The interplay of parental support,parental pressure and test anxiety – Gender differences in adolescents

This study examined gender-specific relationships between adolescents' perceptions of school-related support/pressure from their parents and test anxiety. A sample of German students (N = 845; M_age = 15.32; SD = .49) completed questionnaires that measured their perceived parental support/pressure (for mother and father separately) as well as the four main components of test anxiety (worry, interference, lack of confidence, and emotionality). Gender-specific relations were identified using multigroup structural equation modeling: For girls, perceived maternal pressure was positively associated with emotionality and interference; for boys, perceived father pressure and father support were positively associated with interference and worry, respectively. For both genders, perceived mother pressure and support were related to lack of confidence. Our findings suggest that adolescents' perceptions of maternal attitudes are associated with students' self-confidence irrespective of the child's gender, whereas the remaining facets of test anxiety follow same-sex trajectories between perceived parental attitudes and adolescents' test anxiety.     

Warmth and legitimacy beliefs contextualize adolescents' negative reactions to parental monitoring

This study sought to identify conditions under which parents' monitoring behaviors are most strongly linked to adolescents' negative reactions (i.e., feelings of being controlled and invaded). 242 adolescents (49.2% male; M age = 15.4 years) residing in the United States of America reported parental monitoring and warmth, and their own feelings of being controlled and invaded and beliefs in the legitimacy of parental authority. Analyses tested whether warmth and legitimacy beliefs moderate and/or suppress the link between parents' monitoring behaviors and adolescents' negative reactions. Monitoring was associated with more negative reactions, controlling for legitimacy beliefs and warmth. More monitoring was associated with more negative reactions only at weaker levels of legitimacy beliefs, and at lower levels of warmth. The link between monitoring and negative reactions is sensitive to the context within which monitoring occurs with the strongest negative reactions found in contexts characterized by low warmth and weak legitimacy beliefs.     

Parental phubbing accelerates depression in late childhood and adolescence:A two-path model

IntroductionPhubbing is a social exclusion behavior related to mobile phone use. It undermines interpersonal relationships and mental health. This study aimed to test the connections between parental phubbing and depression in late childhood and adolescence, as well as the mediating roles of parental warmth, parental rejection, and relatedness need satisfaction.MethodsWe conducted two studies. Study 1 was a cross-sectional study of 530 Chinese students (268 boys and 262 girls, M_age = 13.15 ± 0.64 years) who completed self-report questionnaires. We conducted structural modeling to test the relationship between parental phubbing and depression. Study 2 used a short longitudinal design to validate the results of Study 1 and test the mediating roles of parental warmth, parental rejection, and relatedness need satisfaction. In Study 2, we recruited 293 Chinese students (151 boys, 141 girls, and one participant with no reported gender information, M _age = 12.87 ± 0.74 years) to complete the questionnaires and applied structural equation modeling to analyze the data.ResultsTwo sequential mediation effects were found. The first was parental phubbing → parental warmth → relatedness need satisfaction → depression (protection-reduced effect). The second was parental phubbing → parental rejection → relatedness need satisfaction → depression (risk-increased effect). Gender differences were non-significant.ConclusionsThe study revealed that parental phubbing was associated with students’ depression in late childhood and adolescence through two paths. The present study highlights the need to establish family norms regulating mobile phone use to reduce phubbing.     

Longitudinal relations between parental media monitoring and adolescent aggression,prosocial behavior,and externalizing problems

The current study examined longitudinal relations between parental media monitoring and adolescent behavior, and explored indirect effects via sympathy and self-regulation. A sample of adolescents and their mothers from Northwestern and Mountain West cities in the USA participated in a study at three time points, approximately one year apart (N = 681; M age of child at Time 3 = 13.33, SD = 1.06; 51% female; 73% European American, 9% African American, 17% Multi-ethnic). Though findings varied by reporter, results suggested that restrictive and active media monitoring were indirectly associated with adolescents' prosocial behavior, aggression, and externalizing behavior, with restrictive monitoring being somewhat maladaptive and active monitoring adaptive. The discussion focuses on the need to examine multiple aspects of media monitoring, and highlights implications of findings for parents.     

