It runs in the family: parental influence on adolescents’ compliance with social distancing measures during Covid-19 lockdowns

Compliance with public health measures of adolescents who are often unfairly portrayed as spreaders of the Coronavirus is essential for controlling the pandemic. But does adolescents’ compliance develop independently from their parents? Using nationally representative longitudinal data and cross-lagged Structural Equation Panel Models I study compliance with social distancing measures of 6,754 triplets that comprise the adolescent child (age 19), their mother, and father during two national lockdowns in the UK. Results show that adolescents have the lowest and their mothers have the highest levels of compliance, and compliance generally drops over time. Moreover, parents, particularly mothers have significant influence on their adolescent child’s compliance. The child also has, albeit smaller effects on their parents’ compliance. Parental influence on adolescents’ compliance documented here thus redistributes some of the responsibility off adolescents towards all generations and calls for public health policies and campaigns that consider these family dynamics.