Parent Marital Quality and the Parent–Adolescent Relationship: Effects on Adolescent and Young Adult Health Outcomes

Although a number of studies examined the implications of marital disruption for adolescent well-being, few studied the implications of marital relationship quality on health outcomes for children in married-couple families. The present study examines how parent marital quality among intact families interacts with the quality of parent–adolescent relationships to predict physical health, mental health, and substance use in middle adolescence and early adulthood. The study uses data from the NLSY97 cohort, a nationally representative sample of adolescents who are being followed into adulthood. Predictors include the quality of the parent marital relationship, the quality of the parent–adolescent relationship, marital structure, and a number of contextual covariates and control variables. Combined parent marital quality and parent–adolescent relationship groups were developed using latent class analyses and were used to predict positive and negative health behaviors during the teen and early adult years. Results indicate that adolescents in families experiencing poor marital quality fared worse on physical health, mental health, and substance use outcomes. In addition, adolescents who reported poor relationships with at least one of their parents fared worse on outcomes. Adolescents whose parents have low-quality relationships and also have poor parent–adolescent relationships tended to fare least well across health measures. Adolescents whose parents have a high-quality relationship and who have a good parent–adolescent relationship with both parents consistently had the best outcomes. Overall, poor relationships consistently undermine mental health, physical health, and substance use. Family religious activities also consistently predict better health outcomes.     

Parent Marital Quality and the Parent–Adolescent Relationship: Profiles of Relationship Quality

Rigorous studies repeatedly have demonstrated the negative effects of parental divorce on outcomes for families. However, very few studies have examined the quality of the marital relationship within intact families or how the quality of the marital relationship interacts with the quality of the parent–adolescent relationship. The present study examines how aspects of parent marital quality, such as marital support and conflict between the couple, existed within married families and examines how patterns of mother–adolescent and father–adolescent relationships quality varied longitudinally from 1997 to 1999. The study uses data from the NLSY97 cohort, a nationally representative sample of adolescents who are being followed into adulthood. Four profiles of parent marital quality were developed using latent class analyses. Four growth profiles for the mother–adolescent relationship and for the father–adolescent relationship were created using latent growth class analysis in Mplus. To examine how the parent marital quality profiles and the parent–adolescent relationship quality interact, we examined how they overlapped. Six distinct groups were evident from this examination: (1) high marital quality and good relationships with both parents, (2) high marital quality and a good relationship with only one parent, (3) high support and high conflict marital quality and a good relationship with at least one parent, (4) low marital quality and a good relationship with at least one parent, (5) high marital quality and bad relationships with both parents, and (6) low marital quality and bad relationships with both parents.     

Constructing Gay and Lesbian Parent Families “Beyond the Closet”

This paper provides a multilayered analysis of how lesbian mothers and gay fathers construct their families in a social context that has been described by Steven Seidman (2004) as “beyond the closet.” We stress how our participants’ family-building experiences are comparable to other non-biologically related families, but distinct due to heterosexual dominance. Using in-depth qualitative interviews with 18 lesbian birth mothers and 22 gay fathers, the authors discuss how participants navigate heterosexual dominance in institutions and in personal interactions.

Parental Employment,Shared Parent–Child Activities and Childhood Obesity

We examine the effect of parental employment on child health as measured by children’s percentile body mass index (pBMI). Our investigation reveals that hours of parental employment are important determinants of child health. We find a highly significant role for the influence of fathers’ hours of work on the pBMI. Given that work hours of both mothers and fathers impact child health, ignoring parents’ joint decision making in child health production may lead to biased results. Additionally, we conclude that parental work hours may impact both the quality and quantity of time that parents spend with their children. Specifically, we find that shared parent–child activities such as building or repair work, and reading influence childhood obesity.     

Parent–child gender matching and child psychological adjustment after divorce

The present study aimed to determine whether a parent–child gender match would influence child psychological adjustment after divorce. Participants included 69 parents (36 mothers) in active family law litigation to resolve issues related to postdissolution of marriage or time-sharing matters. Participants provided demographic information and completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach, 1991 Achenbach, T. M. (1991). Manual for the child behavior checklist/4–18 and 1991 profile. Burlington, VT: Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont. [Google Scholar]) to assess their perceptions of their child’s internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. Results demonstrated that internalizing and externalizing behaviors were not affected by whether children spent more time with the same gender parent, opposite gender parent, or split their time equally between both. Comparisons and contradictions between the results in this study and existing research are discussed, as well as practical implications.     

