Parental support and adolescents' health in the context of parental employment status

Parental employment status is an important and often overlooked contextual factor that may influence parent-adolescent relationships. The aim of this study is to examine the effect of parental support on adolescents’ health within the context of parental employment status. Data on perceived mother's and father's support, mother's and father's employment status and adolescents' perceived health were collected among 1992 adolescents (mean age 16.9) and analysed using chi-square and logistic regression. Father's support was significantly more often perceived as low when the father was unemployed, while the perception of mother's support did not differ in regards to the mother's employment. Among those with an unemployed father, mother's support appeared protective for adolescents' health, while when a mother was unemployed, father's support was more strongly associated with good health. Our results suggest that in the case of unemployment of one parent, support from the other parent may be more important for children.     

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.     

Adolescent social withdrawal,parental psychological control,and parental knowledge across seven years: A developmental cascade model

IntroductionSocial withdrawal can be problematic for adolescents, increasing the risk of poor self-efficacy, self-esteem, and academic achievement, and increased levels of depression and anxiety. This prospective study follows students across adolescence, investigating links between social withdrawal and two types of parenting hypothesized to impact or be reactive to changes in social withdrawal.MethodsAdolescent social withdrawal and parenting were assessed across seven years in a U.S. sample, beginning when students were in 6th grade and ending in 12th grade. The sample consisted of 534 adolescents (260 girls and 274 boys, 82% Euro- and 16% African-American). Social withdrawal was assessed in four grades using at least two informants (teachers, mothers, and/or adolescents). Mothers' and fathers' psychological control and monitoring-related knowledge were assessed by adolescents at two time points. A developmental cascade analysis was conducted using structural equation modeling to assess how withdrawal and control-related parenting impact each other transactionally over time. Analyses included a test for gender differences in the model.ResultsThe cascade model revealed that, controlling for previous levels of social withdrawal and parenting, earlier social withdrawal positively predicted psychological control and negatively predicted monitoring knowledge, and earlier parental psychological control—but not monitoring knowledge—predicted later social withdrawal. No adolescent gender differences were identified in the associations between social withdrawal and parental knowledge.ConclusionsThis study offers insight into the mechanisms by which adolescents become more or less withdrawn over time, and suggests psychological control as a point of psychoeducation or intervention for parents.     

The Prosocial Cyberball Game: Compensating for social exclusion and its associations with empathic concern and bullying in adolescents

In this study we examined prosocial compensating behavior towards socially excluded ingroup and outgroup members by using a ‘Prosocial Cyberball Game’ in 9–17 year old Dutch adolescents (N = 133). Results showed that adolescents compensated for the social exclusion of an unknown peer in a virtual ball tossing game, by tossing the ball more often to that player in compensation conditions compared to the fair play condition. The proportion of tosses towards the excluded player did not significantly differ as a function of the group status of that player. Although compensating behavior towards ingroup versus outgroup members did not differ, the underlying motivation for this behavior may vary. More empathic concern was associated with more prosocial tosses towards an ingroup member, while more self-reported bullying behavior was associated with less compensating behavior in the outgroup condition. These findings may have practical implications for programs intending to change bystander behavior in bullying situations.     

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.     

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.     

Longitudinal associations between social media use,mental well-being and structural brain development across adolescence

Youth of today grow up in a digital social world but the effects on well-being and brain development remain debated. This study tracked longitudinal associations between structural brain development, social media use and mental well-being.The study demonstrated two pathways of heterogeneity in brain development. First, adolescents who used social media more than their peers showed higher baseline cortical thickness in lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) and medial PFC; and stronger decreases in the lateral PFC and temporal parietal junction. In contrast, adolescents with lower mental well-being showed lower baseline levels of surface area in the medial PFC and posterior superior temporal sulcus relative to their peers. Whereas the associations between structural brain development and well-being remained significant after correction for multiple testing, the results for social media use did not survive FDR correction.These findings demonstrate that although social media use and mental well-being were both associated with differential trajectories of brain development, the associations we report are distinct. These results show a nuanced perspective on the presumed relations between social media use and well-being and provide a starting point to further examine neural mechanisms that could explain which adolescents thrive by social media and which might be harmed.     

