Warm and harsh parenting as mediators of the relation between maternal and adolescent emotion regulation

Maternal hostility/rejection and warmth were considered as potential mediators of the relation between mothers' and adolescents' emotion regulation. Participants were first-year high school students living in Ankara, Turkey and their mothers (N = 365). Scales assessing emotion regulation difficulties and maternal hostility/rejection and warmth were administered to both the adolescents and their mothers. Maternal hostility/rejection, but not warmth, mediated the relation between maternal and adolescent emotion regulation. For girls there was, additionally, a direct effect of maternal emotion regulation. The different roles played by parental rejection and parental warmth in the development of adolescents' emotion regulation accord with arguments that socialization occurs in different domains and that rejection and warmth are not aspects of the same domain.     

Emotional separation,parental trust,and psychosocial adjustment in preadolescence and early adolescence

IntroductionEmotional separation and parental trust are two fundamental components of parent-adolescent relationships across different cultural contexts. Previous research showed that emotional separation hindered adolescents’ psychosocial adjustment, while parental trust benefited it. However, research on preadolescence is lacking. Preadolescence is a crucial period, as theories and findings suggest that too early autonomy around puberty had negative consequences for psychosocial adjustment. This study focused on preadolescence and early adolescence and tested two hypotheses: that emotional separation would be negatively, and parental trust would be positively, associated with psychosocial adjustment, and that this pattern of associations would be more salient in preadolescence than in early adolescence.MethodsParticipants were 856 preadolescent elementary schoolers (49.6% girls; age range 9–12 years, M_age = 10.79, SD = 0.92) and 518 early adolescent junior high schoolers (47.7% girls, age range 12–15 years; M_age = 13.56, SD = 0.98) in Japan, who completed measures of emotional separation, parental trust, and psychosocial adjustment (industry, school adaptation, and daily life behaviors).ResultsEmotional separation was negatively associated with reviewing learning contents and doing homework. Parental trust was positively associated with industry, school adaptation, waking up at regular times, and observing rules at school. These relationships did not differ between age groups.ConclusionsThis study highlights that emotional separation has a negative relationship, and parental trust has a positive relationship, with psychosocial adjustment throughout preadolescence and adolescence.     

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.     

A longitudinal investigation of sleep and technology use in early adolescence: does parental control of technology use protect adolescent sleep?

ObjectiveA bi-directional relationship between technology use and adolescent sleep is likely, yet findings are mixed, and it is not known whether parental control of technology use can protect sleep. The current study examined bi-directionality between technology use on school nights and morning/eveningness, sleep duration and daytime sleepiness in early adolescents. We also examined whether time spent using technology mediated the relationship between parental control of technology and adolescent sleep.MethodsAdolescents and their primary caregiver (96% mothers) completed questionnaire measures of sleep, technology use and parental control across three, annual waves: Wave 1 (N = 528, M_age = 11.18, SD = 0.56, range = 10–12, 51% male), Wave 2 (N = 502, M_age = 12.19, SD = 0.53, 52% male) and Wave 3 (N = 478, M_age = 13.19, SD = 0.53, 52% male).ResultsWhen examining the direct relationship between sleep and technology use, cross-lagged panel models showed that time spent using technology predicted shorter sleep duration and greater daytime sleepiness in adolescence, and evening diurnal preference and shorter sleep duration contributed to increased technology use over time. The relationship between technology use and sleep duration was bi-directional. Time spent using technology and adolescent sleep predicted, yet were not predicted by, parental control of technology use.ConclusionsWhile normative changes in sleep (eg, increased eveningness) may promote increased technology use, technology use may further impinge upon sleep. Results suggest it may be pertinent to instead find creative ways in which adolescents themselves can mitigate their risk of inadequate sleep.     

Mobile Phone Addiction,Phubbing, and Depression Among Men and Women: A Moderated Mediation Analysis

For several years, the number of studies on the links between excessive mobile phone use and mental health has been increasing. The aim of the study was to establish if there is a relationship between mobile phone addiction and depression in university students and if phubbing is a mediator of this relationship. The authors also tested if this mediation effect was moderated by loneliness and if the model of relationships between these variables was the same in women and in men. The participants were 402 university and college students from Ukraine, aged 17 to 31; 74% of them were women. The authors used the Adapted Mobile Phone Use Habits, the Phubbing Scale, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and the Loneliness Scale. The results of the study have shown that higher mobile phone addiction and higher phubbing is associated with a higher level of depressive moods, with phubbing functioning as a mediator of the relationship between mobile phone addiction and depression. A moderator of this mediation is loneliness, the moderation effect being asymmetrically dependent on gender: in men, high loneliness increases the mediating role of phubbing, which more markedly translates into depression, while in women the analyzed mediation effect becomes weaker with an increase in the sense of loneliness (phubbing correlates less strongly with depression).