Parent–Child Positive Touch: Gender,Age, and Task Differences

This study examined gender, age, and task differences in positive touch and physical proximity during mother–child and father–child conversations. Sixty-five Spanish mothers and fathers and their 4- (M = 53.50 months, SD = 3.54) and 6-year-old (M = 77.07 months, SD = 3.94) children participated in this study. Positive touch was examined during a play-related storytelling task and a reminiscence task (conversation about past emotions). Fathers touched their children positively more frequently during the play-related storytelling task than did mothers. Both mothers and fathers were in closer proximity to their 6-year-olds than their 4-year-olds. Mothers and fathers touched their children positively more frequently when reminiscing than when playing. Finally, 6-year-olds remained closer to their parents than did 4-year-olds. Implications of these findings for future research on children’s socioemotional development are discussed.     

Who Enrolls in Teen Parent Education Programs? An Emphasis on Personal and Familial Characteristics and Services Received

This study describes personal and familial characteristics of 58 teenage mothers enrolled in Mama Club, a free community-based teen parent education program. It also identifies types of services and support participants received and program elements perceived to be important for attending Mama Club. Most participants were raised single-parent households (55.0 %), reported having mothers who were teenage parents (64.8 %), were impoverished (86.0 %), not enrolled in school (54.5 %), and unemployed (81.8 %). Participants primarily received assistance from Medicaid (86.5 %), Food Stamps (67.3 %), and family members (40.0 %); only 5.5 % received money from their child’s father. Teen parent education programs should educate parenting teenagers about available assistance programs and involve diverse community partners to establish a seamless referral system.     

Views on Parent–Child Connectedness Among English- and Spanish-Speaking Parents of High-Risk Youth

This study highlights findings from focus groups on parent–child connectedness conducted with English- and Spanish-speaking parents of high-risk youth in the southern United States. The primary aim of the study was to extend research on parent–child connectedness, a broad protective factor for adolescent risk behavior. In addition to describing strategies and obstacles for enhancing closeness between parents and children, parents in Spanish-speaking focus groups also raised issues related to immigration, acculturation, and bicultural stress. Findings provide valuable insights for practitioners and policymakers seeking to improve parent–child connectedness and reduce adolescent risk behavior, with special insight about Mexican-origin, Spanish-speaking families.     

Correlates and Consequences of Parent–Teen Incongruence in Reports of Teens' Sexual Experience

Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, factors associated with incongruence between parents' and adolescents' reports of teens' sexual experience were investigated, and the consequences of inaccurate parental knowledge for adolescents' subsequent sexual behaviors were explored. Most parents of virgins accurately reported teens' lack of experience, but most parents of teens who had had sex provided inaccurate reports. Binary logistic regression analyses showed that many adolescent-, parent-, and family-level factors predicted the accuracy of parents' reports. Parents' accurate knowledge of their teens' sexual experience was not found to be consistently beneficial for teens' subsequent sexual outcomes. Rather, parents' expectations about teens' sexual experience created a self-fulfilling prophecy, with teens' subsequent sexual outcomes conforming to parents' expectations. These findings suggest that research on parent–teen communication about sex needs to consider the expectations being expressed, as well as the information being exchanged.     

Conflict in Divorcing and Continuously Married Families: A Study of Marital,Parent–Child and Sibling Relationships

ABSTRACT

Family members in both separated or divorcing and married families completed a range of questionnaires about the conflict in 3 relationships—couple, parent–child, and sibling—across 2 phases of the study approximately 12 months apart. In addition, the adolescents completed measures of adjustment: self esteem, depression, and anxiety. Adolescents in a subset of the divorcing families were interviewed about the conflict in their families across the 2 phases (107 at Phase 1 and 35 at Phase 2). Analyses showed that conflict was higher in the separated or divorcing families across all 3 relationships, and that the highest levels of conflict occurred for the high-conflict divorcing families. Qualitative data from interviews illustrated the nature of the conflict that was occurring.     

