Youths’ Perceptions of Change in Parent-Child Relationships Moderates Fathers’ Effects on Well-Being but Not Mothers’ Effects

• In Event: Fathering and Father-Child Relationships

Abstract

Parent-child relationships have been shown to having lasting impacts on youths’ well-being, but most research has focused on mothers or parents overall. Relatively little work has focused on the importance of fathers or how fathers’ parenting might differ from mothers’. Furthermore, research has shown that the parent-child relationship changes as youth enter early adulthood (Guan & Fuligni, 2016), and that the relations between young adult parent-child relationships and well-being are influenced by previous parenting quality (Gittleman, Klein, Smider, & Essex, 1998). However, little work has investigated how young adults’ perceptions of changes in parent-child relationship quality might influence the relations between father-child and mother-child relationships and well-being. This study examined how young adults’ perceptions of change in the parent-child relationship since high school moderated the relations between maternal and paternal involvement and youth well-being.

Data came from a longitudinal study of rural youth (N=442; 55.7% female). Young adults (Mage=23.29 years, SD=1.15) were asked how frequently they see each parent (mother and father), how much closeness (e.g., caring, sharing) and negative interactions (e.g., disapproval, criticism) they perceived in that relationship, and to what degree the relationship had changed since high school (Table 1). They also completed measures of self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and overall life satisfaction.

Separate regression analyses were conducted for relationships with father and mothers. Each model estimated the relations between three parenting variables (frequency see parent, closeness, negative interactions) and one of the youth outcomes (self-esteem, depression, life satisfaction), while controlling for youths’ age and gender. Next, the moderating effect of change in the relationship was investigated by adding the interactions between relationship change and each parenting variable. Regions of significance were estimated to determine at which levels of the moderator the relations between parenting and well-being were significant.

Results indicated that more frequent negative interactions in mother-child and father-child relationships were related to higher depression and lower self-esteem and life satisfaction among youth adults, whereas more parent-child closeness was related to higher self-esteem and life satisfaction. Moreover, change in the father-child relationship since high school moderated the relations between the three measures of parenting and youths’ life satisfaction (Table 2). Specifically, less frequent negative interactions and seeing the father more frequently were associated with greater life satisfaction in youth who reported no change in the father-child relationship or a change for the worse. These associations were not significant for youth who reported improved relationships. Additionally, paternal closeness was associated with greater life satisfaction for youth who reported improvements or no change in the father-child relationship, but this association was not significant for youth who reported a deteriorating father-child relationship. Notably, perceived change in the mother-child relationship did not moderate any of the relations between parenting and youth well-being.

These results indicate that young adults’ perceptions of change in the father-child relationship influence how fathers’ parenting is related to youths’ well-being. Discussion will focus on the importance of change in the father-child relationship and the differences between the importance of mother-child and father-child relationships for young adult well-being.

Authors

• Chelsie D. Temmen, University of Louisville
  Presenting Author

• Lisa J Crockett, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
  Non-Presenting Author

• Meredith Cartwright, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  Non-Presenting Author