Regulation of Negative Affect During Mother–Child Problem-Solving Interactions: Adolescent Depressive Status and Family Processes

Despite recent suggestions that depression can be conceptualized as a disorder of affect regulation, relatively little research has focused on affect regulation skills in depressed individuals. This paper investigated whether depressed adolescents (N = 25) differ from nondepressed adolescents (N 25) on two indices of affect regulation (i.e., duration of negative affective states and reciprocity of maternal negative affect) as well as whether these indices are related to microsocial family interactional processes. Analyses revealed that depressed teens differed from their nondepressed peers with regard to duration of negative affective states but not in their likelihood of reciprocating negative affect. Additionally, indices of adolescent affect regulation were related to family interactional processes. Duration of depressive affect was positively associated with maternal display of facilitative behavior contingent on adolescent depressive behavior. Duration of aggressive behavior was inversely related to maternal problem-solving responses to aggressive behavior. Finally, adolescent reciprocity of maternal depressive and aggressive behaviors was strongly associated with mothers' reciprocity of adolescents' negative affective behavior.     

Parent–Adolescent Conflict,Negative Emotion,and Estrangement From the Family of Origin

Adolescence is a developmental period in which parents and children renegotiate roles in light of the children's blossoming individuality and autonomy on one hand and parent–child emotional connectedness on the other hand. The renegotiation process often involves difficulties in communication, which generate tension and conflict and also amplify emotional intensity. In this study, I examined sociocontextual differences between families who maintain contact during the child's young adulthood and those who "repair" the relationship only through separation or detachment. Three waves of panel data I utilized for this investigation reveal that emotional closeness to a parent during adolescence and a rewarding romantic relationship and religiosity during young adulthood play protective roles in maintaining the parent–child relationship beyond adolescence. A parent's alcohol use, high levels of parent–adolescent conflict, family economic hardship during adolescence, and delinquent behavior and depressive symptoms in the adolescent increase the risks for termination of the parent–child relationship. The findings provide evidence for the long-term impact of parent–child conflict and negative emotion during adolescence.     

Connections Between Marital Conflict and Adolescent Girls’ Disordered Eating: Parent–Adolescent Relationship Quality as a Mediator

The family system has frequently been suggested to play an important role in adolescents’ health. Particularly, conflict within the marital dyad has been associated with maladjustment among adolescents, although studies have rarely focused on disordered eating as a possible negative outcome. In this study, we examined the direct association between marital conflict and disordered eating among 123 adolescent girls in middle school and high school. We also tested the mediating role of adolescents’ positive relationship quality with their mothers and fathers (e.g., high warmth and low control) in this relation. For our hypothesized direct effects and mediation models, we formed latent constructs with cross-sectional data collected from girls’ self-report questionnaires and applied bootstrapping procedures. We found that marital conflict was both directly and indirectly, via poor mother– and father–adolescent relationship quality, associated with girls’ disordered eating. This suggests that the mother–father, mother–adolescent, and father–adolescent family subsystems can play a part in influencing girls’ eating patterns. Clearly, family subsystems have significant roles in promoting the health of young, female adolescents. Future research and treatment efforts for girls exhibiting disordered eating should aim to include family members and address the roles of different family subsystems.     

Patterns of Conflict Interaction in Mother–Toddler Dyads: Differences Between Depressed and Non-depressed Mothers

We examined the differences in conflict interaction between depressed mothers and their toddler and non-depressed dyads and whether these differences mediated the association of maternal depression with compromised child socioemotional development. Mother/child interaction was videotaped during a teaching task and during a free play task as part of a home visit when the target child was between 16 and 18 months old. Each turn of every conflict was coded for behavior and affect of each member of the dyad. Interaction data were summarized to calculate the number of conflict turns, the rate of conflict, and the proportion of mother-initiated versus child-initiated conflicts per dyad. Sequential analysis was used to estimate the probability of specific maternal responses to specific child behaviors. Bivariate comparisons indicated that depressed dyads experienced higher rates of conflict, especially during the teaching task, and that depressed mothers were more likely to respond destructively to child oppositional behavior. Results of multivariate linear regression indicated that the higher probability of destructive response mediated the association of maternal depression with lower quality of mother–child attachment. These findings have implications for the development of interventions to support mothers in dealing with the conflicts that are so common during the second year of a child’s life.     

