Adolescent Psychological Functioning and Membership in Latent Adolescent-Parent Communication Dual Trajectory Classes

A systematic review of the association between parent-child communication and adolescent mental health

Background

This systematic review addresses how adolescent-rated parent-child communication (PCC) quality is related to adolescent mental health.

Methods

We performed a systematic literature search in Medline and APA PsycInfo, including peer-reviewed quantitative studies examining associations between adolescent-rated dyadic PCC quality and general as well as specific measures of adolescent mental health. Qualitative and case studies were excluded, as were studies reporting only parent-rated communication quality or instruments assessing other constructs than dyadic PCC. We screened 5314 articles, of which 37 were included in the review. We assessed study quality with the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool.

Results

We synthesized the findings in a table and narratively, reporting the main outcomes organized according to mental health constructs. The included studies were mainly cross-sectional. The results showed that adolescent-rated PCC quality is negatively associated with mental health constructs, demonstrating small to large effects across different mental health constructs and populations. The associations were found for general mental health and specific domains, including depression, anxiety, psychosis, suicidal ideation, post-traumatic stress symptoms, and addictive internet use/gaming.

Conclusions

The findings demonstrate that PCC is a relevant variable to consider in assessing adolescent mental health and preventive efforts. Limitations include the exclusive focus on adolescent-reported PCC questionnaires since parent- and observer-rated instruments may lead to different results. Also, PCC is related to other constructs, such as dyadic relationships, that were not included in this review. We conclude that PCC is a relevant variable to consider in mental health research. Our findings suggest that PCC may be considered in mental health practice, both in terms of assessing its quality and potentially by tailoring interventions to enhance PCC. These may represent a mean to promote adolescent mental health.

A Systematic Review of Parent-Child Communication Measures: Instruments and Their Psychometric Properties

Parent-child communication represents an important variable in clinical child and family psychology due to its association with a variety of psychosocial outcomes. To give an overview of instruments designed to measure the quality of parent-child communication from the child's (8-21 years) perspective and to assess the psychometric quality of these instruments, we performed a systematic literature search in Medline and PsycInfo (last: February 25, 2022). Peer-reviewed journal articles published in English with a child-rated instrument measuring the quality of parent-child communication were included. Initial screening for eligibility and inclusion, subsequent data extraction, and quality assessment were conducted by couples of review team members. Based on the screening of 5115 articles, 106 studies reported in 126 papers were included. We identified 12 parent-child communication instruments across the studies. The Parent-Adolescent Communication Scale (PACS) was used in 75% of the studies. On average, the evidence for psychometric quality of the instruments was low. Few instruments were used in clinical and at-risk samples. Several instruments are available to rate parent-child communication from the child's perspective. However, their psychometric evidence is limited and the theoretical foundation is largely undocumented. This review has limitations with regard to selection criteria and language bias.Registration PROSPERO: CRD42021255264.