The Relation Between Parental Mental Illness and Adolescent Mental Health: The Role of Family Factors

Children of parents with a mental illness are often found to be at high risk of developing psychological problems themselves. Little is known about the role of family factors in the relation between parental and adolescent mental health. The current study focused on parent–child interaction and family environment. This cross-sectional questionnaire study included 124 families with a mentally ill parent and 127 families without a mentally ill parent who at the time of the study had children aged 11–16 years old. Parents completed questionnaires about their mental health, parent–child interaction (i.e., parental monitoring and parental support), and family environment (i.e., cohesion, expressiveness, and conflict). Adolescents reported their internalizing and externalizing problems. Path analyses were used to examine the direct associations between parental mental illness and adolescent problems as well as the indirect relations via parent–child interaction and family environment. The results showed that interaction between parents with a mental illness and their child was significantly worse compared to parents without a mental illness. The family environment of parents with mental illness was also more negative. Mentally ill parents monitored their adolescents less, which in turn related to more externalizing problems of the adolescents. No factors mediated the relation between parental mental health and adolescent internalizing problems. Moreover, no direct effects of parental support, family cohesion, and family expressiveness with externalizing problems were found. These findings imply that parental monitoring should get a specific focus of attention in existing interventions designed to prevent adolescents with a mentally ill parent from developing problems.     

Parent-child relationships of adopted adolescents in a psychiatric hospital

This study compared the parent-child relationships of 140 adopted and non-adopted adolescents treated in a psychiatric hospital through examination of information contained in the adolescents' medical records. Specifically, comparisons were made of the mention of parental contribution to the problems precipitating hospitalization, psychiatric restriction of parental visits to hospitalized offspring, and referral of parents to an adjunct parents' group. Data were gathered by uninformed research assistants, from the hospital charts of adolescents who had already been discharged from the hospital. Statistical analysis of the data yielded the following results. Adoptive parents were significantly more frequently restricted in their visits to their children. In addition, they were also more likely to have been involved in the precipitants to hospitalization and to have been referred subsequently for adjunctive treatment. It was concluded that parent-child relations may be more problematic among hospitalized adopted, as compared with non-adopted , adolescents. It was also suggested that psychiatric bias concerning "typical" adoptive family dynamics might have contributed to the observed differences.     

Perceptions of parent-adolescent communication within families: it is a matter of perspective

This study examined the concordance between parental and youth's perceptions regarding open communication in their families and its association with youth's psychosocial adjustment. The relative importance of parental and adolescents' perceptions of open family communication in relation to youth's psychosocial adjustment was also investigated. Participants were 336 parent-youth dyads from inner-city low-income communities in an eastern city in the United States. Both parental and youth's perceptions of open communication in the family were categorized into "high" and "low" groups using a median split in scores. Four parent-youth concordance groups (i.e. high-high, high-low, low-high and low-low) were derived based on the combination of the levels of parental and youth's perceptions. Parental and youth's perceptions about open communication were modestly correlated (r = 0.129, p < 0.05). The level of concordance differed by youth gender with male adolescents and their parents being more likely to perceive lower levels of open communication (i.e. "low-low") than females and their parents (32% versus 19%, p < 0.05). In general, youth demonstrated poorer psychosocial adjustment if they perceived a lower level of open communication between them and their parents, independent of the level of their parents' perceptions (e.g. "high" or "low"). The findings suggest an important role of adolescents' own perceptions of the openness of the family communication in relation to adolescent psychosocial adjustment. Developmentally and gender appropriate intervention programs are needed to improve the openness of parent-adolescent communication, to help both parents and youth to recognize the significant preventive role of open communication in the family, especially, the socioeconomically disadvantaged families.     