Impact of parental emotional support and coercive control on adolescents' self-esteem and psychological distress: Results of a four-year longitudinal study

This study aims at investigating the impact of parental practices on youths' adjustment. In all, 605 adolescents completed questionnaires at ages 14, 16 and 18. Self-esteem, psychological distress as well as parental emotional support and coercive control were measured. Analyses based on individual growth models revealed that self-esteem increased with age, but psychological distress remained stable over time. Boys reported higher levels of self-esteem and lower levels of psychological distress than girls. Maternal and paternal emotional support reinforced self-esteem over time. Maternal coercive control undermined self-esteem, but only at ages 16 and 18. Psychological distress decreased with parental emotional support but increased with parental coercive control at ages 14, 16 and 18. Overall, these results indicate that positive parental practices are related to youths' well-being. These findings support the importance of establishing intervention strategies designed to promote best practices among parents of teenagers to help them develop into well-adjusted adults.     

The relationship between parental stress and mastery,forgiveness, and social support among parents of children with autism

BackgroundParents of children with autism have significantly more parenting-stress symptoms than parents of typically developing children. Therefore, the main goal of the present study was to examine the relationship between personal and social resources among families of different cultures, in which parents are coping with the stress of raising children with autism.MethodTwo hundred and nine (N = 209) participants, including Jewish (n = 105) and Arab (n = 104) participants, completed demographic, mastery, forgiveness, social support, and parental stress questionnaires.ResultsThe study findings demonstrated no significant differences between the groups regarding mastery, forgiveness, or social support. However, a marginally significant difference was found with regard to the age at the time of diagnosis and parental stress. Arab children were diagnosed earlier and Arab parents reported higher levels of parental stress. Hierarchical multiple regressions showed that among the Jewish sample age, education, financial situation, mastery, and social support contributed significantly to the explained variance in parental stress. Among the Arab sample, severity of autism, forgiveness, mastery, and social support contributed significantly to the explained variance in parental stress.ConclusionsThese findings make an important contribution to our understanding of mastery, forgiveness, and social support while helping parents cope with the stress of raising a child with autism. In addition, in multicultural countries, it is important to be aware of differences and similarities in the factors predicting parental stress.     

Parenting practices,parental attachment and aggressiveness in adolescence: A predictive model

The aim of this study was twofold: a) to test the mediation role of attachment between parenting practices and aggressiveness, and b) to clarify the differential role of mothers and fathers with regard to aggressiveness. A total of 554 adolescents (330 girls and 224 boys), ages ranging between 16 and 19, completed measures of mothers' and fathers' parenting practices, attachment to mother and to father, and aggressiveness. Acceptance/involvement of each parent positively predicted an adolescent's attachment to that parent, and coercion/imposition negatively predicted attachment to a lesser extent. Using structural equation modeling, a full mediation model provided the most parsimonious explanation for the data. With attachment in the model, the paths between the two parenting practices and aggressiveness were minor and statistically non-significant. Only attachment to the father, was predictive of adolescents' aggressiveness. Results are discussed in the light of the importance of the father–son/daughter relationship in adolescence.     

Early adolescent temperament,parental monitoring,and substance use in Mexican-origin adolescents

Previous studies suggest that temperamental dispositions are associated with substance use. However, most research supporting this association has relied on European American samples (Stautz & Cooper, 2013). We addressed this gap by evaluating the prospective relations between 5th grade temperament and 9th grade substance use in a longitudinal sample of Mexican-origin youth (N = 674). Effortful control and trait aggressiveness predicted 9th grade substance use, intentions, and expectations, even after controlling for 5th grade substance use. Additionally, we found an interaction between temperament and parental monitoring such that monitoring is a protective factor for early substance use primarily for youth with temperamental tendencies associated with risk for substance use (e.g., low effortful control and aggression). Results add to the growing literature demonstrating that early manifestations of self-control are related to consequential life outcomes.     