Emotion dysregulation between mothers,fathers, and adolescents: Implications for adolescents' internalizing problems

IntroductionThe present study calls attention to the longitudinal relations between mothers', fathers', and adolescents' emotion dysregulation and adolescents' internalizing problems. To this end, we tested the associations between family members' emotion dysregulation and adolescents' internalizing problems over time.MethodsOver a 12-month period, 386 Chinese families from Hong Kong involving mothers, fathers, and adolescent children (children at 12–17 years of age; boys = 185, girls = 201) completed a set of questionnaires twice.ResultsMulti-group path analysis revealed unidirectional effects of mothers' emotion dysregulation on fathers' and adolescents' emotion dysregulation over time. Adolescents' emotion dysregulation was also related to their subsequent internalizing problems. The associations did not differ as a function of adolescents' gender.ConclusionThe present findings underscore the significance of mothers' emotion dysregulation on fathers' and adolescents' emotion dysregulation. As a risk factor, adolescents' emotion dysregulation was also predictive of their internalizing problems 12 months later. Taken together, this study serves to inform prevention and intervention efforts in promoting emotion regulation as a family asset associated with fewer adolescents' internalizing problems.     

Bidirectional associations between perceived parental support for violent and nonviolent responses and early adolescent aggressive and effective nonviolent behaviors

The current study examined bidirectional relations between early adolescents' perceptions of parental support for violent and nonviolent responses to conflict and their aggressive and effective nonviolent behaviors six months later. Data was collected across the sixth and seventh grades for 520 adolescents at three middle schools in the southeastern United States. At baseline, participants were ages 10–14 (M = 11.29). Longitudinal path models showed that perceived parental support for violent responses was negatively associated with effective nonviolent behaviors and positively associated with aggressive behaviors across sixth and seventh grades. Across seventh grade, reciprocal negative relations were found between perceived parental support of nonviolent responses and aggressive behaviors. Effective nonviolent behaviors were positively associated with perceived parental support for nonviolent responses. Study implications include the importance of adolescent perceptions of parental support of violent and nonviolent responses in influencing early adolescents' effective nonviolent and aggressive behavior.     

Low autonomic arousal as vulnerability to externalising behaviour in infants with hostile mothers

Maternal psychopathology and the child's autonomic nervous system functioning are risk factors for aggressive behaviour later in life. While research has shown that maternal psychopathology already affects young children, less is known about the association between autonomic functioning and aggressive behaviour in young children. In addition, maternal psychopathology and autonomic nervous system functioning may interact to determine the risk of aggressive behaviour.In a sample of 375 infants and their mothers, maternal psychiatric symptoms were assessed with the Brief Symptom Inventory and toddler aggressive behaviour with the Child Behaviour Checklist. Infant heart rate was recorded at 14 months.Maternal psychiatric problems, including hostility and depression, were associated with toddler aggressive behaviour. Maternal psychiatric problems interacted with mean heart rate (P = 0.01) and HF variability (P = 0.03) in their effect on toddler aggressive behaviour.Mothers with high psychiatric problems, in particular, high hostility, were more likely to have toddlers with high aggressive behaviour. Moreover, in the presence of maternal risk factors, low autonomic arousal renders children particularly susceptible to aggressive behaviour.     

Mothers', fathers', and siblings' perceptions of parents' differential treatment of siblings: Links with family relationship qualities

A family systems perspective directs attention to the potentially different experiences and perspectives of family members. This study examined parents' differential treatment (PDT) of siblings, discrepancies between parent and youth reports of PDT, and their links with relationships between adolescents and their mothers and fathers across three years. Participants were first- (Time 1 M age = 15.71, SD = 1.07) and secondborn (Time 1 M age = 13.18, SD = 1.29) siblings from 381, predominately white, working and middle class families. Analyses revealed that siblings' perceptions of being favored predicted less conflict with and greater warmth from both mothers and fathers, primarily for secondborn adolescents. Larger discrepancies between maternal and youth reports of differential affection were linked to more maternal conflict and less warmth for firstborns. These findings may suggest a hierarchy within families: parents may serve as referents for firstborns and firstborns as referents for secondborns.     