Family Cohesion and Health-Related Quality of Life of Children with Type 1 Diabetes: The Mediating Role of Parental Adjustment

Despite the increasing number of studies on the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of children with type 1 diabetes (T1D), little is known about the influence of family and parental factors on this outcome. This study aimed to explore whether family cohesion and children’s HRQOL were connected through three indicators of parental psychological adjustment (parenting stress, depressive symptoms, and anxious symptoms) as well as whether these links varied according to the child’s age. Levels of family cohesion, parenting stress, and depression/anxiety symptoms of parents of children with T1D and parents of healthy children were compared. The sample included 88 child–parent dyads composed of children/adolescents (8–18 years old) with T1D and one of their parents and 121 dyads composed of healthy children/adolescents and one of their parents. The parents completed self-report measures of family cohesion, parenting stress, and emotional adjustment, and the children completed measures of HRQOL. Testing of the hypothesized moderated mediational model showed that higher HRQOL ratings in children were associated with higher levels of cohesion through lower levels of parental stress, regardless of the child’s age. Parents of children with T1D perceived less cohesion and felt more anxiety and stress about parenting tasks compared to parents of healthy children. Our findings suggest that parents of children with T1D are at an increased risk of psychological maladjustment. Moreover, this study highlights the interrelation between family/parental functioning and child adjustment and makes an innovative contribution by identifying a mechanism that may account for the link between family and child variables.     

Female Adolescents with Eating Disorders,Parental Psychopathological Risk and Family Functioning

Epidemiological studies on adolescents with eating disorders demonstrate a high prevalence of disordered eating behaviors, with a higher prevalence of eating disorders among girls. Several studies have recently demonstrated an association between female adolescents’ eating disorders, parental psychopathological risk, and an impaired family functioning with poor quality of the relationships among family members. On the basis of these premises, we conducted a cross-sectional study initially recruiting 243 families of female adolescents affected by anorexia nervosa (Group A), bulimia nervosa (Group B), and binge eating disorder (Group C) (average age 14–17) to assess their psychological profile (SCL90-R), specific representations of their family functioning (FACES-IV), and the possible effect of adolescents’ psychological profiles and parents’ psychopathological risk on family functioning. Our results indicate that adolescents and parents in Groups A, B, and C show an unequivocal psychopathological profile; in particular, adolescents with anorexia present the most severe psychopathological risk. Further, our results show that adolescents and their parents differ in their perception of their family functioning. More specifically, adolescents with anorexia perceive their family as highly disengaged, poorly interwoven, and rigid, in addition cohesion and communication qualities are perceived as low. Interestingly, parental psychopathological risk predicts adolescents’ specific perception of their family functioning. These findings may guide clinical interventions as they suggest that distinct maternal psychopathological symptoms can be associated with a variety of clinical configurations in their offspring, whereas paternal psychopathological risk may be present in adolescents suffering from all forms of eating disorders.     

Parental Awareness and Monitoring of Adolescent Internet Use

This study focused on four aspects of parental monitoring of Internet use by their children: parental supervision, communication and tracking, and adolescent disclosure. Data were obtained from a SAFT (Safety Awareness for Teens Project) national survey of Singapore youths and parents regarding Internet safety at home. Study 1 examined 1,124 adolescents and 1,002 parents; Study 2 examined a subsample of 169 dyads of adolescents and their parents. Frequency of use and engagement in risky Internet behaviors such as visiting inappropriate websites were analysed. The results indicated that parents tend to underestimate adolescents’ engagement in risky Internet behaviors and overestimate the amount of parental monitoring regarding Internet safety that occurs at home. The study suggested that mothers have a better awareness of their adolescents’ Internet use than fathers. The findings were explained in the context of parental monitoring. The results suggest that parental monitoring needs to be reconceptualized and that parents need to improve the communication with their adolescents regarding Internet use.     

