Assessing the Reliability and Validity of the Survey Measures of Guan,Jiao, and Xiao: Beyond Wang and Supple (2010)

Wang and Supple (2010) developed measurement scales for the indigenous Chinese constructs of guan and jiao. Guan referred to parents’ active monitoring, and jiao referred to parental advice and expectations. It was found that parental jiao impacted adolescent outcomes most effectively when it was successful in eliciting adolescent xiao, the respectful attitudes toward parental socialization. The present study was intended to replicate and expand Wang and Supple's study with a larger sample of Chinese adolescents, as well as a wider range of adolescent outcomes, in an attempt to provide stronger evidence for the concurrent and criterion validity of the guan, jiao, and xiao scales. Positive associations were demonstrated among guan, jiao, parental knowledge, and parental authority. Further, results of path analysis suggested that guan, jiao, and xiao appeared to be important factors in parent–adolescent relationships, but the specific socialization processes depended on the outcome of interest. Also, mother–daughter, mother–son, father–daughter, and father–son relationships were represented by different models.     

Friendship Quality,Peer Group Affiliation,and Peer Antisocial Behavior as Moderators of the Link Between Negative Parenting and Adolescent Externalizing Behavior

Quality of peer relationships and perceived peer antisocial behavior were examined as moderators of the link between negative parenting and externalizing behavior problems in school from middle childhood to early adolescence. Data on negative parenting (i.e., unilateral parental decision making, low supervision and awareness, and harsh discipline) were collected from 362 parents in the summer preceding the adolescents' entry into Grade 6. Adolescent reports of positive peer relationships and peer antisocial behavior were assessed in the winter of Grade 7. The outcome measure was teacher report of adolescent externalizing behavior in the spring of Grade 7, controlling for externalizing behavior in Grade 5. High levels of friendship quality and peer group affiliation attenuated the association between unilateral parental decision making and adolescent externalizing behavior in school; this was particularly true when adolescents associated with peers perceived to be low in antisocial behavior. In addition, having low‐quality peer relationships and having peers perceived to be highly antisocial further amplified the association between unilateral parental decision making and adolescent externalizing behavior problems. Finally, high levels of friend and peer group antisocial behavior exacerbated the predictiveness of harsh discipline for adolescents' externalizing behavior.     

Chinese Parenting Behaviors,Adolescent School Adjustment,and Problem Behavior

The present research examined the relationship between supportive and controlling dimensions of parenting behaviors and Chinese adolescent outcomes (school adjustment and problem behavior). Researchers collected self-report data from 589 adolescents in Hangzhou, China. Results showed the factor structure for the Parent Behavior Measure in the Chinese sample was different from the factor structure based on Western research. Specifically, paternal support did not emerge as a viable factor. Parental monitoring and involvement predicted positive adolescent outcomes, whereas punitiveness and permissiveness predicted negative outcomes. Surprisingly, maternal support predicted more adolescent problem behavior, especially for boys. Guilt induction, love withdrawal, and positive induction did not predict any significant adolescent outcomes when other parenting behaviors were controlled. School adjustment mediated and gender moderated the relationship between parenting and adolescent problem behavior. The importance of considering parenting behaviors, adolescent school adjustment, gender, and cultural norms when examining adolescent problem behavior was discussed.     

Family Processes and Problem Behaviors in Middle‐Class African American Adolescents

This study examined the joint association between mothers’ and adolescents’ ratings of parental behavioral control and adolescents’ and observers’ ratings of mother – adolescent communication with adolescent problem behaviors in a sample of 86 middle‐class African American early adolescent boys and girls (age: M= 13.08 years, SD= 1.32) and their mothers. Consistent with hypotheses, greater adolescent‐rated parental behavioral control and better observer‐rated mother – adolescent communication were associated with lower levels of adolescent problem behavior, as examined using structural equation modeling. Furthermore, interrelationships between age and adolescent problem behavior were partially mediated by adolescents’ reports of parental behavioral control and observers’ ratings of positive mother – adolescent communication, which both decreased with adolescents’ age. Although the sample was primarily middle class, higher socioeconomic status was associated with more positive mother – adolescent communication, as rated by observers. Problem behavior was greater among boys than girls, but the hypothesized indirect effect of gender on problem behavior through associations with parenting was not observed. The findings demonstrate the utility of conceptually distinguishing between parenting and parent – adolescent relationships, and suggest that both have unique influences on middle‐class African American adolescents’ problem behavior.     

Parent-Child Synchrony and Adolescent Adjustment

This study of 984 children and their parents examined the correlates of adolescent psychosocial adjustment. Based on previous research, it was expected that parental involvement and limit-setting would predict conduct disorder scores and that variables associated with the parent-child relationship, particularly parent-child synchrony, would be more closely related to emotional adjustment and social relationship measures. Contrary to expectations, parenting practices were unrelated to adolescent conduct disorder, but family harmony and adult-child synchrony predicted all measures of adolescent adjustment. It is concluded that positive parenting is not something adults do to children, but a quality of the parent-child relationship characterized by family harmony and parental empathy. Implications for social work practice with adolescents and their families are identified.     