Externalizing and internalizing behaviours in adolescence,and the importance of parental behavioural and psychological control practices

The aims of the present study were to explore the impact of parental characteristics (behavioural control and psychological control) on adolescents' expression of externalizing and internalizing behaviours. To address the aim of the study, participants completed quantitative measures; the study included 538 adolescents and their mothers and fathers. Overall, 513 mothers and 464 fathers participated in the study. Adolescents completed the Children's Report on Parent Behaviour Inventory (CRPBI), while parents completed the Child Behaviour Checklist – Parent Report (Short Form; CBCL). Results of the study showed that only maternal and paternal psychological control predicted externalizing and internalizing behaviours. The conclusions have practical applications, as they can provide novel approaches in parent training programmes. Furthermore, results are discussed in relation to the connection with earlier studies and the theoretical contribution.     

Parental changes after involvement in their anxious child's cognitive behavior therapy

ObjectiveSpecific parental behaviors and cognitions are associated with child anxiety. Studies informing us of the directionality of the associations are lacking. We investigated the effect of parental involvement in children's anxiety treatment on parental behaviors and cognitions.MethodChildren (N = 54, 7–12 years) and parents were randomly allocated to different treatment groups (involved, not involved). Observed behavior, self-reported behavior and cognitions were assessed separately for mothers and fathers at pre-, posttreatment and follow-up.ResultsThere were no differences over time for self-reported parental efficacy and observed negativity, but self-reported autonomy granting increased for both groups over time. Differential effects were found between groups for observed paternal over-involvement (fathers involved in treatment showed a more rapid decrease) and self-reported maternal autonomy-granting (non-involved mothers showed a greater increase).ConclusionOur findings suggest that child anxiety significantly influences parental behaviors and cognitions. Child therapy may successfully change the family system.     

Predicting school adjustment from multiple perspectives on parental behaviors

Past research supported the importance of parental autonomy support, involvement, and structure for student outcomes. The goal of this study was to test the contribution of these behaviors from mothers and fathers in predicting adolescents' adjustment in school using a multi-informant approach. A sample of 522 adolescents (233 boys, 389 girls), their mothers (n = 535), and fathers (n = 296) participated in the study. Results revealed that parents' self-evaluations explained additional variance in children's school adjustment, over and beyond the contribution of children's evaluation of their parents. Maternal reports on their positive behaviors (autonomy support, involvement, and structure) predicted their child's academic and emotional adjustment while their reported control predicted lower levels of these. Fathers' self-reported positive behaviors predicted academic adjustment while their control predicted lower academic and personal-emotional adjustment. These findings support the importance of multiple assessments of parental behaviors for improving the prediction of adjustment in school.     

What do mothers want to know about teens' activities? Levels,trajectories, and correlates

Middle class mothers (n = 169) of middle adolescents (M = 15.69 years old) in the U.S. rated how much they want to know and responded qualitatively about what they “always” and “never” want to know about adolescents' risky prudential (e.g., drinking alcohol, using illegal drugs), personal (e.g., teens' private conversations), and multifaceted (involving overlapping prudential and personal concerns) activities. Latent growth curve modeling over one year showed that mothers wanted to know most about prudential, less about multifaceted, and least about personal activities; wanting to know declined over time for each type of activity, but less for prudential than for other activities. With teen problem behavior controlled, psychologically controlling parenting, supportive and negative interactions with teens, knowledge of adolescents' activities, and teens' age were associated with individual differences in mothers' initial ratings and trajectories of wanting to know, although results varied by domain and were moderated by teen gender.     

