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Child Effects on Lability in Parental Warmth and Hostility: Moderation by Parents' Internalizing Problems
Melissa A Lippold1, Gregory M Fosco2, Andrea Hussong3
1The School of Social Work, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building, 325 Pittsboro St CB#3550, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-3550, USA. mlippold@unc.edu.
Journal of Youth and Adolescence
|February 13, 2019
Summary
Parental internalizing problems influence parenting lability during adolescence. Youth maladjustment increases fluctuations in parental warmth when parents have high internalizing issues, but not when they have low issues.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Family Studies
- Clinical Psychology
Background:
- Parent-child relationship lability is common in adolescence.
- This lability is linked to negative youth outcomes.
- Factors predicting parenting lability remain understudied.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if child behaviors predict parent-child relationship lability.
- To examine if youth maladjustment predicts lability in parental warmth and hostility.
- To test if parental internalizing problems moderate these associations.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study of 618 families in rural areas and small towns.
- Assessed youth maladjustment (delinquency, substance use, internalizing problems) in Grade 6.
- Measured parental warmth and hostility lability across Grades 6-8, moderated by parental internalizing problems.
Main Results:
- Parental internalizing problems moderated the link between youth maladjustment and parenting lability.
- High youth maladjustment correlated with increased parental warmth lability for parents with high internalizing problems.
- High youth maladjustment correlated with decreased parental warmth lability for parents with low internalizing problems.
Conclusions:
- Parental internalizing problems significantly impact how parents react to youth behavior changes.
- Understanding this dynamic is crucial for interventions targeting parenting lability.
- Parental mental health is a key factor in navigating adolescent relationship fluctuations.