Parent–Adolescent Conflict in Teenagers with ADHD and ODD

Eighty-seven male teens (ages 12–18 years) with ADHD/ODD and their parents were compared to 32 male teens and their parents in a community control (CC) group on mother, father, and teen ratings of parent–teen conflict and communication quality, parental self-reports of psychological adjustment, and direct observations of parent–teen problem-solving interactions during a neutral and conflict discussion. Parents and teens in the ADHD/ODD group rated themselves as having significantly more issues involving parent–teen conflict, more anger during these conflict discussions, and more negative communication generally, and used more aggressive conflict tactics with each other than did parents and teens in the CC group. During a neutral discussion, only the ADHD/ODD teens demonstrated more negative behavior. During the conflict discussion, however, the mothers, fathers, and teens in the ADHD/ODD group displayed more negative behavior, and the mothers and teens showed less positive behavior than did participants in the CC group. Differences in conflicts related to sex of parent were evident on only a few measures. Both mother and father self-rated hostility contributed to the level of mother–teen conflict whereas father self-rated hostility and anxiety contributed to father–teen conflict beyond the contribution made by level of teen ODD and ADHD symptoms. Results replicated past studies of mother–child interactions in ADHD/ODD children, extended these results to teens with these disorders, showed that greater conflict also occurs in father–teen interactions, and found that degree of parental hostility, but not ADHD symptoms, further contributed to levels of parent–teen conflict beyond the contribution made by severity of teen ADHD and ODD symptoms.     

Motivational Antecedents and Consequences of the Mother–Adolescent Communication

Communication between parents and their children represents an important factor of family socialization. Nevertheless, little is known about why parents communicate in different ways and how these qualitative differences in parent–child communication may affect the child. Building on self-determination theory, the present study focuses on motivational antecedents of need-supportive communication as a function of parental child-related beliefs (i.e., long-term goals that parents have set for their children’s future, and parental child-related behavior expectations in terms of parental dissatisfaction or satisfaction with child behavior). Moreover, the effect of perceived need-supportive communication on children’s prosocial behavior and (externalizing and internalizing) behavioral difficulties will be addressed. Three waves of data from 1125 mothers and adolescents aged between 10 and 17 years were analyzed using growth-curve modeling. We found linearly increasing trajectories in extrinsic parental goals for children and dissatisfaction with child behavior, and decreasing trajectories of need-supportive communication. Individual differences do not vary significantly over time. In addition, holding extrinsic parental goals for children positively predicts parents’ dissatisfaction with their child’s behavior and negatively predicts need-supportive communication. Parents’ dissatisfaction with their child’s behavior also contributes to decreasing need-supportive communication. As expected, need-supportive communication predicts prosocial behavior and externalizing behavioral difficulties. When need-supportive communication decreases over time, both externalizing and internalizing behavioral difficulties increase. Furthermore, the effect of mothers beliefs on adolescents socioemotional development was mediated through perceived mother’s communication quality. These results suggest that parental child-related beliefs are important motivational antecedents of parent–child communication that may prevent behavioral difficulties.     

Parents’ Monitoring Knowledge Attenuates the Link Between Antisocial Friends and Adolescent Delinquent Behavior

Developmental trajectories of parents’ knowledge of their adolescents’ whereabouts and activities were tested as moderators of transactional associations between friends’ antisociality and adolescent delinquent behavior. 504 adolescents (50% female) provided annual reports (from ages 12 to 16) of their parents’ knowledge and (from ages 13 to 16) their own delinquent behavior and their friends’ antisociality. Parents also reported the adolescents’ delinquent behavior. Growth mixture modeling was used to identify two sub-groups based on their monitoring knowledge growth trajectories. Adolescents in the sub-group characterized by decreasing levels of parents’ knowledge reported more delinquent behavior and more friend antisociality in early adolescence, and reported greater increases in delinquent behavior and friend antisociality from early to middle adolescence compared to adolescents in the sub-group characterized by increasing levels of parents’ knowledge. Transactional associations consistent with social influence and social selection processes also were suppressed in the increasing knowledge sub-group as compared to the decreasing knowledge sub-group. Findings of this study were presented at the 2005 biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development.     

Mother–Father–Child Triadic Interaction and Mother–Child Dyadic Interaction: Gender Differences Within and Between Contexts

Differences in mother and father behavior during a triadic interaction session, and differences in mothers’ behavior across triadic and dyadic interaction, were examined in 60 two-parent families with an 11- to 15-month-old child (30 boys, 30 girls). Results revealed that mothers were less involved, less sensitive, and more negative during triadic than during dyadic interaction. Mothers of sons displayed more emotion during triadic interaction than mothers of daughters did. Mothers were more involved with children than fathers were during triadic interaction, whereas fathers displayed more emotion than mothers did during triadic interaction. Fathers were more supportive of mothers, and mothers were more intrusive toward fathers, during triadic interaction. The results are discussed in terms of the role that context plays in gender-typed patterns of family interaction.     