Anger and hostility in adolescents: relationships with self-reported attachment style and perceived parental rearing styles

OBJECTIVE: To examine relationships between self-reported attachment style and parental rearing behaviors, on the one hand, and anger/hostility, on the other hand, in a sample of nonclinical adolescents (N=441). METHOD: Participants completed (a) a single-item measure of attachment style; (b) a questionnaire measuring perceptions of parental rearing behaviors; and (c) two scales assessing anger and hostility. RESULTS: Self-reported attachment style was related to anger/hostility. That is, adolescents who defined themselves as avoidantly or ambivalently attached displayed higher levels of anger/hostility than adolescents who classified themselves as securely attached. Furthermore, perceived parental rearing was also related to anger/hostility. More specifically, low levels of emotional warmth and high levels of rejection, control, and inconsistency were accompanied by high levels of anger/hostility. Finally, regression analyses showed that both attachment status and parental rearing behaviors accounted for a unique and significant proportion of the variance in anger/hostility. CONCLUSION: These findings are in keeping with the notion that family environment factors such as attachment style and parental rearing are involved in the development of anger/hostility in youths.     

The BDNF-Val66Met polymorphism modulates parental rearing effects on adult psychiatric symptoms: A community twin-based study

PurposeTo test whether firstly, different parental rearing components were associated with different dimensions of psychiatric symptoms in adulthood, secondly BDNF-Val66Met polymorphism moderated this association and thirdly, this association was due to genetic confounding.MethodPerceived parental rearing according to Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), psychiatric symptoms evaluated with the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) and the BDNF-Val66Met polymorphism were analyzed in a sample of 232 adult twins from the general population.ResultsIn the whole sample, paternal care was negatively associated with depression. Maternal overprotection was positively associated with paranoid ideation, obsession-compulsion and somatization. Gene-environment interaction effects were detected between the BDNF-Val66Met polymorphism and maternal care on phobic anxiety, paternal care on hostility, maternal overprotection on somatization and paternal overprotection also in somatization. In the subsample of MZ twins, intrapair differences in maternal care were associated with anxiety, paranoid ideation and somatization.ConclusionsMet carriers were, in general, more sensitive to the effects of parental rearing compared to Val/Val carriers in relation to anxiety and somatization. Contra-intuitively, our findings suggest that high rates of maternal care might be of risk for Met carriers regarding anxiety. Results from analyses controlling for genetic confounding were in line with this finding.     

Raising trophy kids: The role of mothers' contingent self-esteem in maternal promotion of extrinsic goals

This study examined the role of mothers' child-invested contingent self-esteem, that is, their tendency to hinge their self-worth on their child's achievements, in maternal promotion of extrinsic goals, as perceived by adolescents. It was also examined whether maternal promotion of extrinsic goals would, in turn, relate to adolescents' Social Dominance Orientation (SDO). Participants were 184 mothers and their adolescent children (66% female). Maternal child-invested contingent self-esteem predicted adolescent-perceived maternal promotion of extrinsic goals, even when taking into account the variance shared between the promotion of extrinsic goals and mothers' use of a controlling parenting style. Maternal child-invested contingent self-esteem also moderated associations between mothers' personal pursuit of extrinsic goals and their promotion of those goals, such that the association between mothers' own extrinsic goals and their promotion of those goals was significant only among mothers high on child-invested contingent self-esteem. Maternal promotion of extrinsic goals was, in turn, related to adolescent SDO, suggesting that the dynamics examined in this study ultimately relate to adolescents' social and ideological development.     

Perspective taking,empathic concern,agreeableness, and parental support: Transactional associations across adolescence

IntroductionEmpathy consists of a cognitive and an affective component, of which it is thought that there are gender differences. Previous studies also suggest that maternal and paternal support play a more prominent role in the development of an adolescent's affective and cognitive empathy, respectively. Besides the environmental factor, that is parenting, adolescent personality, and more specifically, agreeableness, is closely linked to both empathy and support, but this interplay was not extensively investigated longitudinally. The present study investigated the transactional associations among parental support, adolescent agreeableness, and adolescent empathy. More specifically, we examined (a) whether maternal/paternal support is differentially associated with cognitive/affective empathy, while taking into account adolescent agreeableness and (b) whether adolescent agreeableness still predicts empathy, while taking into account parental support.MethodsData from 993 Belgian adolescents (M_ageT1 = 13.96 years; [12.6–18.4]) and their parents across four time points were used in a random intercept cross-lagged panel model.ResultsAt the between-person level, maternal support was associated with affective, but not cognitive empathy, whereas agreeableness was associated with maternal and paternal support as well as with both types of empathy. At the within-person level, affective empathy predicted cognitive empathy one wave later.ConclusionsAt a population level, agreeableness and support are both important in adolescent empathy development with limited evidence for the differential roles of mothers and fathers. Within participants, affective empathy, and not parental support or agreeableness, predicted cognitive empathy.     