Parental monitoring in late adolescence: Relations to ADHD symptoms and longitudinal predictors

In this study, we aimed to replicate Stattin and Kerr's (2000) study on parental monitoring and adolescents' deviant behavior, to extend their findings to ADHD symptoms, and to examine the longitudinal predictors (8–18 years) of parental knowledge and child disclosure. Results showed that conduct problems were primarily associated with parental knowledge and child disclosure, but not with parental solicitation and control. A similar pattern was observed for ADHD symptoms. However, while the relations for conduct problems were generally independent of ADHD symptoms, the relations for ADHD symptoms were primarily non-significant after controlling for conduct problems. Moreover, early behavior problems, but not insecure/disorganized attachment, were associated with parental knowledge and child disclosure in adolescence. In conclusion, child disclosure is primarily associated with deviant behavior rather than ADHD, and early child problem behavior is a more important predictor of child disclosure (implicating reciprocal relations between these two constructs) than is insecure/disorganized attachment.     

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.     

Comorbidity between depression and antisocial behaviour in middle adolescence: The role of perceived social support

A sample of 3278 students (aged 15–16 years) were surveyed to investigate the interrelations between depression (RBDI; The Finnish modification of the 13-item Beck Depression Inventory), antisocial behaviour (YSR; Youth Self-Report) and perceived social support from family, friends and significant other (PSSS-R; the Perceived Social Support Scale-Revised). The study aimed especially to control for the effect of perceived social support in the comorbidity between depression and antisocial behaviour. The results indicate firstly that decreased perceived social support was associated with both depression and antisocial behaviour in both sexes. Similarly, antisocial behaviour was associated with depression in both sexes. Perceived social support modified comorbidity between depression and antisocial behaviour, but antisocial behaviour still remained independently associated with depression. Thus, perceived social support did not explain the found comorbidity between depression and antisocial behaviour.     

抑郁症患者生活事件、特质应对方式、父母养育方式及社会支持情况研究

目的了解抑郁症患者生活事件、特质应对方式、父母养育方式及社会支持状况及其性别差异。方法选取符合《国际疾病分类(第10版)》(ICD-10)抑郁症诊断标准的天津市精神卫生中心2013年3月-2014年2月门诊和住院患者104例,在社区中选取与所调查抑郁症患者社会人口学特征较为接近且汉密尔顿抑郁量表(HAMD-24)评分8分的健康人106例作为对照组;对两组进行生活事件(LES)、特质应对方式(TCSQ)、父母教养方式(EMBU)及社会支持(SSRS)量表测评。结果抑郁症患者负性刺激量、积极应对方式、父亲处罚严厉、母亲处罚严厉、母亲拒绝否认因子评分与对照组比较[(29.96±11.81)vs.(15.00±9.81),(29.31±5.39)vs.(25.36±5.00),(14.69±4.11)vs.(18.41±10.29),(10.23±2.69)vs.(12.34±4.39),(10.02±2.29)vs.(12.64±4.13)],差异有统计学意义(t=-5.699~9.976,P均0.01)。男性抑郁症患者的积极、消极应对方式及社会支持的总得分均高于女性(P0.05)。结论 1抑郁症患者经历更多的负性生活事件并多采用积极应对方式;2父母亲的教育方式均表现为低处罚严厉、低拒绝否认,母亲还表现为低过度保护;3抑郁症患者的客观社会支持较多、主观社会支持较少;4男性比女性抑郁症患者采用更多的积极应对方式和消极应对方式,并有更多的社会支持。     

Adolescents’ perceptions of parental practices: A cross-national comparison of Canada, France, and Italy

This study compares two dimensions of parenting—emotional bonding and control—as perceived by adolescents living in three countries: Canada (province of Québec), France, and Italy. A cross-sectional sample was composed of 1256 adolescents who filled out a self-report questionnaire. Multiple Correspondence Analyses provided a graphic synthesis of cross-cultural results. Results indicate that parents are perceived as highly emotionally bonded, yet the perception of parental control produced two contrasting models. Canadian adolescents perceive less control and disciplinary actions from parents, and more tolerance. Conversely, Italian adolescents perceive more requirements and rules, and stricter disciplinary actions, while French adolescents’ perceptions fall between the two. Results also suggested a gradual decrease in the perception of parental control between the ages of 11 and 19 years across all three countries. This reduction in parental constraints is perceived earlier by Canadian adolescents and later by Italian adolescents.     

