 Anyone who's ever been the parent of a teenager can be forgiven for assuming their child no longer listens to a word they say. But a growing body of research suggests that's actually not true. Instead, there is evidence that Canadian teens look to their parents as their primary source for injury prevention information. There's also research suggesting, however, that teens are also watching what their parents do and taking their cues from that - so if parents fail to wear a helmet while cycling or use their cellphone while driving, they shouldn't be surprised if their teens copy them.
Since its inception 20 years ago, SMARTRISK has focused much of its efforts on Canadian youth, with the goal of making them smart risk takers for life. As we learn the importance of parents in teens' risk decisions, however, we have begun developing a parent strategy. Funded by State Farm, we started with an extensive literature review on parents, teens and risk. We then surveyed about 300 parents and their 300 teenagers across Canada to test the research theories. Some interesting findings have emerged, which are guiding our strategy. A central research finding is that teens may be less likely to take unwise risks if their parents are knowledgeable about their activities, whereabouts and who they're with. For the knowledge to have that positive impact, however, teens should voluntarily share this information. How do parents get their teens to disclose? Not by grilling them. In fact, research finds that parents have the power to create an environment that encourages their teens to open up through these three factors: 1. Establishing parental control, with reasonable restrictions, rules and consequences (e.g., teens having to get parental approval before staying out late); 2. Promoting a warm relationship with their teen, so teens will not be afraid of parents' reactions when they choose to share difficult information; and 3. Scheduling fun family activities that teens will want to participate in. Parents able to develop these three variables may be more likely to have teens sharing information with them, and to have their teens be less likely to take dangerous, unwise risks. The literature review also found that teens would mimic parent risk behaviours. For example, based on what they would see their parents do, they might come to believe helmets are necessary only for children or that it's okay for more experienced drivers to have a couple of drinks before driving. SMARTRISK's own survey of parents and teens confirmed many of these points and suggested areas of work to be done with parents. For example, teens reported taking significantly greater risks than their parents believed they took; teens also rated their parents as less knowledgeable about their activities than their parents thought they were; and parents rated themselves higher on the warmth scale than their teens did. This research has given SMARTRISK an invaluable start in helping us to shape a parent strategy that will involve reaching out to parents of teens in a number of ways. To find out more about how we're proceeding, we invite you to visit the Parents tab at our youth website. | 
Young people spend far more time texting than talking on their cellphones, and that extends to when they're behind the wheel. That's one information nugget students from high schools in Fredericton and Toronto told us. Funded by a grant from State Farm's Youth Advisory Board, these No Regrets student leaders came together to take the lead on a distracted driving project aimed at their peers. They gathered in Toronto in October with their staff advisers, SMARTRISK's youth team and distracted driving experts. After a couple days of intensive work, the students emerged with a theme for their campaign and two key messages. 