Elaborating on premature adolescent autonomy: Linking variation in daily family processes to developmental risk

Daily dynamics of feeling loved by parents and their prospective implications for adolescent flourishing

Feeling loved by one's caregiver is essential for individual flourishing (i.e., high levels of psychological well-being in multiple dimensions). Although similar constructs are found to benefit adolescent well-being, research that directly tests parental love as a feeling from the recipient's perspective is rare. Historically, parental love has been measured using single-assessment methods and assumed to be a stable, trait-like characteristic; yet, like any feeling, it may fluctuate in meaningful ways on a day-to-day basis-the implications of which are unknown. Using a sample of 150 adolescents (59.3% female; ages 14-16), this study estimated level (person's mean level across days) and instability (fluctuations across days) of feeling loved by a caregiver across 21 days for each adolescent, and then examined their prospective effects on adolescent flourishing 1 year later. After controlling for demographics (adolescent age, gender, family income, and parent's sex) and variable baseline levels, feeling more loved by one's caregiver in daily life significantly predicted higher levels of flourishing in two global measures 1 year later. Moreover, level and instability of feeling loved by one's caregiver played different roles for different dimensions of flourishing: higher levels significantly predicted higher levels of autonomy, purpose in life, and personal growth, whereas higher instability significantly predicted lower levels of positive relations with others and environmental mastery. Findings emphasized the importance of considering daily dynamics of feeling loved by one's caregiver and demonstrated that level (of feeling loved) is particularly important for intrapersonal aspects while instability is particularly important for interpersonal aspects of flourishing. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Adolescents feeling more loved by their caregiver in daily life had higher levels of overall flourishing 1 year later. Level (of feeling loved) is particularly important for intrapersonal aspects of adolescent flourishing, including autonomy, purpose in life, and personal growth. Stability (of feeling loved) is particularly important for interpersonal aspects of adolescent flourishing, including positive relations with others and environmental mastery.

Variance Decomposition of the Continuous Assessment of Interpersonal Dynamics (CAID) system: Assessing sources of influence and reliability of observations of parent-teen interactions

The Continuous Assessment of Interpersonal Dynamics (CAID) is an observational tool that measures warmth and dominance dynamics in real time and is sensitive to individual, dyadic, and contextual influences. Parent-adolescent interpersonal dynamics, which conceptually map onto parenting styles, are an integral part of positive adolescent adjustment and protect against risky outcomes. The current study's goal was to test the degree to which sources of influence on CAID data observed in a previous study of married couples generalize to a sample of parent-adolescent dyads. We examined data from ten raters who rated moment-to-moment warmth and dominance using CAID in a sample of 61 parent-adolescent dyads (N = 122) who were largely non-Hispanic White (62%) or African American (30%) based on parent report (adolescent M age = 14; 57% female). Dyads interacted in four different discussion segments (situations). We applied Generalizability Theory to delineate several sources of variance in CAID parameters and estimated within and between-person reliability. Results revealed a number of different influences, including the person, kinsperson (adolescent versus parent), dyad, rater, situation, and interactions among these factors, on ratings of parent-adolescent interpersonal behavior. These results largely replicate results from married couples, suggesting that the factors that influence ratings of interpersonal interactions largely generalize across sample types.

Interparental conflict, family climate, and threat appraisals: Early adolescent exposure and young adult psychopathology risk

Long-term studies evaluating threat appraisals as an intervening variable linking interparental conflict (IPC) and internalizing problems are lacking, as are longitudinal studies evaluating the role of the broader family context in these models. Guided by the cognitive-contextual framework, this study followed 225 adolescents (53% females) and their families from age 11 into young adulthood (age 19.6) to evaluate the long-term implications of IPC and threat appraisals for young adult internalizing symptoms. First, a long-term mediation model revealed that increases in IPC from age 11 to 14 (but not initial levels) best accounted for adolescent threat appraisals at age 14. In turn, threat appraisals mediated the association between IPC and young adult (age 19.6) internalizing problems. Second, the family climate-defined as high levels of cohesion and organization-moderated the relation between IPC and threat appraisals. Adolescents in families that experienced declines in positive family climate and increasing IPC had the highest threat appraisals; however, families that maintained (or increased in) positive family climate were protective against increasing IPC. Interestingly, the combination of decreasing IPC and decreasing positive family climate corresponded with the lowest threat appraisals in the sample, contrary to expectations. This finding seems consistent with a family disengagement perspective which may be less threatening to adolescents but may confer risk for other problem outcomes. This study underscores the importance of IPC and threat appraisals during adolescence, and offers new insights into the role of the family climate in protecting against escalating IPC for young adult internalizing risk. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

In the Presence of Parents: Parental Heterosexism and Momentary Negative Affect and Substance Craving Among Sexual Minority Youth

PURPOSE

We examined the influence of parental heterosexism on in vivo negative affect and substance craving among sexual minority youth (SMY) who use nicotine and other substances, and if that relation was strengthened when in the presence of their parent(s).