Effects of perceived parental school support and family communication on delinquent behaviors in latinos and white non-latinos

The authors examined the roles of perceived parental school support and family communication in the context of delinquent behaviors in Mexican American and White non-Latino adolescents. Family communication was defined as the degree to which adolescents endorsed that they communicated with their parents about a variety of topics. The Parental School Support scale was administered to assess adolescents' perceptions of parental support for academic pursuits. Data analysis included the relationship between these variables and their predictive relationship to delinquency, and the relationship to gender and ethnicity. Results demonstrated that adolescents' perceptions of family communication and parental school support were related to the likelihood of committing delinquent acts. There were no significant differences in gender or ethnicity in perceived levels of family communication and parental school support.     

Not wanting parents' involvement: Sign of autonomy or sign of problems?

The present study investigated whether adolescents' desires to manage their own free time, without parents' involvement, reflected problems or healthy independence. Participants were 1057 adolescents, their parents, and teachers. Initially, wanting parental involvement was related to disclosure, parental knowledge, and positive adjustment across contexts and wanting low parental involvement was related to negative adjustment. With closer examination of adolescents, two groups of adolescents who were similar on desires for low parental involvement but who differed on parental desires for involvement were uncovered. Those adolescents who wanted low parental involvement and whose parents desired involvement were consistently linked to poor adjustment in multicontexts. Those adolescents who wanted low parental involvement and whose parents wanted low parental involvement did not have more problems than their wanting parental involvement peers. Results indicate that not wanting parental involvement should be studied in terms of multiple developmental patterns.     

Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills: Parental Outcomes With an ADHD Sample

The goal of the current study was to examine the effect of the Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS®), a 14-week parent-assisted friendship-building program for adolescents with ADHD, on parental functioning, quality of the parent-adolescent relationship, and family functioning. Participants included 25 parents of adolescents with ADHD. Families completed PEERS®. Measures of parenting stress, parental efficacy, parent-adolescent communication, parent-adolescent involvement, causal attributions for negative social interactions, and family chaos were completed by parents at pre- and post-treatment. Parents demonstrated statistically significant improvements in parenting stress and parent-adolescent communication and marginally statistically significant improvement in parental efficacy. Parents also demonstrated reliable change in parenting stress, parent-adolescent communication, parent-adolescent involvement, and family chaos. Overall, these findings demonstrate the benefit of PEERS® at improving parental functioning, quality of the parent-adolescent relationship, and family functioning for families of adolescents with ADHD.     

Universal parental support for parents of adolescents: Who wants municipality‐based parental support and in what form?

Parenting a child through adolescence can be a challenge for many parents; adolescents go through notable developmental, physical, and psychological changes that affect the relationships around them. Most parents find parental support during these years important. These young people's relationships with their parents are important to their mental health, but although parental support is universally available to parents of younger children, it is still scarce for parents of adolescents. The aim of this study was to explore what factors are associated with interest in universal parental support through telephone interviews and questionnaires with 223 parents of 13‐ to 17‐year‐olds. Parents’ interest in parental support was linked to their own anxious mood, their lower perceived parental capacity, their perception of the child as having psychiatric problems, the parents’ perception of their adolescents’ openness about things and their perception of the adolescent's overall difficulties in daily life due to psychiatric symptoms. The results show that lighter forms of support such as lectures or seminars were more appealing to parents with higher social status. Offering community‐based individual counseling and leader‐led parent training groups therefore has the potential to reach parents with difficulties more equally, while offering support only through lectures and seminars could increase the inequality between parents in different social situations.     

Expression of Anger in Depressed Adolescents: The Role of the Family Environment

The expression of anger is considered to be abnormal in depression, yet its role is only poorly understood. In the present study we sought to clarify this role by examining the moderating influence of the family environment on overall levels of anger expression and anger reactivity in depressed and non-depressed adolescents during conflictual interactions with their parents. One hundred and forty one depressed and non-depressed adolescent participants engaged in a problem-solving task with their parents during which their behavioral expression of anger and heart rate were recorded. The results demonstrate that general levels of parental anger in the family environment (as indicated by the overall level of expressed anger by the parents during the interactions) strongly moderates how depressed differ from non-depressed adolescents in terms of their anger, heart rate and reactivity. Overall, the findings suggest that in depressed adolescents anger is much less adaptively attuned to the environment, consistent with models that predict dysfunction in the regulation of anger that prevents depressed individuals responding adaptively to their social environment.     

