Poster #141 - Parental Relationship Effects on Adolescents’ Future Romantic Relationships

• In Event: 3-003 - Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Section - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Integrative Statement

Introduction
Previous literature suggests that family dynamics have a significant impact on adolescent development and future relationships. According to family systems theory, the importance of relationship structure within a family and its intergenerational patterns cannot be isolated from one another and should be considered as a whole unit (Rollins, Williams, & Sims, 2017). However, little is known about how parent-teen relationship quality and parental dyadic relationship quality during adolescence may interact to predict teens’ long-term romantic relationship quality. The experiences that a child has with their parents may teach them specific interpersonal skills that promote or hinder future competence in romantic relationships (Masarick et al., 2014). Furthermore, by observing and experiencing parental interactions, teens may acquire relational strategies that are generalized to other relationships (Whitton et al., 2008). As such, this study hypothesized that adolescents who have a more positive parent-teen relationship (i.e. more acceptance, more psychological autonomy, more behavioral monitoring) in adolescence would experience more positive romantic relationships in their mid-20s. Moreover, these associations were expected to be stronger for teens (i.e. moderated) whose parents had a higher quality dyadic relationship (i.e. greater satisfaction and consensus).

Method
Multi-informant longitudinal data were obtained for a community sample of 184 adolescents (86 males, 98 females) at age 16 with follow-up data at age 25. The sample is demographically diverse (63% European-American, 27% African-American, and 14% mixed race or other race/ethnicities; baseline median family income was in the $40,000-$59,000 range). Teens reported their perception of the parent-child relationship quality on acceptance vs. rejection, psychological autonomy vs. control, and lax vs. firm behavioral control at age 16. Parents reported their dyadic relationship quality when teens were age 16 in terms of satisfaction, consensus, and how well they handled conflict. At age 25, participants assessed their current romantic relationship quality based on overall satisfaction, companionship, criticism, and how well each partner handled conflict within the relationship.

Results and Discussion
Multiple regression analyses included gender and family income as control variables, and variables representing the parent-teen relationship, parental dyadic relationship, and interactions between the parent-teen and parental-dyadic relationship. Although there were no direct associations between parent-teen relationship quality and future romantic quality, analyses revealed four interactions that showed an overall pattern of more positive parent-teen and positive parental dyadic relationship quality as predictors of better future romantic relationship quality (βs ranging from .28-.41 and ps ranging from < .05-<.01). See Figures 1 and 2 for results representative of study findings. Overall, teens who had parent-teen relationships characterized by greater acceptance and greater behavioral/psychological control, and parental dyadic relationships high in satisfaction or consensus, typically had romantic relationships with more positive attributes as compared to teens with parental dyads lower in these domains. Although the finding with acceptance may be intuitive, and greater control in parent-teen relationships might be thought to negatively affect future relationships, the results interestingly suggest that these associations depend greatly on how united the parents are in their own relationship.

Authors

• Samantha Baccaro, James Madison University
  Presenting Author

• David E. Szwedo, James Madison University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Joseph Allen, University of Virginia
  Non-Presenting Author