     

Parental problem drinking and adolescent externalizing behaviors: The mediating role of family functioning

This study explored relationships among parental problem drinking, family functioning, and adolescent externalizing behaviors. The unique effects of maternal and paternal drinking were examined separately for girls and boys. The sample included 14–19 year old U.S. adolescents (M_age = 16.15; SD = .75; 52.5% female) and their parents. Participants completed surveys in the spring of 2007 and 2008. Structural equation modeling was used to conduct path analysis models. Results showed the distinctive and adverse effects of parental problem drinking on adolescent alcohol use, drug use, rule breaking, and aggressive behavior over time. Findings also highlighted the indirect and mediating roles of family functioning. For both girls and boys, family cohesion mediated the relationship between parental problem drinking and adolescent externalizing behaviors. For girls, adolescent–father communication predicted increased externalizing behaviors over time. These findings draw attention to the importance of exploring adolescent and parent gender when examining parental problem drinking, family functioning, and externalizing behaviors.     

Parent-adolescent relationship quality as a predictor of leaving home

IntroductionLeaving home is a significant life transition that effects both emerging adults and their families. The age of leaving home has been increasing across industrialized societies, and children remain dependent on their parents for a longer time. The present study investigated the association between parent-adolescent relationships and timing of leaving home over a timespan of six years: From middle adolescence to emerging adulthood.MethodsData came from three cohorts of two longitudinal studies in the Netherlands (N = 1100). At the start of the study, participants had a mean age of 16.41 (SD=.71), and approximately half of them (n = 547) were male. Adolescents completed questionnaires on parent-adolescent relationship quality. The impact of positive and negative relationship characteristics on timing of leaving home were examined separately for mothers and fathers.ResultsSurvival analysis results showed that higher levels of mother's and father's warmth, and higher levels of power attributed to father, but not mother, predicted later timing of leaving home. Higher levels of parental autonomy support predicted earlier timing of leaving home. Conflict with parents was not associated with timing of leaving home, except in the father-daughter relationship. Only, the effect of parental warmth on timing of leaving home remained robust when controlling for age, gender, education level, and SES.ConclusionsOur findings indicate that certain parent-adolescent relationship characteristics contribute to the increase in age of leaving home. Parents may be able to prepare their children for a self-sufficient living by balancing warmth and autonomy support they provide during adolescence.     

Non-suicidal self-injury in adolescence: Longitudinal evidence of recursive associations with adolescent depression and parental rejection

IntroductionNon-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) has been acknowledged as a major public health concern among adolescents. However, the complex association between parental rejection and NSSI is not entirely understood and the existing literature does not address the underlying mechanism of adolescent depressive symptoms in explaining the process.MethodsThree waves of data (called T1, T2 and T3) were collected 6 months apart, between November 2018 and 2019, in a sample of 1987 Chinese adolescents (56.1% males; ages 10 to 14, M = 12.32, SD = 0.53). Two separate autoregressive cross-lagged models were used to examine the bidirectional association between parental rejection and NSSI as well as the role of depressive symptoms in bidirectional mediation.ResultsThere was strong evidence of bidirectional effects between parental rejection and NSSI at both 6-month intervals. Parental rejection at T1/T2 positively predicted NSSI at T2/T3, and, vice versa, NSSI at T1/T2 positively predicted parental rejection at T2/T3. Furthermore, we found that the reciprocal association between parent rejection and NSSI was mediated by adolescent depressive symptoms.ConclusionsThe present study found reciprocal associations between parental rejection and NSSI, and further demonstrated that the bidirectional process was mediated by depressive symptoms. The findings from this study are of great interest as they help to inform the development of future prevention and intervention strategies for NSSI.     

Cognitive control network connectivity in adolescent women with and without a parental history of depression

BackgroundAdolescent women with a parental history of depression are at high risk for the onset of major depressive disorder (MDD). Cognitive theories suggest this vulnerability involves deficits in cognitive control over emotional information. Among adolescent women with and without a parental history of depression, we examined differences in connectivity using resting state functional connectivity analysis within a network associated with cognitive control over emotional information.MethodsTwenty-four depression-naïve adolescent women underwent resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). They were assigned to high-risk (n = 11) and low-risk (n = 13) groups based their parents’ depression history. Seed based functional connectivity analysis was used to examine group differences in connectivity within a network associated with cognitive control.ResultsHigh-risk adolescents had lower levels of connectivity between a right inferior prefrontal region and other critical nodes of the attention control network, including right middle frontal gyrus and right supramarginal gyrus. Further, greater severity of the parents’ worst episode of depression was associated with altered cognitive control network connectivity in their adolescent daughters.ConclusionsDepressed parents may transmit depression vulnerability to their adolescent daughters via alterations in functional connectivity within neural circuits that underlie cognitive control of emotional information.     

