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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

The correlation between gray matter volume and perceived social support: A voxel-based morphometry study

Social support refers to interpersonal exchanges that include the combinations of aid, affirmation and affection. Perceived social support is a kind of subjective judgment of one’s availability of social support. In spite of the importance of perceived social support to health, however, its neural substrate remains unknown. To address this question, voxel-based morphometry was employed to investigate the neural bases of individual differences in responses to the Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS) in healthy volunteers (144 men and 203 women; mean age = 19.9; SD = 1.33, age range : 17–27). As a result, multiple regression analysis revealed that the PSSS scores were significantly and positively correlated with gray matter volume in a cluster that mainly included areas in posterior parts of posterior cingulate cortex, bilateral lingual cortex, left occipital lobe and cuneus. Highly-supported individuals had larger gray matter volume in these brain regions, implying a relatively high level of ability to engage in self-referential processes and social cognition. Our results provide a biological basis for exploring perceived social support particularly in relationship to various health parameters and outcomes.     

Mediation of early maladaptive schemas between perceptions of parental rearing style and personality disorder symptoms

In schema therapy (ST), early maladaptive schemas (EMS) are proposed to be the defining core of personality disorders. Adverse relational experiences in childhood are assumed to be the main cause for the development of EMS. The present study explored the links between perceived parental rearing behaviours, EMS, and personality disorder symptoms in a clinical sample (N = 108). Results from mediation analyses suggest that EMS mediate the relationships between recalled parenting rearing behaviours and personality disorder symptoms. Findings give support to the theoretical model ST is based on.     

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.     

Negative cognitive style and perceived social support mediate the relationship between aggression and NSSI in hospitalized adolescents

Despite the well-documented association between aggression and NSSI among adolescents, relatively little research has been conducted on the mechanisms underlying this relationship. The purpose of this study was to investigate potential socio-cognitive mechanisms through which aggression and NSSI are related. Participants were 186 adolescents (ages 13–18) recruited from a psychiatric inpatient facility in the northeastern United States. According to teen report, 57.5% of the sample endorsed NSSI in the previous year. Mediation was tested using the modern bootstrapping technique described by Hayes, using 5000 resamples with replacement, including sex and depression diagnosis as covariates. Results demonstrated that greater negative self-talk, a more negative cognitive style, and lower perceived family support were all significant mediators of the relationship between aggression and greater frequency of NSSI, whereas perceived social support from friends was not a significant mediator. Limitations, clinical implications, and future research directions of the current research are discussed.     

Childhood cumulative contextual risk and depression diagnosis among young adults: The mediating roles of adolescent alcohol use and perceived social support

This study examined associations between cumulative contextual risk in childhood and depression diagnosis in early adulthood, testing two adolescent mediating mechanisms, alcohol use and perceived social support from family and friends, while accounting for the stability of internalizing problems over time and examining possible gender moderation. Multiple group mediation analyses were conducted using parent- and adolescent-report as well as hospital records data from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (N = 6963). Our analyses demonstrated that the association between cumulative contextual risk in childhood and depression diagnosis in adulthood is mediated by adolescent alcohol use and perceived social support both for boys and girls. The findings highlight potentially malleable mediating mechanisms associated with depression in vulnerable youth that could be targets in selective depression preventive interventions.     

The association between perceived emotional support,maternal mood,salivary cortisol,salivary cortisone,and the ratio between the two compounds in response to acute stress in second trimester pregnant women

Objective

Little is known about the effect of social support on the reactivity of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis during pregnancy. Moreover, when investigating the HPA axis most studies do not consider the activity of 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (11β-HSD2), an enzyme within the salivary glands that inactivates cortisol to cortisone. This study explores the association between perceived emotional support and the maternal psychobiological stress response to a standardized naturalistic stressor by assessing maternal mood and the reactivity of salivary cortisol (SalF), salivary cortisone (SalE), and the SalE/(E + F) ratio as a marker of 11β-HSD2 activity.

Methods

Repeated saliva samples and measures of maternal mood were obtained from 34 healthy second trimester pregnant women undergoing amniocentesis which served as a psychological stressor. The pregnant women additionally responded to a questionnaire of perceived emotional support and provided sociodemographic (e.g., maternal educational degree) and pregnancy-specific data (e.g., planned versus unplanned pregnancy).

Results

Perceived emotional support neither showed a significant effect on mood nor on the SalF or SalE response to stress. However, a moderately strong positive association was found between perceived emotional support and SalE/(E + F) (r = .49). Additionally, the final regression analysis revealed a significant negative relationship between educational degree, planned/unplanned pregnancy and SalE/(E + F).

Conclusion

Findings suggest a higher metabolization of cortisol to cortisone in pregnant women with higher emotional support. In contrast, higher maternal education and unplanned pregnancy appear to be associated with decreased salivary 11β-HSD2 activity. The current study emphasizes the importance of taking the activity of 11β-HSD2 into account when examining SalF.     

Association between perceived social support and strain, and positive and negative outcome for adults with mild intellectual disability

Social strain has been identified as a trigger for both depression and physical health problems, but has not been well researched in people with intellectual disability (ID). The present study contrasted the effects of social support with social strain on depressive symptoms, somatic complaints and quality of life over time in adults with mild ID. The level of social support explained a significant proportion of variance in quality of life 6 months later, but not depressive symptoms or somatic complaints. In contrast, the level of social strain accounted for a significant proportion of variance in depressive symptoms and somatic complaints 6 months later, but not quality of life. The results suggest that interpersonal relationships can be both positively and negatively associated with physical and mental health for people with ID.