(In)Congruence in Perceived Mother-child Cohesion and Informants' Depressive Symptoms: A Dyadic Response Surface Analysis

Discrepancies in perceived family resilience between adolescents with chronic illness and parents: using response surface analysis to examine the relationship with adolescents' psychological adjustment

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to explore discrepancies in adolescents with chronic illness and their parents' perceptions of family resilience, as well as the relationship between these differences and the psychological adjustment of adolescents with chronic illness.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted. A total of 264 dyads of parents (77.7% mothers, mean age 41.60 years, SD = 6.17) and adolescents (48.5% girls, mean age 12.68 years, SD = 2.11) with chronic illness were recruited through convenience sampling from three children's hospitals in Wenzhou, Hangzhou, and Shanghai, China between June 2022 and May 2023. The Chinese version of the Family Resilience Scale and the Psychological Adjustment Scale, which are commonly used measures with good reliability and validity, were employed to assess family resilience and psychological adaption, respectively. The data were analyzed using polynomial regression and response surface analysis.

RESULTS

Adolescents with chronic illness reported higher family resilience than their parents (t=-2.80, p < 0.05). The correlations between family resilience and adolescents' psychological adjustment reported by the adolescents (r = 0.45-0.48) were higher than parents (r = 0.18-0.23). In the line of congruence, there were positive linear (a1 = 1.09-1.60, p < 0.001) and curvilinear (a2=-1.38∼-0.72, p < 0.05) associations between convergent family resilience and adolescents' psychological adjustment. In the line of incongruence, when adolescents reported lower family resilience than parents, adolescents had a lower level of psychological adjustment (a3=-1.02∼-0.45, p < 0.05). Adolescents' sociability decreased when the perceived family resilience of parent-adolescent dyads converged (a4 = 1.36, p < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

The findings highlighted the importance of considering the discrepancies and congruence of family resilience in the parent-child dyads when developing interventions to improve the psychological adjustment of adolescents with chronic illness. Interventions aimed at strengthening family communication to foster the convergence of perceptions of family resilience in parent-adolescent dyads were warranted.

Interplay of Adolescents' and Parents' Mindsets of Socioeconomic Status on Adolescents' Stress-Related Outcomes

The reciprocity and variation of values and beliefs are dynamic features of the parent-child relationship. Parents and adolescents may hold congruent or incongruent views regarding the malleability of socioeconomic status (mindset of SES), potentially influencing adolescents' psychological and physiological stress outcomes, as reflected in stress perceptions and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis functioning. The current study investigated how patterns of parent-adolescent congruence and incongruence in mindset of SES were associated with adolescents' perceived stress and diurnal cortisol patterns four months later. A total of 253 adolescents (Mage = 12.60, 46.2% girls) and their parents (Mage = 40.09 years, 59.5% mothers) participated in this study. Polynomial regression analyses and response surface analyses showed that adolescents perceived lower levels of stress when they themselves or their parents reported a stronger growth mindset of SES. Additionally, adolescents with a stronger growth mindset of SES also exhibited a steeper diurnal cortisol slope. Moreover, parents' mindset significantly interacted with adolescents' mindset to influence adolescents' diurnal cortisol patterns such that when adolescents hold weaker growth mindset of SES, those with higher parental growth mindsets had significantly higher cortisol awakening response and steeper diurnal cortisol slope. Furthermore, adolescents who showed incongruence with their parents but had averagely stronger growth mindsets of SES reported a significantly steeper diurnal cortisol slope than those who had averagely weaker growth mindsets with their parents. The findings point to the beneficial impacts of the growth mindset of SES on stress-related outcomes among adolescents, as well as the significance of considering both parents' and adolescents' mindsets when exploring these associations.