Factors associated with the mental health of adolescents when a parent has cancer

This study explored factors associated with the mental health in adolescents (ages 11-17; n = 54) within 12 months after a parent had been diagnosed with cancer. A control group was included (ages 11-17; n = 49). A demographic questionnaire, the SF-8 Health Survey, the Youth Self Report and the McMaster Family Assessment Device were used. Similar levels of psychological distress and healthy family functioning were reported in the clinical and the control group. No effect of gender of the ill parent and that of the adolescent was found. A negative correlation was found between the physical health of the ill parent and the mental health of the adolescent. Healthy family functioning correlated with less psychological distress in adolescents with a parent with cancer. Open communication, flexible problem solving and appropriate affective involvement were significant predictors for less psychological distress in the adolescents. The study concludes that a healthy family functioning facilitated the adolescent's adjustment to parental cancer.     

Beyond positive or negative: variability in daily parent-adolescent interaction quality is associated with adolescent emotion dysregulation

Previous work on the contribution of family environments to adolescent emotion dysregulation has tended to focus on broad parenting characteristics (such as warmth); however, it is possible that day-to-day variability in parenting may also relate to emotion dysregulation. The current study sought to test whether inconsistency in the quality of daily parent-youth interactions related to multiple indices of emotion dysregulation in adolescents. Two-hundred-twenty-two adolescents (ages 13–16; 53% female) participated with one parent. Adolescents completed 14-days of diary reporting on the quality of interactions with their parent (negative/neutral/positive) and their emotion dysregulation experiences for each day. Analyses reveal that, beyond the effects of average interaction quality, adolescents with greater variability in the quality of their interactions with their parent reported greater average emotion dysregulation across the days of diary recording and demonstrated greater variability in their ratings of daily emotion dysregulation. Findings were not accounted for by parental warmth or hostility, parent-reported trait-level emotion regulation, or day-level associations between study variables. In these ways, greater variability – and not merely greater negativity – during interactions between parents and adolescents was related to adolescent emotion dysregulation, suggesting that consistency in parent–adolescent relationships may be an important dimension of psychosocial risk to consider within families.     

Positive and Negative Affect in Parents and Adolescents: Gender and Assessment Method Considerations

This study examined adolescents’ self-reports and parents’ reports of adolescents’ positive and negative affect toward their parents, as well as mothers’ and fathers’ self-reports of positive and negative affect toward their adolescents. Based on behavioral observations, adolescent–parent interactions were examined to determine the relation between adolescent–parent behavior, adolescents’ perceptions of parental affect, and parents’ perceptions of adolescent affect. Gender of adolescents, gender of parents, and adolescent gender by parent gender interaction effects were studied as was adolescents’ age. Findings suggest that parent gender (i.e., mothers and fathers) and adolescent gender (i.e., boys and girls) are important considerations when studying affect in parent–adolescent relationships. Age-related differences were not evident. Results are discussed with an eye toward improving the assessment of parent–adolescent affect by using multiple methods of assessment such as direct behavioral observations and multiple informants on questionnaire measures.     

Parental communication appears not to be an effective strategy to reduce smoking in a sample of Dutch adolescents

This longitudinal study examined the reciprocal effects of the frequency of parent–adolescent communication on tobacco-related issues (smoking-specific communication), and adolescents’ smoking. Participants were 428 Dutch older and younger siblings between 13 and 16 years old. Smoking-specific communication did not affect youth smoking in general; however, among younger, but not older, siblings, smoking-specific communication was associated with a higher likelihood of smoking over time. In addition, when adolescents already smoked parents started to talk more frequently about smoking-related issues with their older and younger adolescents later on. Neither the quality of smoking-specific communication, the quality of parent–adolescent relationship, nor parental smoking moderated these reciprocal effects. In conclusion, prevention campaigns encouraging parents to undertake smoking-specific communication might not be desirable.     

