To elucidate the benefits ascribed to parental monitoring, the authors examined links between parental knowledge and methods of obtaining knowledge about adolescents' activities, and links between these constructs and adolescent adjustment. The roles of parent gender, adolescent gender, and family earner status in these associations were also studied. Participants were 95 adolescents (ages 10 to 17 years, 60% male and 40% female) and their parents. Mothers knew more about adolescents' activities than did fathers and were more likely than fathers to gain information by active supervision or voluntary disclosure from the adolescent. Fathers, more than mothers, received information via spouses. Active methods of supervision predicted more knowledge among fathers and mothers from dual-earner families but not among mothers from single-earner families. More maternal knowledge predicted lower adolescent deviance. No method of gaining knowledge predicted adjustment directly.

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