How responsible are parents and why do some children follow their parents' model while others don't?

I think parents are extremely responsible for their childs health and wellbeing. As our book states, the family represents the greatest source of influence on a person. Parents have the ability to help their children overcome massive obstacles as well as create obstacles for their children. Unfortunately, modern parenting is not always innate and many situations keep parents from performing parental tasks as well as they might. A study by Wolff and Crockett (2011) found that maternal support, paternal support, child autonomy, and peer groups were all related to adolescents engagement in risky behaviors. Parents reduce the chance that their child might engage in risky behaviors through their support of the child and discouragement of the behavior, being available after school and at other risky times, and finally by monitoring their childs peer group. While parents are not around during school and cannot control all the people their child comes into contact with, their active engagement in the childs life can significantly reduce the risk that their child will engage in destructive behaviors. A study by Luthar and Latendresse (2002) found that affluent students were more likely to engage in risky behaviors. They found a connection between the pressure students felt from their parents to achieve and drug use. Middle class parents can therefore help to reduce risky behaviors by emphasizes personal characteristics over achievements. While an individuals personality will obviously play an important part in their likelihood to engage in risky behaviors, I good parenting can overcome personality. While many children follow their parents model, I think the reason some do not is related to the concept of resilience and non-familial resources. If a child is able to adapt and thrive in a bad situation, they will be less likely to repeat their parents destructive behaviors. On the other hand, a child that cannot adapt will not be able to gain the skills necessary to create a different model to follow. Similarly, a child that may have poor parental models but has a positive model in another adult will be more likely to break the cycle than a child that lacks a positive alternative role model. For example, a child with a strong connection with positive grandparents, teachers, babysitters, or other influential adults can choose to model after those adults instead of their parents.

Wolff, M. J., & Crockett, J. L. (2011). The role of deliberative decision making, parenting, and friends in adolescent risk behaviors. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40(12), 1607-1622. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10964-011-9644-8 Luthar, S. S., & Latendresse, S. J. (2002). Adolescent risk: The costs of affluence. New Directions For Youth Development, 2002(95), 101-121.