Youth Negative Affect Attenuates Associations Between Compromise and Mother–Adolescent Conflict Outcomes

The study of conflict processes often focuses on the manner in which disagreements are resolved, such that relationship deterioration is a product of the failure to negotiate. However, conflict management tactics may not be the most salient feature of parent–adolescent conflicts because these relationships are obligatory, with power unevenly distributed, and negotiated resolutions unanticipated. Instead, parent–adolescent relationships may be more sensitive to the affective tenor of the interchange than the manner in which the dispute is resolved. In two studies, we examined the premise that relationship damage arising from disagreements between mothers and adolescent children is a product of negative affect and failure to compromise. Concurrent analyses involved reports from 101 (33 boys, 68 girls) adolescents (M = 13.89 years old) about conflict with mothers. Longitudinal analyses involved reports from 271 (112 boys, 159 girls) adolescents (M = 11.6 years old at the outset) about conflict with mothers at two time points 1 year apart. Compromise and youth negative affect were moderately correlated; when both were included as predictors of adverse relationship consequences arising from conflict, negative affect accounted for almost all of the variance, concurrently and prospectively. Scholars and practitioners who advise families that negotiated resolutions to disagreements help to avoid relationship disruption may be discouraged in their efforts unless a similar emphasis is placed on minimizing negative affect.     

Discrepancies Between Parent and Adolescent Beliefs About Daily Life Topics and Performance on an Emotion Recognition Task

Parents and children and adolescents commonly disagree in their perceptions of a variety of behaviors, including the family relationship and environment, and child and adolescent psychopathology. To this end, numerous studies have examined to what extent increased discrepant perceptions—particularly with regard to perceptions of the family relationship and environment—predict increased child and adolescent psychopathology. Parents’ and children and adolescents’ abilities to decode and identify others’ emotions (i.e., emotion recognition) may play a role in the link between discrepant perceptions and child and adolescent psychopathology. We examined parents’ and adolescents’ emotion recognition abilities in relation to discrepancies between parent and adolescent perceptions of daily life topics. In a sample of 50 parents and adolescents ages 14-to-17 years (M?=?15.4 years, 20 males, 54 % African-American), parents and adolescents were each administered a widely used performance-based measure of emotion recognition. Parents and adolescents were also administered a structured interview designed to directly assess each of their perceptions of the extent to which discrepancies existed in their beliefs about daily life topics (e.g., whether adolescents should complete their homework and carry out household chores). Interestingly, lower parent and adolescent emotion recognition performance significantly related to greater parent and adolescent perceived discrepant beliefs about daily life topics. We observed this relation whilst accounting for adolescent age and gender and levels of parent-adolescent conflict. These findings have important implications for understanding and using informant discrepancies in both basic developmental psychopathology research and applied research in clinic settings (e.g., discrepant views on therapeutic goals).     

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.     

Adolescents' Contributions to Family Communication Patterns

Early explications of family communication patterns (FCP) suggested that a family's communication pattern arises as a result of interactions in which parents and adolescents influence each other. In contrast, empirical research usually treats FCP as parent‐imposed norms that influence socialization outcomes in adolescents, without testing whether adolescents' socialization influences FCP. This study revisits the assumption that adolescents influence FCP, using data from a longitudinal quasi‐experimental evaluation of a school‐based civics curriculum intervention (N = 313 parent‐adolescent pairs). Results show that the intervention‐stimulated adolescents to initiate discussion of politics at home and that these adolescent‐initiated discussions influenced adolescents' and parents' perceptions of FCP 6 months later.     