Psychological Control and Autonomy Granting: Opposite Ends of a Continuum or Distinct Constructs?

This article explores the relationship between parental psychological control and parental autonomy granting, and the relations between these constructs and indicators of adolescent psychosocial functioning, in a sample of 9,564 adolescents from grades 9 to 12. Participants completed a comprehensive parenting questionnaire as well as several measures of psychosocial adjustment. Confirmatory factor analyses of the parenting items revealed discrete factors for psychological control and autonomy granting, suggesting that these are distinct parenting constructs rather than opposite ends of a parental control continuum. Moreover, structural equation modeling showed that these factors were weakly correlated and differentially related to adolescent internalizing symptoms. Findings have implications for future conceptualization and measurement of psychological control and autonomy granting, and for research examining their effects on adolescent development.     

Latino adolescent substance use: A mediating model of inter-parental conflict,deviant peer associations,and parenting

Substance use among Latino adolescents continues to be a growing concern for researchers and clinicians. This paper reviews relevant literature regarding the impact of inter-parental conflict (IPC), deviant peer associations (DPA) and parenting behaviors, namely as parental support, psychological control, and parental monitoring knowledge on substance use among Latino adolescents. Although mediating models of IPC and similar parenting behaviors on adolescent externalizing behaviors have been represented in empirical studies, none have included the influence of peer associations or have analyzed these factors with substance use among Latino adolescents in the U.S. This study investigated direct relationships of IPC and DPA with adolescent substance use, and tested parental support, psychological control and parental monitoring knowledge as mediators between those relationships in Latino adolescents. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze direct and indirect relationships of the variables mentioned among 744 Latino adolescents. Results indicated that DPA was positively associated with substance use, parental monitoring knowledge was negatively associated with substance use and that parental monitoring knowledge partially mediated the relationship between DPA and substance use. Implications of the findings are discussed in terms of areas of focus for interventions.     

Does one Size Fit All?—Linking Parenting With Adolescent Substance Use and Adolescent Temperament

Using longitudinal Swedish data from 1,373 early‐adolescent youths, this study aims to answer the question of whether the previously established protective function of parental knowledge and its sources—adolescent disclosure, parental solicitation, and parental control—on substance use among early‐adolescents is moderated by the adolescent's temperament. Adolescent temperament moderated several links between parental knowledge and its sources and adolescent substance use. The most pronounced moderating results were found for those adolescents with fearless, socially detached and thrill‐seeking tendencies. For these “detached thrill‐seekers”, bidirectional links between adolescent disclosure and substance use, and negative links between parental solicitation and substance use were found. We recommend, therefore, that adolescent temperament is considered when designing parenting programs.     

Sibling Conflict and Ineffective Parenting as Predictors of Adolescent Boys' Antisocial Behavior and Peer Difficulties: Additive and Interactional Effects

Extensive sibling conflict is predictive of multiple poor adjustment outcomes during adolescence and early adulthood, but the frequency and developmental impact of such conflict may be conditional on ineffective parenting. Thus, sibling conflict may add to or amplify the negative effects of ineffective parenting on adolescent boys' adjustment. Hypotheses in this study were that: (a) multiple informant measures of problematic parent–child relationships and of sibling conflict would form distinct constructs rather than a single negative family process construct, and (b) ineffective parenting, sibling conflict, and their interaction measured at ages 10 to 12 would predict boys' concurrent status and developmental trajectories for antisocial behavior and peer adjustment across a 4‐year span from ages 12 to 16. Confirmatory factor and latent growth modeling analyses were consistent with these hypotheses, demonstrating the important developmental impact of sibling conflict.     

Parental Self‐Efficacy for Reducing the Risk of Adolescent Depression and Anxiety: Scale Development and Validation

Burgeoning research suggests that parents can reduce the risk of anxiety and depression in their adolescents and that parental self‐efficacy (PSE) may be related to parental risk and protective factors for these disorders. As there are currently no measures available to assess PSE in relation to parenting behaviors that may reduce adolescent risk for depression and anxiety, we developed and validated a measure of PSE, the Parental Self‐Efficacy Scale (PSES). Using a sample of 359 parents and 332 adolescents (aged 12–15), the PSES was found to have high reliability, confirmatory factor analysis supported its validity, and most of the hypothesized relationships between the PSES and other measures of parenting practices and adolescent depressive and anxiety symptoms were supported.     

