Multivariate Growth Trajectories of Parenting in Adolescence Predicting Parent-Young Adult Relationship Quality

• In Event: Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: PS 13 Topic - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

The parent-child relationship has been well studied in selected segments of the lifespan (e.g., childhood, adolescence) but less well understood during the transition into early adulthood (Lindell & Campione-Barr, 2017). This study aims to better understand the developmental antecedences (parenting practices in adolescence) and concurrent contextual influence (residential status) of young adult relationship with parent. We are guided by a life course perspective (Elder, Johnson, & Crosnoe, 2003) that emphasizes developmental continuity and linked lives: early relational experiences set the stage for later relationship quality, and individual life experiences affect not only individual but also relational development. We hypothesized that developmental trajectories of parenting practices in adolescence (parental warmth, shared activities, effective discipline), in conjunction with young adult residential status, would predict young adult relationship with parents (contact, closeness/warmth, anger) in their early 20s (see Figure 1).

We analyzed data from a subsample of the PROSPER (PROmoting School-community-university Partnerships to Enhance Resilience) participants who completed a follow-up assessment in young adulthood (N = 1,631; M age = 22.84; 57% female). These participants provided data on parental warmth, shared activities, and effective parent discipline annually across 8 waves during adolescence (Grades 6–12). At the young adult assessment, participants reported on contact with parent, closeness/warmth toward parent, anger toward parent, and whether or not they lived with parent. Using multivariate latent growth curve modeling, we estimated developmental trajectories of parenting practices in adolescence, and evaluated the extent to which the growth curve factors of the parenting trajectories predicted relationship quality with parents in young adulthood. Participant intervention status, sex, and baseline hostile/aggressive behavior were included as covariates.

Latent growth models revealed developmental changes in parenting in adolescence. Parental warmth, shared activities, and effective discipline decreased from early to middle adolescence and leveled off during high school. Parenting trajectories in adolescence predicted the quality of young adult-parent relationships, in terms of initial levels in Grade 6 and in the rates of change across adolescence. Higher initial levels of parental warmth (β = .09), and higher initial levels (β = .16) of and slower decline (β = .22) in shared activities predicted higher levels of young adult contact with parent. Higher initial levels (β = .27) of and slower decline (β = .28) in parental warmth, as well as higher initial levels of shared activities (β = .13) predicted higher levels of young adult closeness/warmth with parent. Higher initial levels (β = −.14) of and slower decline (β = −.22) in effective discipline predicted lower levels of young adult anger toward parent. In addition, young adults living with parents reported more concurrent contact (β = .34) but lower levels of closeness/warmth (β = −.06) and more anger (β = .20; ps < .05) toward parents.

The study offers new insight into how parenting practices in adolescence contribute to different aspects of parent-child relationship in young adulthood, and provides support for understanding young adult relationship with parents from a life course perspective that takes into account both prior relationship histories and current life experiences.

Authors

• Shichen Fang, Concordia University
  Presenting Author

• Gregory M Fosco, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Mark E. Feinberg, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Non-Presenting Author