Family interaction and the course of adolescent psychopathology: An analysis of adolescent and parent effects

This study focused on evaluating the utility of three family measures for predicting outcome in a sample of disturbed but nonpsychotic adolescents: (a) the affective quality of the adolescents' voice tone when communicating with his/her parents; (b) the predominant affective quality of the parents' voice tones when communicating with the adolescent, and (c) the affective quality of the content of the parents' verbalizations to the adolescent. These measures were derived from 5-minute face to face discussions between parents and their disturbed adolescent. Results indicated that adolescents using positive or neutral voice tones during emotionally laden discussions with their parents tended to show relatively adequate levels of psychosocial adjustment as young adults, while adolescents using exclusively negative voice tones tended to show sufficient adjustment difficulties in early adulthood to warrant diagnoses within the extended schizophrenia spectrum. Although adolescent voice tone was associated with outcome, considering both adolescent and parent affective response led to improved prediction, with consideration of adolescent and parent variables leading to accurate prediction of outcome for 30 of the 33 sample cases.     

Cyber victimization and adolescent self‐esteem: The role of communication with parents

Internet use has increased rapidly in recent years, and has inevitably led to some negative outcomes, notably cyber bullying and cyber victimization. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of cyber victimization and parent–adolescent communication on self‐esteem, and the moderating role of parent–adolescent communication in the relationship between cyber victimization and self‐esteem among Turkish adolescents. The participants were 337 adolescents with a mean age of 16.37, (SD = 0.89). The results of hierarchical regression analysis reveal that self‐esteem was predicted negatively by cyber victimization, but positively by mother–adolescent communication. Results also indicate the moderating roles of parent–adolescent communication in the links between cyber victimization and self‐esteem. The findings indicate a need to consider the parent–adolescent relationship while working with victimized youth, and the implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Buffering Effect of Parental Monitoring Knowledge and Parent-Adolescent Relationships on Consequences of Adolescent Substance Use

When adolescents begin using substances, negative consequences are not always directly proportional to the amount used; heavy users may have few consequences whereas light users may have numerous consequences. This study examined how parental monitoring knowledge and parent–child relationship quality may serve as buffers against negative consequences when adolescents use substances. Self-report questionnaires were administered to a community sample of 200 healthy adolescents and their parents at two time points, one year apart. Results suggest that both parental monitoring knowledge and parent–child relationship quality serve as buffers against negative consequences of substance use—but only when adolescents report high levels of monitoring knowledge or strong parent–child relationship quality. Results suggests adolescent perceived parental monitoring knowledge and parent–child relationship quality each act independently to buffer adolescents against negative consequences of substance use over a 1-year period.     

Military Stressors,Parent-Adolescent Relationship Quality,and Adolescent Adjustment

Elements of military life can create challenges for all family members, including military-connected adolescents, and can have detrimental consequences for their adjustment. Although research with samples of military-connected adolescents has examined the influences of military stressors for adolescent adjustment (e.g., depressive symptoms, anxiety), less research has identified possible mechanisms responsible for these effects, particularly the role of specific familial factors. Drawing from social ecological theory and attachment theory, we examined the associations between military stressors (e.g., parental rank, combat deployments, permanent change of station moves) and self-reported adolescent adjustment (e.g., depressive symptoms, self-efficacy) along with examining adolescents’ perceptions of parent-adolescent relationship quality with both the active duty and civilian parent as a linking mechanism. Using a path analysis, data from 265 Army families were examined to identify the direct and indirect associations between military stressors and adolescent adjustment through parent-adolescent relationship quality. Most military stressors were not significantly related to relationship quality of either parent or indicators of adolescent adjustment. However, parent-adolescent relationship quality with each parent (active duty and civilian parent) was uniquely related to adolescents’ adjustment. Discussion is provided regarding how military stressors and familial factors are conceptualized within the context of military families and implications for future research, family therapy, and policies are suggested.

