Caregiver-Adolescent Conflict and Adolescent Mental Health among Adolescents who have been Sexually Abused

• In Event: New Perspectives on Parenting: Implications for understanding adaptive and maladaptive family functioning

Abstract

There is a general consensus in the scientific literature that the nature of interactions with a non-offending caregiver (NOC) can substantially influence mental health outcomes among adolescents who have disclosed experiencing sexual abuse. The research often focuses on supportive caregiver behaviors, such as those demonstrating care and affection, and abuse-specific, non-supportive caregiver behaviors, such as blaming the adolescent for the abuse. In general, supportive caregiver behaviors relate negatively and abuse-specific, non-supportive caregiver behaviors relate positively to adolescent mental health problems, with the latter findings more robust than the former.

The extent to which routine conflict between the adolescent and caregiver (frequency of disagreements, extent to which caregivers and adolescents upset each other) operates in tandem with supportive and abuse-specific, non-supportive caregiver behaviors in contributing to adolescent mental health after a sexual abuse disclosure is unknown. This gap in the literature is surprising, given the prominence of parent-adolescent conflict in theory and research on adolescent development. The current study addresses this gap by testing the hypotheses that (1) greater NOC-adolescent conflict is related to poorer adolescent mental health outcomes, even after accounting for supportive and abuse-specific, non-supportive NOC behaviors, and (2) NOC-adolescent conflict mitigates the positive effects of supportive NOC behaviors and potentiates the adverse effects of abuse-specific, non-supportive NOC behaviors on adolescent mental health outcomes.

The sample consisted of 477 adolescents aged 11-to-17 (M = 13.60, SD = 1.77) and was predominantly female (91.4%) and Hispanic/Latino/a (51.6%). Data were obtained from the records of a children’s advocacy center in a large United States city. Adolescents reported on NOC-adolescent conflict, supportive NOC behaviors, abuse-specific, non-supportive NOC behaviors, trauma symptoms, and general adjustment problems. NOCs reported on adolescent general adjustment problems. Demographics and abuse characteristics (coercion, severity, relationship to perpetrator) served as control variables in analyses.

To test the first hypothesis, regression analyses were conducted for each of the three adolescent mental health measures. NOC-adolescent conflict, supportive and abuse-specific, non-supportive NOC behaviors and control variables (i.e., demographics and abuse characteristics) were entered as simultaneous predictors. For trauma symptoms, both NOC-adolescent conflict, B = 0.36, SEB = 0.06, t(468) = 6.09, p < .001, sr2 = .06, and abuse-specific, non-supportive NOC behaviors, B = 2.97, SEB = 1.26, t(468) = 2.36, p = .018, sr2 = .01, emerged as predictors. For adolescent-reported adjustment problems, only NOC-adolescent conflict related, B = 0.36, SEB = 0.05, t(468) = 7.80, p < .001, sr2 = .10. For caregiver-reported adjustment problems, both NOC-adolescent conflict, B = 0.27, SEB = 0.06, t(468) = 4.76, p < .001, sr2 = .05, and NOC supportive behaviors, B = -0.06, SEB = 0.02, t(468) = -2.81, p = .005, sr2 = .02, contributed. To test the second hypothesis, the pertinent interaction terms were added to the regression models and the analyses were re-computed. None of the interaction terms were associated with any of the measures of adolescent mental health. These findings highlight the importance of considering general NOC-adolescent conflict in attempts to better understand adolescent adjustment after sexual abuse.

Authors

• Ernest N Jouriles, Southern Methodist University
  Presenting Author

• Melissa Sitton

• Mindy Jackson, Dallas Children's Advocacy Center

• Renee McDonald, Southern Methodist University