Best Friend’s Psychopathology Predicts Youth Psychopathology: The Moderating role of Maternal and Paternal Support

• In Event: Poster Session 07
  In Poster Session: PS 07 Topic - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

The effects of peer contagion have been well researched. However, research on the effects of best friend internalizing on youth externalizing and vice-versa is limited. Given that psychopathology of best friends may affect youth mental health in ways other than peer contagion (Raposa et al., 2015), and adolescents are at particularly high risk for the development of both internalizing and externalizing symptoms (Risper, 2012), there is a need to extend the literature by examining the cross effects of these two dimensions of psychological maladaptation. Moreover, there is a dearth of research examining maternal and paternal support as moderators of the relation between best friend psychopathology and youth psychopathology. Thus, the primary aim of this longitudinal study was to address these gaps and further elucidate these relations by examining best friend internalizing and externalizing symptoms as predictors of adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and the impact of maternal and paternal support on these relations (while controlling for friendship quality) two years later.
Data were drawn from a larger study on school transitions and close relationships. Participants in the current analyses included 385 Grade 6 (G6: Mage = 13.64 years; 53% female; 40% ethnic or racial minority) middle school young adolescents who were re-assessed two years later in Grade 8 (G8). In G6, pairs of mutual adolescent friends visited the laboratory and reported on maternal and parental support and the quality of their friendships. In G8, their parents reported on their internalizing and externalizing symptoms. The fit of two separate models of friend and parental influence (Figures 1 and 2) were evaluated using robust maximum likelihood estimation with structural equation modeling in Mplus 6.12 (Muthén & Muthén, 1998-2017). Model fit was acceptable for both models (CFIs > .95, RMSEAs < .06, SRMRs < .08). In the model with maternal support, best friend internalizing symptoms predicted decreases in target youth’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms in the 8th grade; best friend externalizing symptoms predicted increases target youth’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Significantly, maternal support moderated these relations. G6 best friend internalizing and externalizing problems at low levels of maternal support were stronger predictors of G8 externalizing problems relative to G6 best friend internalizing and externalizing problems at high levels of maternal support. In the model with paternal support, G6 best friend internalizing symptoms was a significant and negative predictor of G8 adolescent externalizing symptoms. There was also a significant interaction effect involving G6 best friend internalizing problems and G6 paternal support, such that G6 best friend internalizing problems was a stronger predictor of G8 adolescent externalizing problems at low versus high levels of parental support. The findings are novel, highlight the complex influences of friends and parents on the development of internalizing and externalizing symptomatology during adolescence, and underscore the importance of targeting both sources of social influence in future research as well as clinical work.

Authors

• Mazneen Havewala, University of Maryland - College Park
  Presenting Author

• Julie C Bowker, State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY Buffalo)
  Non-Presenting Author

• Julia W Felton, University of Maryland, College Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kenneth H Rubin, University of Maryland - College Park
  Non-Presenting Author