首发青少年抑郁症与父母养育方式和自我接纳的关系研究

目的了解父母养育方式和自我接纳与首次发病青少年抑郁症的关系。方法对52例首次抑郁发作的青少年患者和214例正常对照者进行一般社会人口学资料表、父母养育方式评价量表(EMBU)和自我接纳问卷(SAQ)测评。结果与正常对照组相比,青少年抑郁症患者的父母更少情感温暖、理解(P<0.01),母亲有更多的拒绝、否认和更少偏爱被试(P<0.05);逐步判别分析显示,母亲的温暖、理解具有统计学判别意义(P<0.01);抑郁症青少年的自我接纳和自我评价显著低于正常青少年(P<0.01)。结论父母养育方式和自我接纳程度低与青少年抑郁发病相关;母亲的情感温暖、理解对青少年抑郁症的影响最大。     

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.     

Phubbing as a Millennials’ New Addiction and Relating Factors Among Nursing Students

Objective This study investigated phubbing (the act of ignoring one’s companion or companions to pay attention to one’s smartphone) and examined the factors affecting phubbing among nursing students in South Korea. Methods A cross-sectional survey design was adopted, and a self-reported questionnaire was used. Data were collected from 200 nursing students in two cities. Self-administered questionnaires included demographic data, smartphone addiction, media multitasking motivation, interpersonal competency, and phubbing. Results Phubbing was positively correlated with smartphone addiction (r=0.41, p<0.001) and media multitasking motivation (r=0.16, p<0.05), and negatively correlated with interpersonal competence (r=-0.51, p<0.001). Factors influencing nursing students’ phubbing were interpersonal competency (β=-0.59, p<0.001), media multitasking motivation (β=0.24, p<0.001), smartphone addiction (β=0.19, p<0.01) and interpersonal relationships (β=0.14, p<0.05). The model including these variables accounted for 43% of variance in phubbing. Conclusion Nursing students showed a moderate level of phubbing, and interpersonal competency was an important factor for reducing their phubbing of nursing students. Since phubbing occurs frequently among nursing students, educators in nursing are required to develop and implement active interventional measures to help nursing students avoid phubbing and improve their interpersonal relationships by increasing their empathic ability and communication skills.     

Teacher autonomy support reduces adolescent anxiety and depression: An 18-month longitudinal study

Grounded in stage–environment fit theory, this study adopts a longitudinal design to examine the contribution of autonomy support from teachers to reducing adolescent anxiety and depression. A total of 236 Chinese adolescents (57.38% females, M_age = 14.34) completed questionnaires on teacher autonomy support, basic psychological needs satisfaction, school engagement, anxiety, and depression in the fall and spring semesters of their 7th and 8th grade years. The results showed that teacher autonomy support in the fall of 7th grade boosted basic psychological needs satisfaction in the spring of 7th grade; this, in turn, increased school engagement in the fall of 8th grade, which subsequently decreased anxiety and depression in the spring of 8th grade. These findings demonstrated the significant effect of teacher autonomy support on reducing adolescent anxiety and depression; furthermore, it highlighted the mediating roles of basic psychological needs satisfaction and school engagement in this relationship.     

Parental and kinship ties,and low self-control: Violence perpetration among rural African American adolescents from the Black Belt

IntroductionA substantial body of research supports both social control and self-control theories in explaining violent or deviant behaviors. Most previous work has focused on the links between family ties or bonds and deviance, along with low self-control. A potentially untested and overlooked bond is the extended kinship network, particularly among African American youth. The current study tested the extent to which kinship ties explained unique variability in violence perpetration, net the effects by family ties, low self-control, and background variables.MethodsData were collected from rural African American adolescents enrolled in a poor, rural public school located in the Black Belt in the Southeastern United States. The sample included N = 610 adolescents (55.9% female; M_age = 15.64, SD = 1.74).ResultsFindings from hierarchical regressions provided evidence that kinship ties explained unique variance in violence perpetration, above and beyond the effects of parental support and low self-control.ConclusionsStudy findings provide some support for the unique importance of kinship ties in understanding variability in adolescent violence perpetration in this sample of poor, rural African American adolescents. Thus, they highlight a potentially unique extra-familial source of socialization and social control; this finding, in particular, has important theoretical and practical implications for prevention and intervention efforts targeting violent behaviors among rural African American youth.     

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.     

