Perceptions of Parenting in Daily Life: Adolescent-Parent Differences and Associations with Adolescent Mood

• In Event: Studying the Dynamics of Parenting Adolescents on a Momentary Timescale

Abstract

Introduction. Adolescence is a critical period for the development of depressive symptoms and mood disorders (Merikangas et al., 2010). A warm and supportive relation with parents remains key for adolescents and parenting behavior has been found to be related to mood disorders (Rudolph, 2009). Previous research has shown that both parents’ and adolescents’ perspectives on parenting predict a unique part of development outcomes (Laird & De Los Reyes, 2013) and differences in these perceptions may be important to consider as a risk factor for the development of depressive symptoms. Yet, research so far has relied mostly on retrospective questionnaires. The current study therefore aimed to examine how both adolescents and their parents (mothers and fathers) perceive parental behavior in daily life. This allowed us to more precisely study how daily perceptions and potential discrepancies between adolescent and parental reports are related to adolescent daily mood.
Method: Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data was collected from 80 families, including 80 healthy adolescents (29 boys, 51 girls; Mage = 15.9) and 151 parents (79 mothers, 72 fathers; Mage = 49.4) in the context of RE-PAIR (a multi-method two-generation study on parent-child interaction and adolescent depression). All participants completed surveys on their phone for 14 consecutive days. Every evening, adolescents reported on parental criticism and parental warmth of fathers and mothers separately, while parents also reported on their own parenting behavior. Adolescent mood was assessed four times a day.
Results: Overall, parents reported significantly higher levels of parental criticism compared to adolescents, and fathers reported significantly lower levels of parental warmth compared to adolescents. Reports of mothers and adolescents on parental warmth and parental criticism differed in 62.97% and 63.39% cases respectively and reports of fathers and adolescents differed on parental warmth and criticism differed in 74.80% and 69.63% cases respectively. Currently, discrepancies between adolescents’ and parents on parenting behavior are examined using multilevel polynomial regression models and will be linked to adolescent mood. These results will be presented and implications will be discussed.

Authors

• Loes Janssen, Universiteit Leiden
  Presenting Author

• Bart Verkuil, Leiden University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lisanne van Houtum, Universiteit Leiden
  Non-Presenting Author

• Mirjam Wever, Leiden University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Bernet Elzinga, Leiden University
  Non-Presenting Author