Poster #87 - Effects of Parent-Child Conversations on Adolescent Depression: The Role of Parental Emotional Vulnerability

• In Event: Poster Session 14

Abstract

The percent of adolescents having experienced a major depressive episode within the past year has steadily increased in recent years, and has been compounded by COVID-19 (SAMHSA, 2021). A key protective factor against depression is open parent-child communication (Yu et al., 2006). Research suggests that parental open communication may decrease depression through non-judgmental listening and validation (Ioffe et al., 2020). However, little is known about the effects of parental sharing of their own emotions and experiences in their conversations with their children. Parental emotional socialization theory suggests that parents contribute to their children’s emotional competence not only by responding to their children’s emotions, but also by expressing their own emotions (Lukenheimer et al., 2020). Yet this latter dimension of parental emotional vulnerability remains unexamined. Further, research on the mediators through which parental communication influences adolescent depression is limited. We hypothesized that parental openness about their emotions may contribute to children’s emotional competence, which positively affects their ability to regulate their emotions and their optimism.

Hypotheses
1. Adolescents’ emotional competence and emotional regulation mediate relations between parental emotional vulnerability and adolescent depression.
2. Adolescents’ emotional competence and optimism mediate relations between parental emotional vulnerability and adolescent depression.

Method

Participants included 335 middle-school students (M = 12.75 yrs.; 153 males, 171 females, 7 other), including 161 European American, 29 African American, 39 Mexican-origin, 57 Latine/Hispanic other, 67 Asian, 7 Middle Eastern/North African, and 3 American Indian/Alaskan Native.

Students completed questionnaires measuring parental vulnerability, adolescent emotional competence, adolescent emotional regulation, adolescent optimism, and adolescent depression. We tested two serial mediation models with parental vulnerability predicting adolescent depression through emotional competence and emotional self-regulation (M1), and through emotional competence and optimism (M2).

Results

Correlations and descriptive statistics are provided on Table 1.

For both models, parental vulnerability predicted emotional competence (M1: b = .210, SE = .053, t = 3.981, p < .001, 95% CI .106 to .314; M2: b = .220, SE = .052, t = 4.193, p < .001, 95% CI .117 to .323), and the direct effect of parental vulnerability on depression was not significant.

Model 1: Adolescent emotional competence predicted emotional regulation (b = .517, SE = .068, t = 7.590, p < .001, 95% CI .383 to .651) (Table 2). The final indirect model was significant with an R2 of .074 (F3,320 = 8.468, p < .001) (see Figure 1). Parental vulnerability predicted adolescent depression through adolescent emotional competence and emotional regulation (indirect effect = -.173, SE = .072, 95% CI -.340 to -.057).

Model 2: Adolescent emotional competence predicted optimism (b = .410, SE = .053, t = 7.590, p < .001, 95% CI .307 to .513). The final indirect model was significant with an R2 of .332 (F3,313 = 51.919, p < .001) (Figure 2). Parents’ emotional vulnerability predicted adolescent depression through adolescent emotional competence and optimism (indirect effect = -.510, SE = .152, 95% CI -.831 to -.234).

These results suggest that parental vulnerability in parent-adolescent conversations may positively influence adolescents’ social-emotional development.

Authors

• Marie-Anne Suizzo, University of Texas at Austin
  Presenting Author

• Ryan Andrew Mata, University of Texas at Austin

• Cambrian Nauman, University of Texas at Austin

• Desirée Lama, University of Texas at Austin