Social Relationship Moderators of the Association Between Negative Parent-Child Relationships and Adolescents’ Psychosocial Adjustment

• In Event: Poster Session 05
  In Poster Session: PS 05 Topic - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

Introduction. It is, by now, well understood that a negative (i.e., low support, conflicted) parent-child relationship predicts adverse developmental outcomes during adolescence (Murray et al., 2014). It is also the case that peer relationships contribute significantly to adolescent development (Rubin et al., 2015). However, it is less clear whether and how parent-child and friend relationships jointly interact to buffer the effects of negative parent-child relationships on adolescent psychosocial adjustment, and whether these interactions differ by child gender, especially during the transition to high school (Eccles & Roeser, 2011; Schacter & Margolin, 2019). The purpose of this study was to identify protective factors for adolescents with a low-quality, negative parent child relationship.

Hypotheses. We hypothesized that a high-quality mother-child, father-child, or best friendship in the eighth grade would moderate the associations between negative parent-child relationships and adolescent depression, anxiety, and self-esteem in the ninth grade. We predicted these interactions would vary by child gender.
Methods. Students (n = 480, 45% male, 56.3% Caucasian) from well-educated families reported on the quality of their relationships with their mother, father, and best friend using the Network of Relationships Inventory (Furman & Buhrmester, 1985). The social support subscale (i.e. companionship, instrumental help, intimacy, nurturance of the other, affection, enhancement of worth, and reliable alliance) and the negative interactions subscale (i.e., conflict and punishment) were used to assess relationship quality in the eighth grade. In the eighth and ninth grades, participants completed questionnaires to assess anxiety (YSR; Achenbach, 1991; MASC; March et al., 1997), depression (YSR; Achenbach, 1991; CDI; Kovacs, 1992), and self-esteem (SPPA; Harter, 1988).

Results. Saturated path models, controlling for eighth grade internalizing and externalizing symptoms, revealed one three-way interaction with child gender: for females, highly supportive friendships in the 8th grade protected against increased depression in the 9th grade for those with highly negative father-daughter relationships (beta =-4.79, p =0.05, R^2=0.32). When both genders were present in the models, moderation effects were seen only for 9th grade depression. High father support in the 8th grade buffered against low mother support, and the reverse was also true, whereby high mother support buffered low father support (beta =2.75, p = 0.03, R^2=0.25). Additionally, having a highly supportive friendship in the 8th grade was protective against low levels of maternal support (beta =2.48, p = 0.05, R^2=0.17) and low paternal support (beta = 3.57, p = 0.008, R^2=0.22) on depression.

Conclusions. Having a high-quality, supportive parent-child relationship or friendship was found to be a protective factor for depression against the effect of having a negative mother-child or father-child relationship during early adolescence. Further, females with highly negative father-daughter relationships experienced lower levels of depression in the 9th grade if they also had a highly supportive best friend. These results represent the shared importance that mothers, fathers, and friends hold for adolescent adjustment, and indicate that having a high-quality relationship with even just one of these figures may be enough to protect adolescents from depressive symptoms in the face of experiencing a negative parent-child relationship during the transition to high school.

Authors

• Rachel Alina Ghosh, University of Maryland - College Park
  Presenting Author

• Kelly Smith, University of Maryland, College Park
  Non-Presenting Author

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