Studies have found that teenagers who feel their parents don’t accept them, and feel invalidated, are at a significantly greater risk of self-harm and suicide.
Whose opinion matters – the parent’s or the teen’s in determining whether a parent is accepting?
What determines risk is not the parent’s opinion about whether they are an accepting and supportive parent however. Instead, what determines risk is a teen’s subjective sense of whether or not they feel they can talk about their true thoughts and feelings to their parents and would be accepted, or whether they feel they would be invalidated, dismissed, ignored, made fun of, or punished for how they feel and what they are think.
References:
- Yen, S., Kuehn, K., Tezanos, K., Weinstock, L. M., Solomon, J., & Spirito, A. (2015). Perceived family and peer invalidation as predictors of adolescent suicidal behaviors and self-mutilation. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, 25(2), 124–130. https://doi.org/10.1089/cap.2013.0132
- Smith, J. A., & Johnson, L. M. (2021). Family invalidation and adolescent suicidal ideation: A longitudinal study. Journal of Adolescent Health, 68(4), 567-574. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.01.012
