, by Drs. Kristen A. Moore, Lina Guzman, Elizabeth Hair and Laura Lippman and Sara Garrett.

There now exist several excellent parenting skill-building programs that help parents cope with the unique challenges of raising and relating to teenagers.

These programs not only provide parents with important information about the developmental characteristics of teenagers, but also about what it is like to be a teenager in today's technologically advanced, media saturated and drug use-pressuring times. Then they teach parents a set of positive strageties and skills on how best to supervise, nurture and relate to their adolescents.

By clicking on the titles of the programs listed below, you will be linked to the Parenting Skill-Building Programs page on the CICC website, where specific information about the content and format of each program can be viewed.

You will also learn how to bring the programs to your community, and how to obtain the Instructor Kits and Parent Handbooks for each program.

• Active Parenting of Teens

• STEP Teen: Systematic Training for the Effective Parenting of Teenagers

• Nurturing Program for Parents and Adolescents

Boys and girls who become parents while they are teenagers are essentially children raising children. So programs that are designed to help teen parents to be as effective as possible must also address this fact, and have content and assistance that helps these teens to cope with their own particular stage of development at the same time that they are involved in raising their own children.

A unique program that is designed with these dual purposes in mind is the Nurturing Program for Teenage Parents and Their Families. The program addresses the fact that these are adolescents who are coping with their own stage of development, as well as parents who are coping with their infant's and young children's development. In addition, the program also involves and provides training and support for the parents and families of teen parents. Another unique feature is that this program is designed to be taught to groups of parents, as well as having a version that can be taught on a one-to-one basis through home visiting.

Click here to learn more about this program for teen parents.

To further honor and educate parents, Dr. Kerby T. Alvy, the founder and executive director of the Center for the Improvement of Child Caring, now has his own web blog, EducatedParenting.com.

There, Dr. Alvy is sharing his over 30 years of experiences and knowledge in the fields of effective parenting and parenting education. Through bi-weekly posts or messages, he is addressing a wide range of topics and issues that are of importance to parents and to professionals that work with parents and children.

Included are information and viewpoints on the latest research on parenting and child development, commentary on current events and government actions, resources to assist parents in being as effective and peaceful as possible in raising the next generation, and the teaching of specific parenting skills.

Your opinions and ideas are valued on EducatedParenting.com. You can share them and Dr. Alvy will respond.

You can also sign-up to be alerted to the issues that are being addressed, so that you won't miss important discussions.