     

Longitudinal impact of parental and adolescent personality on parenting

This study provides a test of how personality may shape social behaviors in a long-lasting dyad: the parent-adolescent relationship. In a large Belgian community sample, it was examined which parent Big Five characteristics were related to parenting and whether adolescent Big Five characteristics elicited certain parenting behaviors. Further, the proposition that individual differences are amplified under stress was examined by exploring whether parent personality was differentially related to parenting for parents of "easy" versus "difficult" adolescents. Moreover, possible differences in associations across parental and adolescent gender were explored. Mothers (N = 467) and fathers (N = 428) reported on their personality using the Five-Factor Personality Inventory; adolescents (N = 475) assessed their personality with the Hierarchical Personality Inventory for Children. Two types of parenting behaviors, overreactive discipline and warmth, were assessed 2 years later by parent self-reports, partner reports, and adolescent reports, from which multi-informant latent factors were created. Results indicate that parental personality was more relevant than adolescent personality for explaining overreactivity, but parent and adolescent personality were similarly relevant in explaining warmth. Especially parental and adolescent Agreeableness and adolescent Extraversion were important predictors of both types of parenting. Associations between parental personality and parenting were similarly related to parents of easy versus difficult adolescents, and for mothers and fathers parenting daughters or sons. Together, results show that parent characteristics as well as adolescent characteristics importantly affect dysfunctional and adaptive parenting.     

Parent-adolescent communication, family functioning, and school performance

This paper presents the results of a test of theoretical postulates proposed by Olson, Russell, and Sprenkle (1983) using a matched set of adolescents and their parents. One set of families (n = 40) consisted of adolescents who had been unsuccessful in public school and were attending alternative schools, while the other (n = 52) was a matched group of public school adolescents and their families. Results showed predicted differences in the direction of greater balanced functioning (i.e., optimal cohesion and adaptability) and more positive communication in the public school families. Public school families also perceived greater congruence between perceived and ideal family functioning. Congruence and differences between adolescent and parent perceptions, the importance of positive communication for optimal functioning, and implications for family treatment are discussed.     

亲子性话题沟通风格对青少年性行为和性态度的预测： 依恋的调节效应

采用问卷法探讨了亲子间性话题沟通风格与青少年性行为、性态度的关系,并考查了亲子依恋的调节效应。结果发现：（1）两个关于性别、父母职业和受教育程度的多元方差分析表明：男生与女生在与父亲和母亲的性话题沟通开放性上均没有显著差异,与父亲和母亲性话题沟通的舒适感上有显著差异。男生与父亲的性话题沟通风格好于与母亲的,而女生与母亲的性话题沟通风格好于与父亲的。父母的职业和受教育程度以及青少年性别、父母职业、受教育程度的交互作用不显著;（2）进一步的结构方程模型分析表明：青少年与父母性话题沟通开放性对性行为具有显著的负向预测作用,对不赞同同伴性行为的态度具有显著的正向预测作用;而青少年与父母性话题沟通舒适感对不赞同同伴性行为的态度具有显著的负向预测作用;（3）依恋对性话题沟通和青少年的性行为的关系有显著的调节作用,与完全安全依恋的家庭相比,在与父母依恋都不安全的家庭中,青少年与父母性话题沟通的开放性对青少年的性行为有更强的预测力     

Communication and Understanding in Parent–Adolescent Relationships

This research examined communication and parent–adolescent understanding, including understanding about family conflicts, adolescent self‐concepts, and immediate thoughts (or “empathic accuracy”). Fifty parent–adolescent triads completed questionnaires, held a discussion, and reported on immediate thoughts during the discussion using video‐assisted recall methods. Alternative measures of understanding produced distinct results. Parental understanding of the child's self‐concept was associated with frequent and open communication, high parent–child relationship satisfaction, and a strong child self‐concept. Parental understanding of conflict perceptions was associated with high conformity and low relationship satisfaction. Parental understanding of the immediate thoughts of children was quite low overall and was not consistently related to communication, relationship satisfaction, or child self‐concept. The results suggest that alternative measures of understanding reflect different family processes.     

