This is an American social normality which causes the idea to automatically be accepted by the child. According to Kohlberg's Classification of Moral Judgment, which charts the moral growth of humans, even a person who hasn't progressed past stage one knows not to violate social norms because such actions might bring unpleasant consequences. .
Murray Edelman would believe that parental power is derived from manipulation through speech. This theory could explain why parents feel the need to give at least one "When I was your age I had to walk thousands of miles in the snow, barefoot, carrying 50 lbs of animal feed on my back, etc- speech a month. Though obviously elaborated, the thought of previous hardship which the parents endured psychologically impacts their children, causing them to doubt whether they should argue when their parent asks them to do a certain task. .
However, it may not be a lack of physical and psychological necessities or poor manipulation that drives a teenager to disobey but rather the introduction of other outside forces. In Fromm's essay Escape from Freedom, he states that "the abolition of external domination seemed to be not only a necessary but also a sufficient condition to attain the cherished goal: freedom of the individual". John Stuart Mill also came to the conclusion in his essay On Liberty that individualism is essential to ones own personal growth because it allows people to identify their weaknesses and potential strengths. Therefore, one could conclude that revolting against their parents is a measure that teenagers have to take in order to grow up and become an adult, and basically become free of the parent-child bond which American government and society establishes. .
In contrast, a highly popular theory of why teenagers disobey their parents is because of the force to conform in social situations. The idea of peer pressure is built upon this theory.