Parent–Adolescent Discrepancies in Perceived Parenting Characteristics and Adolescent Developmental Outcomes in Poor Chinese Families

We examined the relationships between parent–adolescent discrepancies in perceived parenting characteristics (indexed by parental responsiveness, parental demandingness, and parental control) and adolescent developmental outcomes (indexed by achievement motivation and psychological competence) in poor families in Hong Kong. A sample of 275 intact families having at least one child aged 11–16 experiencing economic disadvantage were invited to participate in the study. Fathers and mothers completed the Parenting Style Scale and Chinese Parental Control Scale, and adolescents completed the Social-Oriented Achievement Motivation Scale and Chinese Positive Youth Development Scale in addition to paternal and maternal Parenting Style Scale and Chinese Parental Control Scale. Results indicated that parents and adolescents had different perceptions of parental responsiveness, parental demandingness, and paternal control, with adolescents generally perceived lower levels of parenting behaviors than did their parents. While father–adolescent discrepancy in perceived paternal responsiveness and mother–adolescent discrepancy in perceived maternal control negatively predicted adolescent achievement motivation, mother–adolescent discrepancy in perceptions of maternal responsiveness negatively predicted psychological competence in adolescents experiencing economic disadvantage. The present findings provided support that parent–child discrepancies in perceived parenting characteristics have negative impacts on the developmental outcomes of adolescents experiencing economic disadvantage. The present study addresses parent–child discrepancies in perceived parental behaviors as “legitimate” constructs, and explores their links with adolescent psychosocial development, which sheds light for researchers and clinical practitioners in helping the Chinese families experiencing economic disadvantage.     

Parent–Child Conflict Moderates the Relationship Between Executive Functioning and Child Disruptive Behaviors in Youth with T1D

Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings - Executive function (EF) skills, parent–child conflict, and high blood glucose (BG) may impact child externalizing behaviors. We examined...     

Exposure Quality in Cognitive Behavioral Treatment for Youth Anxiety Disorders—Predictors and Associations with Outcomes

Journal of Child and Family Studies - To optimize cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) outcomes for anxiety disorders in youth, more knowledge is needed about how specific CBT components work....     

Electrical Brain Activity,Family Functioning,and Parent–Adolescent Conflict Communication

As family conflict tends to escalate during the adolescent years, the subsequent effects of adolescence on parent–child dynamics are systemically experienced, both intra- and inter-personally. As such, widening the scope of literature targeted towards better understanding the parent–adolescent conflict relationship is merited. To offer a more gestalt view of parent–adolescent conflict processes, the present study takes a biopsychosocial view of the mother–father–adolescent relationship by considering electrical brain activity using electroencephalography technology. Specifically, electrical brain activity was recorded during two problem-solving family discussions between a mother, father, and adolescent child. Data is analyzed from a pilot study of 11 triads, for a total of 33 participants, examining the statistical relationships between brain waves and self-reported measures of family functioning and distress. Findings suggest that hemispheric lateralization occurs during parent–adolescent problem-solving discussions thus reminding therapists of the importance in using a biopsychosocial lens when assisting families.     

A Latent Profile Analysis of the Parent–Adolescent Relationship: Assessing Both Parent and Adolescent Outcomes

Using family systems and attachment theory frameworks, this study identified specific dimensions of the parent–adolescent relationship and examined the association between those dimensions and adolescent depression and delinquency, and parental depression 2 years later in a racially and ethnically diverse sample. Parent–adolescent relationships were identified using a person-centered approach, latent profile analysis, using closeness, communication, conflict, and autonomy as dimensions of the relationship. The latent profile analysis produced a four-profile solution, which was labeled secure, avoidant, anxious, and detached. Next, parent and adolescent outcomes were examined. Results indicated that adolescents in the detached profile exhibited the highest amount of delinquency, whereas the parents exhibited the lowest amount of depression. Adolescents in the avoidant profile also exhibited high levels of delinquency, and parents in this profile also exhibited the highest amount of depression symptoms. No profile differences were found for adolescent depression symptoms. Implications for family interventions are discussed.     

Family Economic Strain and Adolescent Aggression during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Roles of Interparental Conflict and Parent–Child Conflict

Although the link from family economic strain to adolescent aggression has frequently been hypothesized, the results are mixed. Both interparental conflict and parent–child conflict are considered to be potential mediators of this link. However, the empirical evidence supporting this proposition is lacking. The present study investigated the direct effect of family economic strain on adolescent aggression as well as indirect effects through interparental conflict and parent–child conflict. Based on multi-informant data from 971 families with a child in middle and high schools in Y City, in Shanxi Province, structural equation modeling is conducted to examine the proposed theoretical model. Findings show that family economic strain has no significant direct impact on adolescent aggression. Interparental conflict and parent–child conflict mediate the link between family economic strain and adolescent aggression simultaneously and sequentially. This study expands current literature and deepens our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the relationship between family economic strain and adolescent aggression. Implications for policies and interventions to reduce the risk of adolescent aggression are discussed.

