State versus trait conceptualizations of parental monitoring: a formulation and review

We propose and evaluate two competing conceptualizations of parental monitoring of youths’ activities—a trait conceptualization and a state conceptualization. In a trait conceptualization, the level of monitoring is largely stable over time within families and youth behavior at any given moment is affected by the overall level of monitoring over a long period (e.g., past few months, past year). In a state conceptualization, the level of monitoring varies substantially from moment-to-moment and youth behavior at any given moment is affected by the current, acute level of monitoring. The trait and state conceptualizations have contrasting implications for designing research, identifying causal mechanisms, intervening with families to improve monitoring, and anticipating how youth will respond to temporary changes in the level of monitoring. Reviewing the literature, we find that most prior research has implicitly adopted the trait conceptualization despite there being little theoretical analysis or empirical evidence to justify the choice of one conceptualization over the other. No study has reported on the day-to-day stability of monitoring, though a handful have reported low day-to-day stability for closely related constructs (e.g., parental knowledge). Too few studies have tested shorter-term or acute effects of monitoring to make strong conclusions about the timescale of effects, though the extant evidence does not support the idea that monitoring measured today affects youth outcomes measured 6-12 months into the future. We conclude that the extent to which monitoring is best conceptualized as a trait or state remains an important open question.