The differential impact of parental warmth on externalizing problems among triangulated adolescents

Warm and Harsh Parenting, Self-Kindness and Self-Judgment, and Well-Being: An Examination of Developmental Differences in a Large Sample of Adolescents

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the associations between warm and harsh parenting and adolescent well-being, and the mediating effects of self-kindness and self-judgment, in relationships. Moreover, this study investigated developmental differences across three adolescence stages (early, middle, and late). Methods: In total, 14,776 Chinese adolescents (mean age = 13.53 ± 2.08, 52.3% males), including individuals in early (10-12 years old, N = 5055), middle (13-15 years old, N = 6714), and late adolescence (16-18 years old, N = 3007) participated in this study. All the adolescents rated their levels of warm and harsh parenting, self-kindness and self-judgment, and well-being. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was adopted to examine the mediation model. Multi-group analysis was conducted to investigate differences in the mediation model across the different developmental stages. Results: Both warm and harsh parenting were related to adolescent well-being through the mediating effects of self-kindness and self-judgment. However, warm parenting exerted a more substantial impact on adolescent well-being. Self-kindness had a more robust mediating effect than self-judgment in relationships. Moreover, harsh parenting had a weaker impact on adolescent well-being in late adolescence than in early and middle adolescence. Warm parenting had a more significant impact on adolescent well-being in early adolescence than in middle and late adolescence. Conclusions: Overall, warm parenting had a more substantial effect than harsh parenting on adolescent well-being. The findings also highlighted the crucial mediating effect of self-kindness in the relationships between parenting and well-being. Moreover, this study also indicated the importance of warm parenting in early adolescence. Intervention programs should focus on enhancing the level of warm parenting to promote self-kindness in adolescents, in order to improve their well-being.

The Association between Coparenting Behavior and Internalizing/Externalizing Problems of Children and Adolescents: A Meta-Analysis

This study aimed to determine the association between coparenting behavior and children's externalizing and internalizing problems and possible factors that may moderate their associations. A meta-analysis of 93 studies involving 41,207 participants found that coparenting behavior was slightly and significantly related to externalizing problems, r = -0.17, 95% CI [-0.194, -0.15], and internalizing problems, r = -0.16, 95% CI [-0.18, -0.14]. In addition, coparenting integrity, cooperation, conflict, competitiveness, and triangulation were significantly related to externalizing and internalizing problems. Moderation analyses revealed the following findings: (a) data reporter moderated the association between coparenting and internalizing problems, with children-report coparenting showing a significantly stronger relation with internalizing symptom than father-report coparenting; (b) developmental stage was found to moderate the association between coparenting behavior and externalizing problems, with stronger association found in childhood than in toddlerhood; (c) female percentage, individualism-collectivism culture, research methods, and publication year were not found to moderate the association between coparenting behavior and externalizing or internalizing problems. These findings help summarize the previous studies and provide an empirical basis for the relation between coparenting and child externalizing/internalizing problems, and benefits targeted interventions towards coparenting behaviors.

Discrepant Parent-Adolescent Reports of Parenting Practices: Associations with Adolescent Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms

Discrepancies in multi-informant reports of parenting practices represent a meaningful clinical construct that can be harnessed to predict adolescent mental health outcomes and shed light on the nature of parent-adolescent relationships. To date, however, no research has sought to examine discrepancies in perceptions of parenting practices among adolescents with histories of substance use disorders, a population for whom supportive parenting is a critical protective factor during the recovery process. This study examined parent-adolescent informant discrepancies of parenting practices and their associations with externalizing and internalizing symptomology among a sample of adolescents with substance use disorder histories. Data were analyzed from 294 adolescents (M adolescent age = 16 years; 45% female, 72% white) and their parents (87% female, 83% white) from a larger longitudinal study. Parenting practices of interest were positive parenting, inconsistent discipline, and poor monitoring. Polynomial regression analyses were used to test the discrepancy hypotheses. The results generally suggested null associations between single informant reports and internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Discrepancies were noted, however, in multi-informant reports of positive parenting, such that higher levels of adolescent-reported positive parenting were associated with higher levels of internalizing symptoms at high (but not low) levels of parent-reported positive parenting. Similarly, discrepancies were noted in multi-informant reports of poor monitoring, such that lower levels of adolescent-poor monitoring were associated with higher externalizing symptoms at low levels of parent-reported poor monitoring. The findings are discussed in terms of research and clinical implications of collecting and utilizing multi-informant data among clinical samples of adolescents with unique risk profiles.