     

Couple Communication as a Mediator Between Work–Family Conflict and Marital Satisfaction

Using a sample of married individuals employed full-time (N = 1,117), this study examined the mediating effects of constructive and destructive communication between partners on the relationship between work–family conflict and marital satisfaction. Results from structural equation modeling revealed that work–family conflict was significantly and negatively related to marital satisfaction. This relationship became insignificant when constructive and destructive communication were added to the model, evidence for full mediation. This was confirmed with Sobel’s test for mediation. Results suggest that teaching communcation skills may be a potent point of intervention for couples who experience high levels of work–family conflict.     

Examining the Relationships Between Personality,Coping Strategies,and Work–Family Conflict

Purpose  

The purpose of this study was to examine the processes through which personality characteristics may influence work–family conflict (WFC). Specifically, the mediating effects of selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) behavioral stress-coping strategies on the relationship between personality characteristics and WFC were tested.     

Conflict Between Religion and Science Among Academic Scientists?

Using new survey data ( N = 1,646), we examine the attitudes academic scientists at 21 elite U.S. research universities have about the perceived conflict between religion and science. In contrast to public opinion and scholarly discourse, most scientists do not perceive a conflict between science and religion. Different from what other studies would indicate, this belief does not vary between social and natural scientists. We argue that maintaining plausibility frameworks for religion is an important correlate of whether scientists will reject the conflict paradigm, with such frameworks taking surprising forms. When scientists do not attend religious services they are more likely to accept the conflict paradigm. When scientists think their peers have a positive view of religion, they are less likely to agree there is a conflict between science and religion. Religious upbringing is associated with scientists adopting the conflict paradigm. Spirituality is much more important in this population than other research would lead us to believe. Results reformulate widely cited earlier research, offer new insights about how scientists view the connection between religion and science, and expand public discussion about religious challenges to science.     

Associations Between Adolescents’ Family Stressors and Life Satisfaction

Extant literature suggests that family stressors co-occur with elevated adolescent psychopathology. Few studies have examined the relationship between family stressors and life satisfaction, a positive indicator of mental health. The current study explored the relationships between specific family stressors (i.e., low socioeconomic status, disrupted family structure, cumulative major life events, and perceived interparental conflict) and adolescents’ life satisfaction in a sample of 181 middle school students. Participants completed psychometrically sound self-report measures of the aforementioned constructs. Results from a simultaneous regression analysis indicated that the four forms of family stress accounted for 37 % of the variance in life satisfaction; experiencing major life events (β = ?0.31, p < .05) and perceiving interparental conflict (β = ?0.41, p < .05) emerged as unique predictors of life satisfaction. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Do Marital Conflict Behaviors in Response to a Novel Stressor Uniquely Predict Adolescent Outcomes?

The goal of this study was to examine whether mothers’ and fathers’ marital conflict behaviors in response to a novel stressor are uniquely predictive of adolescent outcomes. Previous research establishing the detrimental consequences of marital conflict for child outcomes has relied exclusively on assessments of conflict that measure reoccurring or past conflict. From 153 adolescents and/or both of their parents, reports were gathered on marital conflict, adolescent conflict appraisals, parent-adolescent relationship quality, and adolescent adjustment. Couples engaged in two marital problem-solving interaction tasks—one that elicited conflict behaviors by requiring discussion of salient, reoccurring topics of disagreement and one that prompted conflict behaviors by requiring that couples worked together to solve an unfamiliar problem. Results indicated that compared to behaviors during the marital conflict discussion as well as parent-reports of the frequency, intensity, and resolution of typical conflict, conflict behaviors in response to a novel stressor, particularly those displayed by mothers, were uniquely associated with adolescents’ conflict appraisals and dimensions of the parent-adolescent relationship but not adolescent adjustment. Specifically more-negative (relative to positive) conflict behaviors in response to the novel stressor was associated with more-negative adolescent conflict appraisals; mothers’ more-negative conflict behaviors in response to a novel stressor were also linked to adolescents reporting less parental monitoring. In contrast, parent reports of typical marital conflict uniquely predicted conflict property appraisals, the affective quality of mother-adolescent relationships, and adolescent adjustment. Implications for future research elucidating associations between conflict behaviors in response to a novel stressor on children and families are discussed.