A longitudinal study of self-control at the transition to secondary school: Considering the role of pubertal status and parenting

Higher self-control in children and adolescents is associated with a range of positive outcomes in adulthood. However, little is known about the naturalistic development of self-control during early adolescence and the factors that affect this. We examined the role of puberty and parenting style as theoretically important influences on stability and change in self-control. A longitudinal (3 waves), multiple-informant dataset of children entering early adolescence (M = 11 years) was used to explore longitudinal change in self-control using latent growth curve modelling. Children's self-control declined during the one-year study period and declines were associated with children's behavioural and social functioning. Associations with self-control were found for pubertal status and parental warmth and hostility, but not for parental discipline. The findings suggest that during early adolescence, when children make the transition to secondary school, self-control declines. This is particularly the case for those experiencing puberty earlier than their peers. Parent warmth influences the trajectory of self-control during this period.     

The effects of familial risk and parental resolution on parenting a child with mild intellectual disability

The current study investigated the manner by which family risk moderates the links between parental state of resolution with a child's diagnosis and both parent–child interaction and parental stress. The sample included 72 families with 4–7-year-old children (M = 5.53, SD = 0.73) diagnosed with mild intellectual disability. Parents reported on their resolution state and parental stress, and parent–child interactions were videotaped and analyzed. Results indicated that in families where mothers or fathers were unresolved rather than resolved, mother–child interactions were less positive only in the context of high family risk. The father–child interaction was not found to be affected by family risk and parental resolution. Interestingly, mothers in low family risk situations who were resolved reported the lowest level of parental stress, suggesting a “double buffer” effect, whereas fathers with high family risk who were unresolved experienced the highest levels of parental stress, suggesting a “double risk” effect.     

Socialization of emotion regulation strategies through friends

This study examines the effects of best friends' emotion regulation strategies (regarding the emotions anger, fear, and sadness) on the development of adolescents' emotion regulation strategies and subsequent depressive symptoms. Based on a two-wave longitudinal sample of 238 German adolescents, true change analyses showed positive effects of best friends' adaptive strategies (T1) on the change of adolescents' adaptive strategies (T2 − T1) for anger and fear. Best friends' adaptive strategies (T1) indirectly influence the development of maladaptive strategies (T2 − T1) through the change of adaptive strategies (T2 − T1) and, in turn, the development of depressive symptoms (T2 − T1; two-step mediation). Best friends' adaptive strategies for sadness did not have an effect on adolescents' adaptive strategies. In contrast to adaptive strategies, none of the friends' maladaptive strategies affected adolescents' maladaptive strategies. The results are discussed in terms of peer influences on the development of emotion regulation strategies and psychosocial adjustment.     

Psychopathology and expressed emotion in parents of patients with eating disorders: Relation to patient symptom severity

The purpose of the current study was to examine the relation between parental psychopathology, parental expressed emotion, and patient symptom severity. One hundred twenty-six parents of 79 patients receiving treatment for an eating disorder completed measures of expressed emotion and general psychopathology, and patients completed a measure of eating disorder psychopathology. Mothers reported higher expressed emotion scores than fathers. Both mothers and fathers scored higher on general psychopathology compared to nonpatient population means. Maternal psychopathology was found to be associated with symptom severity. Parental psychopathology and expressed emotion were found to be related, and MANCOVAs revealed that maternal criticism and maternal psychopathology were associated with patient symptom severity, but fathers’ scores on the same measures were not. It is recommended that parental expressed emotion and parental psychopathology are assessed at the beginning of treatment so that appropriate clinical interventions can be utilized.