Romantic Relationships in Late Adolescence: The Role of Early Parent-Adolescent Interactions in Latinx Families

• In Event: Exploring Parent-Child Relationships in Latinx Families: Perspectives From Infancy to Adolescence

Abstract

Introduction: Early interactions with parents may shape representations of self and others in close relationships, provide opportunities to learn conflict resolution skills, and inform expression of conflict (Hébert at al., 2017). Past studies have shown that disruptive parenting in early adolescence is linked to greater rates of coercive patterns with romantic partners in adulthood (e.g., Ha et al. 2019). Key limitations in the current literature include the lack of representation among adolescent relationships when these processes may be unfolding and among ethnically diverse populations for whom parent-adolescent interactions may operate differently. Specifically, unidimensional representations of parenting behaviors (i.e., harshness/warmth) may not apply to Latinx families where parents may engage in high levels of both parenting behaviors (Hill et al., 2003; Varela et al., 2004). This study aims to address these limitations and offer greater understanding of how these processes operate among Latinx youth by examining how negative conflict processes and parental acceptance interact to predict negativity/aggression in romantic partners across adolescent development.

Hypotheses: 1) Higher levels of parent-adolescent conflict in early adolescence will predict greater levels of negativity/aggression with romantic partners in late adolescence. 2) Higher levels of parental acceptance will buffer against the negative effects of parent-adolescent conflict on negativity/aggression with romantic partners in late adolescence.

Methods: Participants for this study include 516 seventh-grade students (50.8% female). The mean age of adolescents was 13.03 years old at T1, 17.47 years old at T2, and 19.51 years old at T3. Median annual family income was $31,000. Adolescents reported on Parent-Adolescent Conflict/Conflict Processes (Ruiz et al., 1998) at T1 and Negativity Interactions and Aggression with Romantic Partner (Updegraff et al., 2005) at T2 and T3. Female caregivers reported on Parental Acceptance (Hill et al., 2003) at T1. Adolescent gender was included as a covariate. Full information maximum likelihood (FIML) estimation was used to handle missing data. Unstandardized coefficients are reported.

Results: Preliminary analysis examined whether parental acceptance (T1) moderated the relation between parent-adolescent conflict in early adolescence (T1) and negativity/aggression with romantic partners in late adolescence (T3; controlling for negativity and aggression at T2). Higher levels of parent-adolescent conflict in early adolescence significantly predicted greater levels of negativity/aggression with romantic partners in late adolescence (b = .19, p = .007). Furthermore, the interaction between parent-adolescent conflict and parental acceptance significantly predicted greater levels of negativity/aggression (b = .24, p = .044). Contrary to our hypothesis, probing of the interaction at ± 1 SD revealed that when parental acceptance was high, parent-adolescent conflict predicted greater negativity/aggression with romantic partners in late adolescence (b=.35, p<.001).

Conclusion: These results support the notion that early parent-adolescent interactions are important for shaping interpersonal patterns in other important relationships across adolescence. Moreover, hostility and acceptance in parent-child interactions may not exist on a unidimensional spectrum. It is possible that when hostile/negative conflict processes occur within the context of high acceptance, Latinx adolescents may more readily internalize negativity/aggression as an appropriate way to relate to other loved ones. Future results will also test possible intervention and gender effects.

Authors

• Vanesa Perez, Arizona State University
  Presenting Author

• Nancy A Gonzales, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author