The Clinical Relevance of Divergence in Adolescent–Parent Reports of Adolescent Depression and Anxiety

This study examines associations between adolescent problem behaviors and adolescent–parent disagreement in ratings of adolescent depression and anxiety symptoms. Adolescent–parent dyads (N?=?463; mean age?=?12.68 years; 48.5% female; 78.2% White and 21.8% non-White) reported on adolescent depression and anxiety using parallel scales from the Youth Self Report (Achenbach et al., J Emot Behav Disord 10:194–203, 2002) and the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach and Rescorla, The manual for the ASEBA school-age forms & profiles, University of Vermont, Research Center for Children, Youth, and Families, Burlington, 2001) across four waves. Generalized estimating equations were used to examine the relationship between discrepancy scores and adolescent behavioral outcomes: incidence of adolescent past-year substance use (alcohol use, binge drinking, marijuana use, and nonmedical use of controlled medications), delinquency, self-harm behavior, and aggression. Findings showed that larger adolescent–parent divergence scores of depression were associated with higher odds of marijuana use, non-medical use of controlled medications, alcohol use, binge drinking, in-school delinquency, illegal behavior, self-harm behavior, and clinically significant levels of aggressive behavior. Results further revealed that larger divergence scores on anxiety were associated with higher odds of in-school delinquency, illegal behavior, self-harm behavior, and clinically significant levels of aggressive behavior. Adolescent–parent reporting discrepancy on adolescent’s depression and anxiety symptoms may be indicative of adolescent’s social, emotional, and behavioral problems, and the disagreement may signal further need for assessment of the adolescent.     

Social Support Expectations and Strategic Ambiguity in Parent–Young Adult Child Divorce-Related Stressor Conversations

With communication privacy management and the divorce disclosure model as guiding frameworks, this study identified the stressors postdivorce families discussed as they mature, elucidated the types of social support parents and young adult children expected regarding divorce-related stress, and tested whether motivational and contextual factors prompted parents' use of strategic ambiguity while discussing stressors. By examining parent–child divorce-related stressor conversations in a controlled lab setting, results indicated that a decade after parental divorce, families continued to manage a variety of stressors. Additionally, parents and young adults had strong expectations for nurturant, informational, and tangible support from one another. Yet, social support expectations did not affect parents' self-reported use of strategic ambiguity nor children's perceptions of parents' communication.     

Student Perceptions of Inappropriate Parent Behavior on “Moms” and “Dads” Weekends

Undergraduate students reported whether they had ever seen or heard about mothers and fathers engaging in each of four behaviors during “moms” and “dads” weekends: drinking too much, dancing inappropriately, flirting with students, and kissing students. A substantial percentage of students reported observing and hearing about parents engaging in drinking, dancing, and flirting, with significantly higher percentages reported for mothers than fathers. Findings suggest the need to further examine parents' inappropriate behaviors, the motivations underlying them, and student responses to these behaviors during mothers' and fathers' weekends. The article concludes with implications for programming for family weekends on college campuses.     

Parent–Child Conflict and Suicide Rumination in College Students: The Mediating Roles of Depressive Symptoms and Anxiety Sensitivity

Abstract

Objective: Parent–child conflict, depressive symptoms, and anxiety sensitivity have each been identified as risk factors for suicide ideation in college students. This study examined the relations among these risk factors and suicide rumination utilizing transition theory to guide the hypothesized relations. Participants: Undergraduate college students participated in this study in the spring of 2012 (January to May). Methods: Participants completed self-report measures of parent–child conflict, depressive symptoms, anxiety sensitivity, and suicide rumination, among other measures. Hypothesized pathways and mediation were tested using path analysis. Results: Suicide rumination was positively and uniquely predicted by depressive symptoms, anxiety sensitivity, and parent–child conflict. The relation between parent–child conflict and suicide rumination was, in part, accounted for by depressive symptoms and anxiety sensitivity. Conclusions: Results suggest that it would be advisable for clinicians to assess for students’ conflicts with their parents in conjunction with their levels of depression and anxiety when assessing for suicide risk.     

