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Drawing on sociological and psychological theoretical perspectives, this chapter elaborates on two research questions. How does parents' formal education influence children's internet use? And how does children's development by age interact with their family background in terms of an autonomous and competent use of the internet? The interrelation between these two processes, parental socialisation and development by age, helps us understand the interplay of children's activities in dealing with the internet and their parents' handling of that. The chapter first discusses the persistent importance of social inequality for information and communications technology (ICT) use in the industrialised countries. It then elaborates on a theoretical framework by discussing both children and parents' individual agency and how these are interlinked with respect to their societal status. Finally, based on the EU Kids Online dataset, it tests out the theoretical ideas and hypotheses and ask how parental socialisation shapes young people's online competences, and how children's development by age interacts with structural processes and dynamics of socialisation. Children with a lower socio-economic background agree that they know more about the internet than their parents, as these children might acquire internet skills often independently from their parents.

In this chapter, we turn to the risk behavior that appears to underlie many of the problems addressed so far. Low achievement in school has been shown to be an important predictor of substance abuse, delinquency, and early sexual intercourse. And as we will see, not only are many of the antecedents of poor school performance the same as those for other problem behaviors, so are the consequences. Moreover, low academic achievement is both a predictor and a consequence of other kinds of risk behavior, as well as being a problem in itself. Understanding the epidemiology of school failure and dropping out is fundamental to this book’s argument: that high-risk behaviors are interrelated and, therefore, interventions must be comprehensive. School failure is a process rather than a single risk event. A young person initiates hard drug use or has early unprotected sexual intercourse or first commits a delinquent act at a specific time and place. Usually these actions are voluntary and follow a personal decision (although they are heavily influenced by the social environment). Low achievement results from an array of forces, many of which are outside the control of the child. The quality of the school is, of course, a major factor, as are the actual classroom practices and attitudes of the teacher. Estimates of the risk of other problem behaviors can be projected based on individual characteristics. Children with certain attributes are more likely than others to get involved in certain behaviors. This is not necessarily the case for estimating the risk of school failure since the probabilities are conditioned by both individual characteristics and the quality of the school. Children from disadvantaged households have been shown to succeed in excellent schools, while some schools are so inadequate that success is an exception. Unlike the other behaviors, risk of educational failure is measured routinely for almost all children at frequent intervals. Report cards inform children about their progress and, in aggregate, these marks produce a grade point average for each student.

The previous four chapters have reviewed the consequences, antecedents, and numbers of adolescents at risk of behaviors in four distinct fields of study: delinquency, substance use, teenage pregnancy, and school failure. It should be apparent that these fields are interrelated since the same variables have emerged time and time again as consequences or antecedents of the diverse behaviors. In this chapter, the commonalities among these fields are analyzed and synthesized. First, we address the question of common antecedents or predictors of behavior. Then, we focus on the overlap in high-risk behavior. How many young people “do it all,” and how many don't do any of it? From the wealth of data presented in the preceding chapters and from studies that look at the co-occurrence of these behaviors, a “synthetic estimate” is created that quantifies target groups for comprehensive interventions. Chapters 3 to 6 presented summaries of the antecedents of the separate problem behaviors (see Tables 3.7, 4.7, 5.7, and 6.7). A large number of variables were identified in each category. However, some of the antecedents or predictors applied only to one or two of the behaviors. A summary of the four diverse fields of study yields six common characteristics that predict each of the problem behaviors: … 1. Age: Early initiation or occurrence of any behavior predicts heavy involvement in the behavior and more negative consequences. 2. Expectations for education and school grades: Doing poorly in school and expecting to do poorly in school are associated with all of the problem behaviors. 3. General behavior: Acting out, truancy, antisocial behavior, and other conduct disorders are related to each of the problem behaviors. 4. Peer influence: Having low resistance to peer influences and having friends who participate in the same behaviors are common to all of the behaviors. 5. Parental role: Having insufficient bonding to parents, having parents who do not monitor, supervise, offer guidance, or communicate with their children, and having parents who are either too authoritarian or too permissive are all strongly associated with the behaviors.…