Intra-individual associations between intentional self-regulation and prosocial behavior during adolescence: Evidence for bidirectionality

IntroductionCouched in Positive Youth Development (PYD) theory and relevant empirical work, this study investigated bidirectional associations between intentional self-regulation and prosocial behavior toward strangers from age 12 to age 18.MethodParticipants included 500 adolescents (52% female, 77% European American; age Time 1 = 12 years, Time 2 = 14 years, Time 3 = 16 years, Time 4 = 18 years) from the Northwestern United States. Adolescents self-reported on their intentional self-regulation and prosocial behavior toward strangers across four time points. A random-intercept cross-lagged panel model (RICLPM) was estimated in order to assess bidirectionality while avoiding conflating intra- and inter-individual variability.ResultsResults revealed intentional self-regulation and prosocial behavior toward strangers were bidirectionally related during early adolescence (i.e., from age 12 to 14). During mid-to-late adolescence (i.e. age 14 to 18), prosocial behavior toward strangers facilitated intentional selfregulation, whereas intentional self-regulation did not drive the development of prosocial behavior toward strangers.ConclusionsFindings indicate that early adolescence may be a particularly plastic developmental period in terms of PYD. Findings also suggest that investigations of relations between adolescents' personal assets and contribution factors merit further scholarly attention. Several directions for future research are presented.     

Development of cognitive control during adolescence: The integrative effects of family socioeconomic status and parenting behaviors

Cognitive control is of great interest to researchers and practitioners. The concurrent association between family socioeconomic status (SES) and adolescent cognitive control is well-documented. However, little is known about whether and how SES relates to individual differences in the development of adolescent cognitive control. The current four-year longitudinal investigation (N = 167, 13–14 years at Wave 1) used multi-source interference task performance (reaction time in interference correct trials minus neutral correct trials) and corresponding neural activities (blood oxygen level dependent contrast of interference versus neutral conditions) as measures of cognitive control. SES and parenting behaviors (warmth, monitoring) were measured through surveys. We examined direct and indirect effects of earlier SES on the development of cognitive control via parenting behaviors; the moderating effect of parenting also was explored. Results of latent growth modeling (LGM) revealed significant interactive effects between SES and parenting predicting behavioral and neural measures of cognitive control. Lower family SES was associated with poorer cognitive performance when coupled with low parental warmth. In contrast, higher family SES was associated with greater improvement in performance, as well as a higher intercept and steeper decrease in frontoparietal activation over time, when coupled with high parental monitoring. These findings extend prior cross-sectional evidence to show the moderating effect of the parenting environment on the potential effects of SES on developmental changes in adolescent cognitive control.     

Peer-related loneliness across early to late adolescence: Normative trends,intra-individual trajectories,and links with depressive symptoms

Study aims were to: (a) describe normative levels and person-oriented developmental trends in loneliness across adolescence, and (2) examine the association between loneliness and depressive symptoms during this same epoch. Participants included 478 youth (239 males and females; 80% Caucasian, 16% African American, and 4% other). Measures of loneliness and multiple indicators of depressive symptoms were gathered yearly across grades 6 through 12 (ages 12–18). Findings implied that most adolescents experience loneliness more strongly during early rather than later adolescence, but not all adolescents traverse the same loneliness trajectories. Youth followed one of five distinct trajectories, characterized as: (a) stable non-lonely, (b) stable low lonely, (c) stable high (chronic) lonely, (d) moderate decliners, and (e) steep decliners. Adolescents following stable high and moderate loneliness trajectories displayed the most depressive symptoms and, although informant differences were found, these youth also manifest the largest gains in depressive symptoms over time.     

Getting angry matters: Going beyond perspective taking and empathic concern to understand bystanders' behavior in bullying

The present study examined the relations between different empathic dimensions and bystanders' behavior in bullying. Specifically, the indirect effects of empathic concern and perspective taking via empathic anger on defending and passive bystanding were tested in a sample of Italian young adolescents (N = 398; M_age = 12 years, 3 months, 47.2% girls). Path analysis confirmed the direct and indirect effects, via empathic anger, of empathic concern and perspective taking on bystanders' behavior, with the exception of the direct association between perspective taking and passive bystanding that was not significant. Our findings suggest that considering empathic anger together with empathic concern and perspective taking could help researchers to better understand the links between empathic dispositions and bystanders' behavior in bullying.