Coming Closer in Adolescence: Convergence in Mother,Father, and Adolescent Reports of Parenting

Parent–child relationships change during adolescence. Furthermore, parents and adolescents perceive parenting differently. We examined the changes in perceptions of parental practices in fathers, mothers, and adolescents during adolescence. Furthermore, we investigated if fathers', mothers', and adolescents' perceptions converge during adolescence. Following 497 families across six waves (ages 13–18), we investigated the development of parental support and behavioral control using mother and father self‐reports, and adolescent reports for mothers and fathers. We found curvilinear decrease for support and control. Parent–adolescent convergence emerged over the 6 years: those with higher intercepts had a steeper decrease, whereas correlations among parent and adolescent reports increased. This multi‐informant study sheds light on the development of parent–adolescent convergence on perceptions of parenting.     

The Relations Between Parents' Smoking, General Parenting, Parental Smoking Communication, and Adolescents' Smoking

The present study examined whether the associations between general parenting practices (i.e., support, behavioral control, and psychological control) and parental smoking on the one hand and older and younger siblings' smoking on the other were mediated by parental smoking communication (i.e., frequency and quality of parent–adolescent communication concerning smoking-related issues). The focus of this paper was on examining whether these associations of parental actions and adolescents' smoking were different in older and younger siblings within the family. Participants were 428 Dutch families (mother, father, and their 2 adolescent siblings aged 13–17). The results of parent and adolescent reports indicated that general parenting practices and parental smoking were associated with parental smoking communication, which, in turn, was related with adolescent smoking. The magnitude of the associations between parenting and adolescent smoking did not differ between older and younger siblings. Supportive parents were generally more likely to engage in a high quality communication about smoking with their adolescent children; this was related to a lower likelihood to smoke. Parents who exerted psychological control were more likely to talk more frequently with their adolescents on smoking matters, which in turn, relates to a higher likelihood to smoke. Also, smoking parents were less likely to have high-quality parent–adolescent communication that relates to higher likelihoods to smoke. In general, the findings were similar across reporters. Implications for prevention are addressed.     

Preadolescent Parenting Strategies and Teens' Dating and Sexual Initiation: A Longitudinal Analysis

In this article we examine the effects of preadolescent parenting strategies on timing of adolescents' dating and sexual initiation. Using data from the 2 waves of the National Survey of Families and Households (1987–1988 and 1992–1994) involving interviews with parents as well as adolescents 4 years later, we estimate the effects of preadolescent parental support, coercive control, and monitoring on the timing of teens' dating and sexual initiation. We also examine how adolescents' gender, race, family structure, and socioeconomic background affect relationships between earlier parenting strategies and adolescent dating and sexual debut. We find evidence for the effect of preadolescent parental monitoring, though relatively little connection between parental support and coercive control, and variations in the timing of adolescent dating and sexual initiation. The findings suggest that parental monitoring prior to the onset of adolescence is important as a basic foundation for young people who later must make behavioral choices outside of parental purview.     

Examining the Quality of Adolescent–Parent Relationships Among Chilean Families

The purpose of this study was to examine if adolescents’ reports of warm and harsh parenting practices by their mothers and fathers varied as a function of demographic, youth and their mothers or mother figures’ individual and family characteristics. Data are from 707 community-dwelling adolescents (mean age = 14, SD = 1.4) and their mothers or mother figures in Santiago, Chile. Having a warmer relationship with both parents was inversely associated with the adolescents’ age and positively associated with adolescents’ family involvement and parental monitoring. Both mothers’ and fathers’ harsh parenting were positively associated with adolescent externalizing behaviors and being male and inversely associated with youth autonomy and family involvement. These findings suggest that net of adolescent developmental emancipation and adolescent behavioral problems, positive relationships with parents, especially fathers, may be nurtured through parental monitoring and creation of an interactive family environment, and can help to foster positive developmental outcomes.     

Are They Listening? Parental Social Coaching and Parenting Emotional Climate Predict Adolescent Receptivity

Associations linking parenting emotional climate and quality of parental social coaching with young adolescents' receptivity to parental social coaching were examined (N = 80). Parenting emotional climate was assessed with adolescent‐reported parental warmth and hostility. Quality of parental social coaching (i.e., prosocial advice, benign framing) was assessed via parent‐report and behavioral observations during a parent–adolescent discussion about negative peer evaluation. An adolescent receptivity latent variable score was derived from observations of adolescents’ behavior during the discussion, change in adolescents’ peer response plan following the discussion, and adolescent‐reported tendency to seek social advice from the parent. Parenting climate moderated associations between coaching and receptivity: Higher quality coaching was associated with greater receptivity in the context of a more positive climate. Analyses suggested a stronger association between coaching and receptivity among younger compared to older adolescents.     

