Main description:

According to the study conducted by Gallup Organization, only a minority of Americans experience consistent normative motivation for engaging with other people's children. Social norms theory suggests that adults are more likely to get deeply involved if that involvement is viewed as highly important, and if they perceive a social expectation to do so.

This volume examines the nature of social norms in general and in relationship to children and adolescents. The book examines the complex dynamics of understanding the appropriate roles of parents and other adults in young people's healthy development. The volume also presents the study's findings in detail, including numerous areas of consensus among American adults, differences among American adults, and the gap between perceived importance and actual engagement. A wide-ranging literature synthesis suggests implications for both personal and collective actions with potential to change norms that inhibit engagement and to strengthen values that encourage engagement.

Contents:

1. Adults' Real Relationships with Young People.- 2. Parents, Other Adults, and Responsibility for Positive Child and Youth Development.- 3. The Nature and Operation of Social Norms.- 4. How Content and Culture Influence Adults' Sense of Reasonable Responsibility for Young People.- 5. Personal and Collective Action to Raise Healthy, Caring, Competent Young People: Defining Reasonable Responsibilities and Expectations for All Adults.- 6. Engagement with Kids: An American Consensus on Core Adult Actions.- 7. Normative Fragmentation: The Disappearance of Consensus.- 8. Multiple Normative Americas: The Differences among Us.- 9. Strategies for Increasing Adult Engagement with Other People's Kids.- Appendix A: Study Methodology.- Appendix B: Forced-Choice National Survey Questions.- Appendix C: Hypothetical Situations Posed for In-Depth Interviews.- Appendix D: Sampling Tolerance.- References.- About the Author.