Parental history of psychological abuse and adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems: Psychophysiological...

Psychological abuse often has a negative and long-lasting impact across different domains in life, which might also affect the next generation. However, few studies have explored the psychophysiological pathways through which parental history of psychological abuse is associated with their adolescents' internalizing and externalizing problems. Therefore, the current study examines the relationships between parental history of psychological abuse and adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems, as well as the mediating roles of parental psychological abuse and adolescent cortisol response to stress among 143 Chinese adolescents and their parents. Results indicated that parental history of psychological abuse was positively associated with both adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems, with these associations consistently mediated by parental psychological abuse. Additionally, chain mediation involving parental psychological abuse and decreased cortisol response to stress was selective, depending on the cortisol indices and outcome domains. Our study lends support for the intergenerational association between parental history of psychological abuse and adolescent psychopathology. Reducing parental psychological abuse may help inform future efforts to prevent intergenerational risk pathways, either directly or indirectly.