青少年和母亲知觉的差异及其与青少年问题行为的关系

从辽宁辽阳市选取605名小学五年级至初中二年级、高中一年级至高中三年级学生及其母亲为被试,探讨青少年与其母亲对父母冲突知觉的差异,以及这种知觉差异与青少年问题行为的关系。要求青少年和其母亲分别报告父母过去一年中在10个方面的冲突频率,同时要求青少年报告自己在过去一年中20种问题行为的发生频率。研究发现：青少年对父母冲突的知觉明显比母亲消极,但是到了高中．两者知觉的差异不再明显;青少年与母亲在指向父母自身冲突方面的知觉差异大于指向孩子的父母冲突方面两者的知觉差异;青少年知觉到的父母冲突多于母亲知觉到的父母冲突的人数比例高于青少年知觉到的父母冲突少于母亲知觉到的父母冲突的人数比例;青少年与母亲对父母冲突知觉的差异会增加青少年出现问题行为的可能性。     

Adolescent culture brokering and family functioning: a study of families from Vietnam

In immigrant families, culture brokering (CB) refers to the ways in which children and adolescents serve as mediator between their family and aspects of the new culture. This study focused on the debate in the literature about whether CB implies "role reversal" in the family and "adultification" of the adolescent or whether CB is better understood as simply one of the many ways that immigrant children contribute to family functioning. Results indicated a mixed picture with respect to this debate. Greater amounts of adolescent CB were indeed related to higher adolescent reports of family conflict, but also to greater family adaptability. In addition, the amount of CB was unrelated to family satisfaction and family cohesion. Secondary questions centered on the relationship of CB to adolescent and parent demographic and acculturation variables. Here, CB was related to parent acculturation patterns but not those of adolescents. Implications for future research on the CB role are discussed.     

Barriers to mother-adolescent communication about sex,maternal monitoring and sexual behaviour among adolescents in Mexico

Mexican mothers have an important role in adolescent sexuality; however, they report multiple barriers to parent–child sex communication, which may impact adolescent sexual behaviour. This cross-sectional study examines whether adolescent perceptions of maternal barriers to communication are associated with adolescent sexual behaviour frequency indirectly through its association with maternal monitoring, and whether these associations differ by age and gender. Mexican adolescents (N = 1433), ages 12–19 (53% girls), completed a survey on normative sexual behaviours, adolescent perceptions of maternal barriers to sex communication, and maternal monitoring. Structural equation modelling analyses revealed that more barriers to communication (adolescent perceptions) were associated with more sexual behaviour frequency (i.e., oral and vaginal sex) among Mexican adolescents indirectly through its association with maternal monitoring. Findings were stronger for adolescents in 8th grades, but no differences were found by gender. This model expands our understanding of the parenting factors that impact Mexican adolescent sexuality.     

Parent-Offspring Transmission of Internalizing and Sensory over-Responsivity Symptoms in Adolescence

Reactions to sensory experiences are an overlooked correlate of affective regulation, despite the importance of bodily states on psychological processes. Children who display sensory over-responsivity (i.e., adverse reactions to typical sensations) are at greater risk for developing affective disorders. We extended this literature to adolescents and their middle-aged parents. Participants in a birth record-based study of families of adolescent twins (N = 506 families; 1012 adolescents; 53% female) completed a subset of items from the Adult Sensory Profile. We derived adolescent self-reported internalizing disorder symptoms and parent affective diagnoses from structured diagnostic interviews. Structural equation models tested the relationship between parent sensory over-responsivity symptoms and affective diagnoses and their adolescent offspring’s sensory over-responsivity and internalizing symptoms. Adolescent sensory over-responsivity symptoms were correlated with internalizing disorder symptoms. Parents with a diagnosis of anxiety or depression (mothers only) reported more frequent SOR symptoms than parents without a diagnosis. Parent depression was significantly related to adolescent sensory over-responsivity symptoms, over and above parent sensory over-responsivity symptoms (β = 0.26, p < 0.001 for mothers; β = 0.13, p = 0.004 for fathers). Father alcohol abuse/dependency also predicted offspring sensory over-responsivity symptoms. Offspring of parents with affective disorders were at additional risk for sensory dysregulation via parents’ influence on offspring internalizing problems.