Getting under the skin: Maternal social coaching and adolescent peer adjustment

Predictors of Friendship Skills for Adolescents with Asthma: An Analysis of Parent Report on the 2022 National Survey of Children's Health

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

This study assesses parent reports of adolescent- and parent-level factors related to friendships among adolescents with asthma. This study serves to inform physicians and other health care professionals of factors related to difficulties making friends for adolescents with asthma, providing information from parent reports to identify risk and resilience factors related to friendships.

METHODS

Adolescents aged 12-17 years with current asthma from the 2022 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH) were selected for the study (n = 1812). A weighted logistic regression analysis was performed to explore predictors related to making and keeping friends. Adolescent-level predictors were asthma severity, allergies, body mass index, having behavioral problems, and adolescent sex and race/ethnicity (non-Hispanic White, and others, including Hispanic). Parent-level predictors were parent stress and coping.

RESULTS

Adolescents who were female, non-Hispanic White, had moderate/severe asthma symptoms, had current allergies, were overweight, and had behavioral problems were more likely to have difficulty making and keeping friends than adolescents who were male, non-White, had mild asthma, did not have allergies, were a normal weight or underweight, and did not have behavioral problems. Parents who reported difficulty coping with parenthood and its associated stressors were more likely to report that their adolescents had difficulty making friends.

CONCLUSIONS

Pediatric moderate-to-severe asthma patients whose parents had difficulty coping with stress were more likely to exhibit greater difficulty making and keeping friends. Health care professionals managing these patients should incorporate questions into their history that address behavioral problems and parental household stress growing up to determine optimal strategies for improving friendship relationships. Whether this strategy leads to better asthma control and outcomes requires further investigation. In future studies, case studies with information about changes in friendships over time for adolescents with asthma should be carried out. The case studies could potentially highlight social strategies to use to improve friendship skills, and ultimately friendship-making for this vulnerable group.

Adolescent coping with academic challenges: The role of parental socialization of coping

INTRODUCTION

How youth cope with academic challenges has important implications for their academic outcomes. The contributions of parental involvement have been relatively well-established; however, few, if any studies have investigated the role of parental socialization of academic coping (i.e., coping suggestions) in shaping youth coping with academic challenges.

METHODS

Using a community sample from the United States, we utilized a multi-informant, longitudinal design to investigate the prospective association between parental socialization of academic coping and adolescent coping with academic challenges. Adolescent gender was also examined as a moderator of associations. Participants included 86 two-parent families (54% boys; 38-52% ethnic minorities). At Time 1, mothers and fathers reported on their problem-solving, help-seeking, and disengaged coping suggestions in response to three hypothetical academic challenge scenarios (i.e., forgetting about or performing poorly on an assignment, difficulties managing academic demands). At Times 1 and 2, adolescents reported on their coping strategies (e.g., strategizing, help-seeking, escape) in response to academic challenges.

RESULTS

Father-reported problem-focused suggestions were associated with youths' more adaptive coping (e.g., strategizing, help-seeking) over time. Interestingly, father-reported disengaged suggestions were associated with less maladaptive coping over time. Further, adolescent gender moderated associations linking mothers' and fathers' problem-focused suggestions and fathers' help-seeking and disengaged suggestions with adolescent coping over time.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, fathers' coping suggestions were associated with more adaptive coping for girls as compared with boys. Findings highlight the role of parental socialization of coping, particularly fathers' role, in the academic domain.