核心自我评价的代际传递：父母支持和子女基本心理需要满足的链式中介作用

采取整群抽样的方式对407户初中生家庭进行调查,探讨父母支持和子女基本心理需要满足在核心自我评价代际传递过程中的链式中介作用。结果表明：（1）核心自我评价在父母与其初中生子女之间存在代际传递效应;（2）父母支持和子女基本心理需要满足在核心自我评价的代际传递中起链式中介作用;（3）核心自我评价的代际传递效应不存在显著的亲代性别、子代性别、亲子性别差异。研究结果有助于理解核心自我评价的代际传递过程。     

Made in America: Perspectives on Friendship in West African Immigrant Families

This qualitative study compared West African immigrant parents’ and adolescents’ perspectives on parental monitoring of adolescents’ peer groups. Parents (n = 31) and adolescent children (n = 25) were interviewed using focus groups and individual interviews, and data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Parents expressed a general concern about external influences on their children, particularly their mistrust of their children’s friends. Adolescents reported that they were aware of their parents’ fears and described their attempts to manage their parents’ concerns while simultaneously maintaining friendships with same-ethnic and other-ethnic peers. This study offers both parent and adolescent perspectives in an effort to better understand adolescents’ peer socialization and parental monitoring among West African immigrant families, one of the fastest growing demographic groups in the United States. Recommendations for mental health professions are discussed.     

Parental Behavioral Control and Parent-Child Relational Quality Predictors of Perceived Parental Knowledge in Chinese Adolescents in Hong Kong

Over three consecutive years, 2,559 Chinese adolescents (mean age = 12.65 years at Wave 1) responded to instruments assessing their perceived parental behavioral control (parental knowledge, expectation, monitoring, discipline, and demandingness) and parent-child relational qualities (satisfaction with parental control, child's readiness to communicate with the parents, and perceived mutual trust between parents and their children). Amongst the various indicators of behavioral control, monitoring was the strongest predictor of parental knowledge. Although parental monitoring and child's readiness to communicate with parents were significant predictors of parental knowledge, parental monitoring was a stronger predictor. Results further showed that behavioral control and parent-child relational quality composite scores were concurrently and longitudinally related to parental knowledge. The present study clarifies the family predictors of parental knowledge in Chinese families, but the findings are not entirely consistent with the Western research findings.     

Adolescent adjustment and well-being: effects of parental divorce and distress

This study investigates the long-term effects of parental divorce on adolescent psychological adjustment and well-being, and to what extent the effects are accounted for by parental psychological distress. Data were collected among 8,984 Norwegian adolescents (13-19 years) and their parents. Outcome variables were symptoms of anxiety and depression, subjective well-being, and three areas of school problems. Parental divorce was found to be associated with both higher mean levels and larger variances in adolescent problems. Divorce and parental distress contributed independently to adolescent distress, supporting the notion of "double exposure" effects. The prevalence of adolescents with substantial distress symptoms was 14% among those with non-distressed non-divorced parents and 30% among those with divorced and distressed parents. In general effects remained when controlling for demographic factors. Long-term effects of divorce on symptoms of anxiety and depression were stronger among girls than among boys.     