Contextualizing Children's Caregiving Responses to Interparental Conflict: Advancing Assessment of Parentification

Parentification is a parent-child dynamic in which children assume caregiving responsibilities while parents fail to support and reciprocate children's roles. There is a gap between empirical research, which typically operationalizes parentification as the occurrence of children's caregiving behaviors, and theory, which emphasizes consideration of the family context in which children engage in caregiving as well as adjustment. The present study (N=235) considered multiple operationalizations of the construct by assessing kindergarten-aged children's caregiving reactions to interparental conflict in a standardized paradigm and additionally contextualizing caregiving reactions within family context and child adjustment over time through mixture modeling approaches. Although 88% of children endorsed caregiving, contextualizing caregiving resulted in lower estimates of this phenomenon (conservatively, 30%). Moreover, contextualizing children's caregiving at the family level (i.e., within parent-child relationships) proved most informative in identifying between-family differences in within-family experiences of parentification. Despite identifying a pattern of parentification at the family level (high children's caregiving reactions in conjunction with poor parental caregiving competence and poor autonomy support), children's adjustment (externalizing, internalizing, prosocial behavior) remained in the normative range of functioning over two years, potentially suggesting child resilience to this family risk context. As such, these findings demonstrate an advancement in measuring parentification by contextualizing young children's caregiving within parent-child relationships.

Assessment of parental nurturing and associated social, economic, and political factors among children in the West Bank of the occupied Palestinian territory (WB/oPt)

Background

Parental nurturing expressed through love and affection is a broad concept that entails caring for children and their activities, encouraging them and praising their achievements. Lack of love and affection makes children more susceptible to psychological problems such as stress, anxiety and depression across their life time. This study aims to evaluate parental nurturing and associated social, economic, and political factors among Palestinian children living in the West Bank (WB).

Methods

Secondary data representative of the Palestinian children living in the WB was used to estimate parental nurturing for children aged 0–12 years as reported by their mothers. Univariate and bivariate analyses were conducted, followed by multivariate analysis for all predictors found significant in the bivariate analysis using SPSS® version 20.

Results

19.90% (231/1162) of children experienced low levels of parental nurturing. No statistically significant differences were detected by the child’s gender. Children with high levels of parental nurturing were those aged 0–6 years, children who were last in the family index, children with no disability, children exposed to low to medium levels of disciplinary methods, children from urban areas, children living in North WB, and children whose families were not subjected to political violence.

Conclusions

Overall, Palestinian mothers reported high levels of parental nurturing towards their children. However, about one-fifth of Palestinian children are at risk of experiencing low levels of parental nurturing. Efforts should be placed in addressing the health and welfare needs of these high-risk children’s groups.

Triangulation processes experienced by children in contemporary China

Most family-system research on triangulation processes has been undertaken in the West, with little known about this family dynamic in the East. The present cross-sectional study analysed 1,073 Chinese 3rd–12th-graders’ self-reported exposure to three kinds of triangulation—cross-generation coalition, scapegoating, and parentification—in relation to family and child factors and with respect to children’s school and social adjustment. Age-related analyses generally indicated that older children were less frequently exposed to all three dimensions of triangulation than younger ones. Children residing with only their parents experienced more scapegoating than those living in extended families; and boys were exposed to cross-generation coalition and scapegoating more than were girls. Higher levels of coalition and scapegoating exposure were related to poorer school adjustment and greater depression of children. Higher levels of parentification exposure, however, were associated with better school adjustment and social functioning. Findings are discussed in terms of theory and research on parent–child triangulation and cultural differences between East and West.