A Dynamical Systems Investigation of the Co-regulation between Perceived Daily Parental Warmth and Adolescent Attention-deficit/hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms

Longitudinal research demonstrates that child ADHD symptoms and behaviors exhibit reciprocal associations with parenting behaviors over time. However, minimal research has investigated these associations and their dynamic links at the daily level. Intensive longitudinal data can disentangle stable between-person differences from within-person fluctuations and reveal nuanced short-term family dynamics on a micro timescale. Using 30-day daily diary data from a community sample of 86 adolescents (Mage = 14.5, 55% female, 56% White, 22% Asian) and latent differential equation modeling, this study examined the links between perceived daily parental warmth and ADHD symptoms as coupled dynamical systems. The results show that the magnitude of fluctuations in perceived daily parental warmth generally remains stable, while elevated ADHD symptoms return to their normal level over time. Perceived parental warmth is sensitive to change in ADHD symptoms such that adolescents feel that their parents will fine-tune their warmth with gradual changes when adolescents demonstrate heightened symptoms. There are substantial between-family differences in these regulating system dynamics. Among families with more baseline parental non-harsh discipline, both perceived parental warmth and ADHD symptoms tend to be more stable and fluctuate less often. Intensive longitudinal data and dynamical systems approaches offer a new lens to uncover short-term family dynamics and adolescent adjustment at a refined micro level. Future research should explore antecedents and consequences of between-family differences in these short-term family dynamics on multiple timescales.