Poster #235 - Romantic Specific Parenting: Shaping Romantic Relationship Competencies in Adolescence

• In Event: 2-055 - Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Section - Social Relationships

Integrative Statement

Parenting teens around dating and romance can be awkward and challenging for all involved. Studies indicate that high-quality parent-child relationships can help adolescents cope with romantic-related stressors and develop respectful romantic interactions. However, these studies only examine general parenting and do not examine romantic-specific strategies that parents can implement to instruct their children directly about romantic challenges. This is an important area for research because adolescent relationships set a foundation for future, more committed relationship forms (e.g., marriage). This study examined how romantic-specific parenting strategies (negativity, involvement, and monitoring) predicted adolescents’ development of coping strategies and later romantic interactions in a sample of 98 adolescent romantic couples between the ages of 14-18. We hypothesized that parents’ negativity toward their adolescents’ relationships would predict poorer coping strategies and greater conflict in adolescent relationships. We also hypothesized that parental involvement and monitoring of the child’s relationship would predict adolescents’ healthier coping and more respectful romantic interactions.

Participants were 98 adolescent romantic couples (n = 196 individuals; Mage = 16.43, SD = 1.09; 45% White, 42% Latina/o, 4% African American; mostly lower middle class). Adolescents individually completed two online surveys, each 6 months apart, about their family and romantic relationships. At each assessment, adolescents reported on their parents’ romantic specific parenting (negativity, involvement, and monitoring). Adolescents also indicated qualities of their romantic relationship, specifically the degree of conflict and support within their relationship. Spanning the time between these two surveys, adolescents also completed brief (2-5 minutes) ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) about their daily relationship experiences, twice weekly for 12 weeks (24 total EMAs). At each EMA, adolescents reported their coping in response to a stressful event that day (suppression, reappraisal, resolution, rumination).

Two hierarchical multiple regression models were used to estimate longitudinal associations between romantic-specific parenting and adolescents’ (a) coping strategies, and (b) relationship quality, respectively (see Tables 1 and 2). Controlling for sex, age, relationship length, and minority status, results indicated that parents’ negativity toward the adolescents’ relationship predicted greater suppression, reappraisal and rumination as coping strategies. In the second regression model, parents’ negativity predicted greater conflict 6 months later, whereas parents’ involvement and monitoring predicted greater nurturance 6 months later.

Together, parents’ negativity toward their adolescents’ relationship predicted adolescents’ relationship challenges 6 months later, such as poorer coping abilities and greater conflict in the relationship. Second, parents’ positive involvement in their child’s relationship predicted adolescents’ more positive romantic interactions (e.g., nurturance) 6 months later. Thus, our findings suggest that parents have an important role in shaping romantic relationship skills in adolescence (for better or for worse), which can set a foundation for future, more committed relationship forms.

Authors

• McKenzi Prawitt, Brigham Young University
  Presenting Author

• Adam A. Rogers, Brigham Young University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Thao Ha, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author