Changing Relationships through Interactions: Preliminary Accounts of Parent–Child Interactions after Undertaking Individual Parent Training

Parent and child interaction training has been increasingly investigated over recent years. However, the mechanisms of change within individual training programmes are not well understood. To explore the factors that can facilitate or inhibit meaningful changes in interactions and ultimately relationships, the current study employed semi-structured interviews to obtain first person accounts from parents who had undertaken an individualised parent-training programme. Three participants provided accounts of the training programme and their perceived impact upon interactions with their children were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. The analysis resulted in three themes, which illustrate how participants adjusted their interactional style with their child to varying degrees through enhanced personal awareness, increased understanding of their child’s emotional and interactional needs, and accepting the reciprocity of interactional accountability. Changes in interactional style enabled participants to alter their perceptions of their own behaviours, their child’s behaviours, and how they influenced one another through interactions. Recommendations for future research and therapeutic practice are discussed in the context of the findings and the existing evidence base.     

Parental Divorce and Children From Diverse Backgrounds: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Mental Health,Parent–Child Relationships,and Educational Experiences

This article utilizes multidisciplinary perspectives to examine the developmental outcomes of divorce for children from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. The authors present a literature review on the outcomes of divorce in terms of mental health, family relationships, and educational achievement for children by focusing on discipline-specific aspects of divorce in sociology, education, and family studies. Furthermore, this study builds on previous literature by examining parental divorce among children with special needs. A discussion of changes in family structure and child outcomes concludes this study with implications for policy and practice to support current population.     

Parent–Child Communicational Characteristics: A Comparison Study between Subjects from Post-Divorce and Intact Nuclear Families

ABSTRACT

The occurrence of divorce seems to have impact on parent–child communication, with subsequent implications on the children well-being and development. The present study aims to analyze the influence that divorce has on parent–child communication comparing 102 participants from post-divorced families and 100 participants from intact nuclear families. Measures consisted of a sociodemographic questionnaire and Perception Scale of Parenting Communication. Despite literature indicators, the main findings reveal the absence of significant statistical differences between both family structures, concerning to parent–child communication. Overall, it was registered some statistically significant differences concerning to specific divorce variables. These findings demystifying the idea that post-divorce families establish less positive communication patterns when compared with intact nuclear families.     

The Role of Active Listening in Teacher–Parent Relations and the Moderating Role of Attachment Style

This study tested the perceived effectiveness of “Listening-Ask questions-Focus on the issue–Find a first step” method (McNaughton et al., 2008) in a parent–teacher conversation using a scenario study (N?=?208). As expected, a scenario based on this method compared with a scenario of a conversation omitting the four steps of the method was perceived both by teachers and parents as more effective (d?=?1.43). Moreover, it was hypothesized that the effectiveness of this listening method would be found largely among secure participants. Indeed, the findings suggested that anxious people were less sensitive to the manipulation. Research hypotheses regarding avoidant attachment style were not supported, suggesting that more research is needed to better understand the moderating role of attachment style.     

Parent–child relationships,friendship networks,and developmental outcomes of economically disadvantaged youth in Hong Kong

This research investigates factors conducive to the thriving of economically disadvantaged young people in Hong Kong. In particular, we examine ways in which the parent–child relationship and friendship networks, as the principal sources of support during the transition from childhood to adulthood, influence the developmental outcomes of this group of young people with regard to their mental health, positive identity, behavioral adjustment, resilience and academic achievement. Based on a survey of 479 young people recruited from community-based youth-service centers located in different districts of Hong Kong, the results of the present research support the hypotheses that parent–child relationships and friendship networks have significant positive effects on youth development among low-income young people. Our results also show that, when compared with friendship networks, the parent–child relationship is a stronger predictor of youth development, that is, a stronger parent–child relationship tends to correspond to a better developmental outcome. Moreover, our research provides empirical evidence regarding the influence that parents can have on shaping the quality of young people's friendship networks. The implications of our findings, both for future research and for service delivery to promote the well-being of economically disadvantaged young people, are discussed.     

From Parent Verbal Abuse to Teenage Physical Aggression?

Teenagers who were considered status offenders and criminal offenders were randomly matched to a group of teenage non-offenders for age, sex, ethnicity and family structure. The teens rated themselves for aggression, both physical and verbal. They gave their perceptions of physical and verbal aggression between their parents and between their parents and themselves. Substance abuse, runaway behavior and elements of teenage culture such as movies, music and videos were also compared between the two groups. The offenders reported an extreme use of verbal abuse in their families that did not exist for the non-offenders. The teens in the offender group were much more physically aggressive compared to their parents and to the teens and parents in the non-offender group.