METHODS

SMY (n = 42, ages 15-19) completed baseline assessments, including experiences of parental heterosexism (PH), and a 30-day ecological momentary assessment. Ecological momentary assessment reports included affective states (i.e., anger, anxiety, depression), substance craving (i.e., nicotine, cannabis, alcohol), and other contextual factors (e.g., presence of parents). Multilevel logistic regression models evaluated the study hypotheses.

RESULTS

PH was associated with greater odds of reporting in-the-moment anger, depression, cannabis craving, and alcohol craving. Parental presence was associated with lower odds of reporting anxiety or depression, and greater odds of reporting nicotine craving. There was a significant interaction when predicting the odds of reporting anxiety. For SMY low in PH, parental presence was related to lower odds of reporting anxiety. As PH increased, parental presence had diminishing associations with the odds of reporting anxiety.

DISCUSSION

Parenting behaviors can serve as protective and risk factors for negative affect and substance craving among SMY. Improving family-based interventions for SMY may be integral for enhancing healthy development and reducing health disparities.

The Mediation of Care and Overprotection between Parent-Adolescent Conflicts and Adolescents' Psychological Difficulties during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Which Role for Fathers?

BACKGROUND

There is evidence of a significant raise in youths' emotional and behavioral difficulties during the pandemic. Only a few studies have addressed parent-adolescent conflict, and none investigated the possible mediating effect of parenting in the association between conflicts with parents and adolescents' symptoms. This study aimed at investigating youths' psychological symptoms during the pandemic, focusing on the predicting effect of parent-adolescent conflict. The mediating role of care and overprotection was also explored, considering whether adolescent gender moderated this mediation.

METHODS

195 adolescents aged 14-18 years participated in an online longitudinal study. Perceived conflict with parents and parenting dimensions (Parental Bonding Instrument; PBI) were assessed at baseline (2021). Self-reported psychological difficulties (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire; SDQ) were collected at baseline and after one year (2022).

RESULTS

A significantly severer symptomatology was found in adolescents having a conflictual relationship with one or both parents. Major conflicts with parents correlated with lower care and greater overprotection in mothers and fathers. However, parental overprotection and maternal care were not mediators of the relationship between conflict and youths' difficulties. The only exception was represented by paternal care that fully mediated this relationship in both adolescent males and females.

CONCLUSIONS

Although further investigations are needed to overcome limitations due to the small sample, findings extend our insight into the impact of parent-adolescent conflict, highlighting the role of fathers' care and the need to maximize their involvement in clinical interventions.

Daily links between Latinx siblings' relationship qualities and mood

This study examined daily links between sibling warmth and negativity and positive and negative mood in middle childhood and the moderating role of enculturation. Participants were 326 Latinx children from 163 families in the United States (Mage  = 10.63 and 8.58 years for older and younger siblings, 48.5% female, 89.3% Mexican-origin). Children reported their days' experiences during seven nightly phone interviews conducted in 2018-2019. Multilevel analyses revealed within-person, positive associations between daily sibling warmth and positive mood( OR = 1.81 , 95 % CI = [ 1.25 , 2.62 ] ) , and sibling negativity and negative mood ( OR = 3.21 , 95 % CI = [ 2.12 , 4.86 ] ) . Moreover, for more enculturated children, odds of positive mood were lower on days when they experienced more sibling negativity than usual. Findings document the significance of Latinx children's daily sibling experiences.

Implications of Family Cohesion and Conflict for Adolescent Mood and Well-Being: Examining Within- and Between-Family Processes on a Daily Timescale

Family-level conflict and cohesion are well-established predictors of adolescent mental health. However, traditional approaches focusing on between-family differences in cohesion and conflict may overlook daily intrafamily variability that might provide important new information. We used data from a 21-day daily diary protocol in a sample of 151 caregivers (95.3% female) and their adolescent child (61.5% female) in two-caregiver families to test whether daily changes in family functioning are associated with daily changes in adolescent well-being and whether adolescent well-being depends on average levels of family functioning. We examined family cohesion and conflict in relation to adolescent angry, depressed, and anxious mood, as well as happiness, life satisfaction, and meaning and purpose in life in multilevel models. Both cohesion and conflict exhibited meaningful daily variation. Adolescent-reported cohesion and conflict had unique within-family associations with all six adolescent outcomes. Models using parent reports of family functioning yielded fewer associations than models with adolescent reports; however, several findings remained. Cross-level interactions indicated that within-family variations in cohesion were only associated with adolescent depression in families with lower average levels of cohesion across days. In sum, this study provides compelling evidence that families exhibit meaningful variability from day to day and that daily variation has important implications for adolescent well-being.