Change in depression across adolescence: The role of early anger socialization and child anger

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine the relations of early socialization of anger with change in adolescent depression, and moderation by child anger. Using a sample of low-income, ethnic minority children at familial risk for psychopathology in the United States (n = 92; ages 3–5; 53% female; 65% African American; 27% Latina/o), early anger socialization (i.e., parent response to child anger) was tested as a predictor of change in depression from preadolescence to adolescence [i.e., age 8 (n = 63), 11 (n = 58), and 13 (n = 44)]. A videotaped parent-child interaction was coded for parental socialization of preschooler anger, and psychiatric interviews of depression were conducted three times across preadolescence and adolescence. Major depression diagnoses increased from preadolescence to adolescence. Latent growth modeling indicated parent discouragement of child anger was a significant predictor of an increase in the child's later depression from preadolescence to adolescence, and child anger intensity was a significant moderator.     

Can helping others strengthen teens? Character strengths as mediators between prosocial behavior and adolescents’ internalizing symptoms

IntroductionIdentifying protective factors against internalizing behaviors during adolescence is a public health priority, as rates of depression and anxiety are rising. As such, the purpose of this study was to examine whether prosocial engagement toward strangers and family members is protective against depressive and anxiety symptoms, and whether this link is mediated by character strengths (i.e., hope, persistence, gratitude, and self-esteem).MethodThe sample consisted of 500 US adolescents (52% female; 66% European American; 33% from single-parent families). Data across three consecutive yearly waves were utilized in the current study (M_age Time 1 = 13.32).ResultsResults of a longitudinal structural equation model revealed prosocial behavior toward strangers and family members were differentially related to character strengths, and that prosocial behavior toward strangers was indirectly associated with depressive symptoms via self-esteem.ConclusionTaken together, findings extend the Developmental Cascades model and suggest that prosocial behavior and character strengths protect against depressive symptoms during the adolescent period. Findings are discussed in the context of relevant research and theory, and implications for future research and intervention programs are presented.     

The role of best friends in educational identity formation in adolescence

This 4-year longitudinal study examined over-time associations between adolescents' educational identity, perceived best friends' balanced relatedness, and best friends' educational identity. Adolescents (N = 464, M_age = 14.0 years at baseline, 56.0% males, living in the Netherlands) and their self-nominated best friends reported on their educational commitment, in-depth exploration, and reconsideration. Target adolescents also reported on the level of balanced relatedness provided by their best friend. Cross-lagged panel models showed that balanced relatedness significantly predicted adolescents' reconsideration, and was predicted by in-depth exploration and, in an inconsistent pattern, by commitment. Best friends' educational identity did not positively predict adolescents' educational identity. Perceiving a best friend as high on balanced relatedness seems to reduce adolescents' problematic educational reconsideration, while, in turn, adaptive educational identity processes might foster balanced relatedness.     

The Bright Side of Grit in Burnout-Prevention: Exploring Grit in the Context of Demands-Resources Model among Chinese High School Students

This study contributes to understanding students’ emotional responses to academic stressors by integrating grit into the well-established Job Demands-Resources Model and by examining the relationship between academic demands, grit (consistency of interests, perseverance of effort), burnout, engagement, academic achievement, depression, and life satisfaction in Chinese students. We conducted a self-report study with N?=?1527 Chinese high school students (M_age?=?16.38 years, SD?=?1.04). The results of structural equation modeling showed that after controlling for gender, socio-economic status, and school types, demands positively related to burnout and negatively related to engagement. Both facets of grit negatively related to exhaustion, whereas only perseverance of effort positively related to engagement. Burnout positively related to depression and negatively related to life satisfaction, whereas engagement positively related to life satisfaction. However, neither burnout nor engagement was related to academic achievement. Our findings indicate that grit may be protective against school burnout.

     

Developmental trajectory of purpose identification during adolescence: Links to life satisfaction and depressive symptoms

IntroductionWhereas evidence has shown that a sense of purpose is linked to optimal adjustment, longitudinal work investigating the development of purpose identification as well as its effect on psychological functioning among non-Western samples during adolescence is needed.MethodsThree hundred and eighty-seven senior high school students (253 female, 65.37%; mean age = 15.76 years at the first investigation) from Taiwan completed surveys four times beginning in the fall of tenth grade and ending in the spring of eleventh grade with a six-month interval. Using self-ratings, purpose identification was evaluated in all four assessments and psychological functioning was examined through life satisfaction and depressive symptoms in the first and the last survey.ResultsGrowth curve analyses revealed an increased slope in purpose identification over the first two years of high school, and such a trajectory was similar across boys and girls. Additionally, increases in purpose identification predicted enhanced life satisfaction and reduced depressive symptoms among both boys and girls. There was only one gender difference: The negative association between purpose identification trajectory and depressive symptoms was stronger for girls than for boys.ConclusionsThere is an increase in the development of identified purpose during middle adolescence among high school students in Taiwan. Such change not only promotes life satisfaction in adolescents but is also preventive of adolescent depression. As such, the current findings highlight the significance for adolescents to discover and commit to a purpose.