Family Management of Pediatric Cancer: Links with Parenting Satisfaction and Psychological Distress

Research has long acknowledged the disruptions posed by pediatric cancer diagnosis and treatment to family life. Nonetheless, the mechanisms through which the family response influences parents’ mental health in this adverse context are not fully understood. The main goal of the present study was to examine the direct and indirect links, via parenting satisfaction, between family condition management and psychological distress of parents of children with cancer. Participants were 201 parents (86.6% mothers) of children/adolescents diagnosed with cancer who completed self‐report questionnaires assessing family condition management (family life difficulty and parental mutuality), parenting satisfaction, and psychological distress (anxiety and depression). Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed mediation model. The results showed that parenting satisfaction mediated the association between both the family condition management dimensions (family life difficulty and parental mutuality) and depression. Specifically, greater family life difficulties and lower parental mutuality were associated with lower parenting satisfaction, which, in turn, was associated with higher levels of depression. Additionally, greater family life difficulties and lower parental mutuality were directly linked to higher levels of anxiety. Multigroup analyses suggested that the model was valid across patient age groups (children vs. adolescents) and treatment status (on vs. off‐treatment). These findings reinforce the need for family‐ and parent‐based interventions in the pediatric oncology field. Interventions that target families’ difficulties and promote their resources are likely to foster parenting satisfaction and psychological adjustment.     

Depleted parental psychological resources as mediators of the association of income with adherence and metabolic control

For adolescents with Type 1 diabetes, lower family income may be associated with poorer diabetes management through depleted parental psychological resources (i.e., higher parental depressive symptoms, lower parental acceptance). Adolescents (N = 252; 46% male) aged 10-14 years with Type 1 diabetes assessed the acceptance of their mother and father (e.g., "gives me the feeling that she likes me as I am"; "she doesn't feel she has to make me over into someone else"). Mothers provided information on family income and demographics. Both mothers and fathers reported their depressive symptoms. HbA1c scores were indexed via medical records. Lower family income was associated with higher (i.e., worse) HbA1c, more mother and father depressive symptoms, and less acceptance from both parents. Mediation analyses revealed that the relationship of lower family income with metabolic control occurred indirectly through lower maternal and paternal acceptance and lower adherence. Lower family income may impair the quality of parent--adolescent relationships that are beneficial for good diabetes management.     

Like parent,like child? Development of prejudice and tolerance towards immigrants

Although intergroup attitudes are assumed to develop due to the influence of parents, there is no longitudinal evidence supporting this claim. In addition, research on socialization of intergroup attitudes has omitted possible effects of adolescents on their parents. We also know little about the conditions under which intergroup attitudes are transmitted. This two‐wave, 2 years apart, study of adolescents (N = 507) and their parents examined the relations between parents and adolescents' prejudice and tolerance from a longitudinal perspective. The study tested whether parental prejudice and tolerance would predict over‐time changes in adolescents' attitudes and whether adolescents' prejudice and tolerance would elicit changes in parental attitudes. Additionally, it explored whether some of the effects would depend on perceived parental support. Results showed significant bidirectional influences between parents and adolescents' attitudes. In addition, adolescents who perceived their parents as supportive showed higher parent–adolescent correspondence in prejudice than youth with low parental support. These findings show that intergroup attitudes develop as a result of mutual influences between parents and adolescents. Hence, the unidirectional transmission model and previous research findings should be revisited. The results also suggest that parents' prejudice influence adolescents' attitudes to the extent that youth perceive their parents as supportive.     

Youth Depression in the Family Context: Familial Risk Factors and Models of Treatment

Research on parent risk factors, family environment, and familial involvement in the treatment of depression in children and adolescents is integrated, providing an update to prior reviews on the topic. First, the psychosocial parent and family factors associated with youth depression are examined. The literature indicates that a broad array of parent and family factors is associated with youth risk for depression, ranging from parental pathology to parental cognitive style to family emotional climate. Next, treatment approaches for youth depression that have been empirically tested are described and then summarized in terms of their level of parent inclusion, including cognitive–behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, and family systems approaches. Families have mostly not been incorporated into clinical treatment research with depressed adolescents, with only 32% of treatments including parents in treatment in any capacity. Nonetheless, the overall effectiveness of treatments that involve children and adolescents exclusively is very similar to that of treatments that include parents as agents or facilitators of change. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings and directions for further research.