Poster #39 - Parental Self-Control Facilitates Adolescent Psychosocial Adjustment amid the Pandemic: Direct, Actor-Partner, and Mediating Effects

• In Event: Poster Session 11

Abstract

Adolescence is marked with significant changes and challenges that often lead to psychosocial adjustment problems, such as emotional disturbance, reckless and impulsive behavior, self-control failure, and decreased well-being (Arnett, 1999; Casas et al., 2018; Duckworth & Steinberg, 2015; Steinberg, 2007; Steinberg & Morris, 2001). These problems are particularly concerning during the COVID-19 pandemic, not only because young people face considerable disruption of their life equilibrium (e.g., school closure, deprivation of physical interactions with peers), but because their families are also at risk (Fegert et al., 2020; Prime et al., 2020). For instance, parents experience a great deal of stress (e.g., loss of job, financial instability) and have difficulties to provide effective parenting during the pandemic (Adams et al., 2021; Freisthler et al., 2022; McRae et al., 2021). Self-control is a crucial strength for individuals to navigate challenges to maintain optimal adjustment (Moffitt et al., 2011; Tangney et al., 2004). However, little research has examined the extent to which parents with better self-control would facilitate their adolescent children’s psychosocial adjustment through better managing stress and exercising mindful parenting. This longitudinal research aims to address this underexplored idea (See Figure 1).

Participants were adolescents (Mage=11.6 years, SD=0.50, 53.5% boys) and their parents from 426 families in Guangzhou, China. Both fathers and mothers reported on their self-control, mindful parenting, perceived stress, and demographic at T1, while adolescents reported on their self-control, life satisfaction, and psychological difficulties at both T1 and T2 (one-year apart). We performed an actor-partner path analysis in Mplus 8.3.

As summarized in Table 1, the results showed that: (1) T1 adolescent psychosocial adjustment outcomes were stable over time; (2) no direct associations between T1 parental self-control and T2 adolescent psychosocial outcomes were found; (3) paternal and maternal self-control was positively related to their own mindful parenting and negatively related to their own perceived stress (significant actor effects), but not to their spouses’ (insignificant partner effects); (4) T1 paternal perceived stress predicted adolescents’ self-control and psychological difficulties at T2, while T1 maternal mindful parenting positively predicted adolescents’ life satisfaction at T2. Furthermore, three significant indirect effects emerged, namely “T1 paternal self-control → T1 paternal perceived stress → T2 adolescent self-control” (B = 0.09, SE = 0.05, 95% CI = [0.007, 0.183]), “T1 paternal self-control → T1 paternal perceived stress → T2 adolescent psychological difficulties” (B = -0.06, SE = 0.03, 95% CI = [-0.108, -0.012]), and (3) “T1 maternal self-control → T1 maternal mindful parenting → T2 adolescent life satisfaction” (B = 0.16, SE = 0.07, 95% CI = [0.033, 0.334]).

To conclude, parental self-control plays a crucial role in regulating their own stress and exercising mindful parenting during the COVID-19 pandemic, which in turn contributes to the development of different psychosocial adjustment outcomes in adolescents. Theoretically, these findings lend (partial) support to the intergenerational transmission of self-regulation model (Bridgett et al., 2015) and the family stress model (Masarik & Conger, 2017). Practically, the results inform nuanced prevention and intervention strategies to enhance adolescent psychosocial adjustment outcomes amid the pandemic.

Authors

• Rui ZHANG, University of Hong Kong (HKU)
  Presenting Author

• Jianbin Li, The Education University of Hong Kong