Exploring Processes in Day-to-Day Parent-Adolescent Conflict and Angry Mood: Evidence for Circular Causality

Parent-adolescent conflict has been studied both as a precursor of long-term macrolevel developmental risks and as an outcome of microlevel, moment-to-moment interaction patterns. However, the family-level processes underlying the maintenance or regulation of conflict in daily life are largely overlooked. A meso-level understanding of parent-adolescent conflict offers important practical insights that have direct implications for interventions. The present study explores day-to-day reciprocal processes and carryover in parents' and adolescents' experiences of anger and conflict. Daily diary data provided by parent-adolescent dyads (N = 151) from two-caregiver households (adolescents: 61.59% female, mean age = 14.60 years) over 21 days were examined using a multivariate Poisson multilevel model to evaluate the circular causality principle in parents' and adolescents' daily conflict and anger. Findings offer empirical support for the theory, suggesting that parents' and adolescents' anger and conflict exist together in a feedback loop wherein conflict is both a consequence of past anger and also an antecedent of future anger, both within and across persons. Increased understanding of the daily interaction patterns and maintenance of parent-adolescent conflict can guide more informed, targeted, and well-timed interventions intended to ameliorate the consequences of problematic parent-adolescent conflict sequences.

Constellations of family risk for long-term adolescent antisocial behavior

Adolescent antisocial behavior (ASB) can have long-term individual and societal consequences. Much of the research on the development of ASB considers risk and protective factors in isolation or as cumulative indices, likely overlooking the co-occurring and interacting nature of these factors. Guided by theories of ASB risk (i.e., coercive family process, disengagement), this study uses latent profile analysis to evaluate whether there are subgroups of families in the population that conform to specific constellations of risk factors prescribed by established theories of risk for ASB, and whether subgroup membership confers differential risk for different ASBs. We leveraged a large sample of adolescents in Fall, Grade 6 (N = 5,300; M_age = 11.8; 50.9% female) for subgroup analysis, and predicted aggression, antisocial peer behavior, and substance use in Spring, Grade 8. Four family profiles were identified: Coercive (15%), characterized by high family conflict, low positive family climate, low parental involvement, low effective discipline, low adolescent positive engagement, and low parental knowledge; Disengaged (41%), characterized by low positive family climate, low parental involvement, low adolescent positive engagement, and low parental knowledge; Permissive (11%), characterized by high parental involvement, low effective discipline, high adolescent positive engagement, high parental knowledge, and high family conflict; and High Functioning (34% prevalence). In turn, group membership predicted long-term outcomes. Adolescents in Coercive families were at highest risk for ASB during Grade 8, followed by those in Disengaged and Permissive profiles; all three of which were at greater risk than adolescents in High Functioning families for every outcome. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

When do adolescents feel loved? A daily within-person study of parent-adolescent relations

Feeling loved has many benefits, but research is limited on how daily behaviors of one person in a relationship shape why someone else feels more or less loved from day to day. The parent-adolescent relationship is a primary source of love. We expected parent-reported warmth and conflict would explain daily fluctuations in how loved adolescents reported feeling. In a sample of 151 families (adolescent M_Age = 14.60; 61.6% female) over a 21-day period, we used multilevel models to disentangle within-family (daily variability) and between-family (average levels) parent-reported daily warmth and conflict in relation to adolescents' daily reports about how loved they were feeling. Findings indicated adolescents in families with higher parent-reported warmth across days and higher adolescent-reported closeness with parents felt more loved by their parents, on average. At a within-person level, we found considerable day-to-day variability in how loved adolescents reported feeling that was partially explained by meaningful variability in both parent-reported warmth and conflict across days. On days when parents reported more warmth than usual and less conflict than usual, adolescents reported feeling more loved. Further, a significant within-day interaction indicated that the importance of days' parent warmth was greater on high conflict days, but when parents directed more warmth toward their adolescents, the difference between high- and low-conflict days was negligible. Theoretical implications for studying daily emotional love in parent-youth relationships and suggestions for parenting interventions that focus on daily practices of parent warmth are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Age-varying associations of parental knowledge and antisocial peer behavior with adolescent substance use

Antisocial peer behavior and low parental knowledge of adolescents' activities are key interpersonal risk factors for adolescent substance use. However, how the magnitude of associations between these risk factors and substance use may vary across adolescence remains less well understood. The present study examined the age-varying associations of parental knowledge and antisocial peer behavior with adolescents' substance use (i.e., cigarette use, drunkenness, and marijuana use) using time-varying effect modeling. Using data from the Promoting School-Community-University Partnerships to Enhance Resilience (PROSPER) study, the final sample consists of 8,222 adolescents, followed from Grade 6 to Grade 12 (age 11 to age 18.9), including those who newly joined the schools at the targeted grade levels. Results showed that low parental knowledge and antisocial peer behavior were significantly associated with the use of each of the three substances across the majority of adolescence. The magnitude of the associations between substance use and both risk factors decreased across age, except between peer risk and marijuana use. Further, there was a significant interaction between parent and peer risk factors such that low parental knowledge was less strongly associated with substance use at higher levels of antisocial peer behavior. Findings highlighted early adolescence as an important period to target parent and peer prevention and interventions for reducing early substance use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).