A Preliminary Investigation of Family Systems' Influences on Individual Divorce Adjustment

The influence of family systems variables on family member's divorce adjustment was examined in this study. Subjects included 36 families who had been separated or divorced only once, for 6 to 30 months, and had a child between 6 and 16 years old. The custodial parent completed questionnaires regarding family functioning, single parenting, occurence and subjective evaluation of specific post-divorce events, one child's adjustment to the divorce, and parental divorce adjustment. Data were analyzes using hybrid (stepwise/hierarchical) multiple regression analyses. Sixty-three percent of families were high on the Cohesion and/or Democratic family style dimensions. These family styles were related to healthier, more supportive family relationships and clearer, more direct, communication among family members. Approximately 30 percent of families were high on the Conflict and/or Laissez-Faire family style dimensions. These latter dimensions related less to healthy family relationships and communication styles. Notably, significantly poorer child and/or parental functioning were associated to these latter families. The impact of competent custodial parenting on child and family adjustment to divorce is discussed.     

Food Insecurity and Adjustment Problems in a National Sample of Adolescents1

This study examined a structural equation model of the associations among food insecurity, parental emotional distress, quality of parenting, and adolescents’ adjustment problems, controlling for socioeconomic status (SES), sex, and race/ethnicity. Additionally, we examined the relative effects of food insecurity, SES, parental emotional distress, and quality of parenting on adjustment problems. A sample of 11,139 12–17-year-olds selected from the 2002 National Survey of American Families data set were used. The results revealed the following: first, the model exhibited a reasonable fit to the data. Second, heightened food insecurity was associated with increased parental emotional distress, poor quality of parenting, and increased adjustment problems. Third, increased parental emotional distress was associated with poor quality of parenting and with higher levels of adjustment problems; and better quality of parenting was associated with lower levels of adjustment problems. Fourth, food insecurity had an indirect effect on adjustment problems through its effect on parental emotional distress and quality of parenting. Finally, parental emotional distress and quality of parenting had stronger total effects on adjustment problems than did food insecurity. The implications of these findings for policy are also discussed.     

Parenting Behavior as Mediator and Moderator of the Association Between Marital Problems and Adolescent Maladjustment

The present study examines the mediating and moderating effects of parenting behavior on the relation between marital problems and adolescent maladjustment. Extending earlier studies by using a prospective, longitudinal research design and multi‐informant methods, this study of 451 adolescents and their families from the Iowa Youth and Families Project demonstrates that parenting behavior mediates the relation between marital problems and adolescent outcomes. The results also suggest that both marital conflict and distress are harmful for adolescents. Furthermore, not just one aspect, but a broad range of parenting behaviors links marital problems to adolescent maladjustment. Finally, there was limited evidence that parenting behavior moderates the influence of marital problems on adolescent adjustment by intensifying the adverse impact of marital difficulties.     

Influence of Perceived Maternal Psychological Control on Academic Performance in Chinese Adolescents: Moderating Roles of Adolescents’ Age,Gender, and Filial Piety

Existing studies with East Asian samples have reported inconsistent findings on the association between parental psychological control and academic performance in children and adolescents. A moderation effect is present, when the magnitude or direction of the association between two variables significantly changes with another variable called a moderator. This study explored moderators for the association between maternal psychological control and academic performance. A total of 338 Chinese secondary school students aged 14–20completed self-report measures of perceived maternal psychological control, academic performance, and attitudes toward filial piety. Structural equation modeling suggested that adolescent age moderated the association of interest: the influence of perceived maternal psychological control on academic performance significantly varied between middle adolescents aged 14–17 and late adolescents aged 18–20. Based on the findings, this study offers a possible rationale for the inconsistent findings in studies with East Asian samples and proposes that parenting effect should be assessed developmentally.     

Maternal and Paternal Parenting Style Patterns and Adolescent Emotional and Behavioral Outcomes

The purpose of this study was to extend current research to examine the relationship between parenting style combinations and adolescent emotional/behavioral outcomes to further understand affective functioning in adolescents. Previous research solely analyzed mothers, without including fathers and/or both parents. The roles of temperament and adolescent and parent gender were also examined. Participants were 12- to 18-year-old students (n = 195) in 7th to 11th grade in a rural school district in southeast Michigan. Temperament characteristics (i.e., mood, flexibility-rigidity, and eating rhythmicity) explained nearly half of the variance in adolescent outcomes. Parenting styles contributed a smaller but significant role. When both parents were authoritative, it was associated with more optimal outcomes in adolescents' personal adjustment than any other parenting style combination. Having one authoritative parent, which was expected to be a protective factor, was related to high personal adjustment for girls but higher levels of school maladjustment for boys. Mixed associations were found for parenting style combinations and adolescent outcomes. Overall, when both parents were permissive and neglectful, these parenting styles were associated with poorer adolescent outcomes. Study findings confirm that parenting style patterns are important; however, adolescent temperament plays a much larger role, overall, in adolescent affective functioning.