Hostile Interactions in the Family: Patterns and Links to Youth Externalizing Problems

In line with family systems theory, we examined patterns of hostile interactions within families and their associations with externalizing problems among early-adolescent children. Using hostility scores based on observational data of six dyadic interactions during a triadic interaction (n = 462; i.e., child-to-mother, mother-to-child, child-to-father, father-to-child, mother-to-father, father-to-mother)—latent profile analysis supported three distinct profiles of hostility. The low/moderate hostile profile included families with the lowest levels of hostility across dyads; families in the mutual parent-child hostile profile scored higher on parent-child hostility, but lower on interparental hostility; the hostile parent profile showed higher levels of parent-to-child and interparental hostility, but lower child-to-parent hostility. Concerning links to youth outcomes, youth in the mutual parent-child hostile profile reported the highest level of externalizing problems, both concurrently and longitudinally. These results point to the importance of examining larger family patterns of hostility to fully understand the association between family hostility and youth adjustment

Parent's reactions to adolescents' problematic behaviors

Traditional socialization theories suggest that parents shape their children, and parents’ socialization strategies are decided upon largely independent of the children. These ideas, however, have received criticism. In this dissertation, I focus on how children and adolescents influence their parents’ behaviors. Specifically, I examine parents’ reactions to problematic behaviors in their adolescents. In the three studies, I presented theoretical models that offered explanations why parents react as they do to problematic behaviors in their adolescents. In these models, parents’ cognitions worked as mechanisms to explain their subsequent reactions. The overall pattern in the studies was that parents tended to shift in cognitions about their own role as parents and their adolescents’ behaviors when they were faced with problematic behaviors, which influenced their behaviors toward their adolescents. In Study I, parents became less strictly opposed to adolescent drinking when they encountered their adolescents intoxicated. This reaction was explained by a reduction in dissonance between their attitudes to adolescent drinking and their knowledge of their own adolescents’ drinking. In Study II and Study III, parents of adolescents with hyperactivity, impulsivity, and attention problems (HIA) reported that their adolescents did not respond to their attempts to correct their behaviors. This cognition made them feel powerless and, as a consequence, they increased in negative behaviors and decreased in positive parenting strategies. In these two studies, parents decreased in their thoughts of being able to deal with their adolescents’ misbehaviors. In addition, as was shown in the third study, these cognitions seem to be influenced by parents’ earlier experiences with their first-born children. In sum, the results of this dissertation suggest that adolescents influence their parents’ cognitions and behaviors. Further, the results highlight the importance of focusing on how parents’ ways of thinking influence their parenting strategies

Parent-adolescent relationships after a divorce

This study investigates if a divorce affects the attitudes and trust between parents and adolescents. Participants were 986 adolescents and their parents, taken from a Swedish longitudinal study, the “10 to 18” study. This study used 28 measures of parent-adolescent relationships, which created three areas: warmth, closeness and conflicts between parents and adolescents. The adolescents were divided into three groups, and one-way ANOVAs were made to test differences. The results showed that a divorce affects the father-adolescent relationship more than the mother-adolescent relationship. They also showed that the attitudes and the trust between parents and adolescents were affected by a divorce.Den här studien undersökte om en skilsmässa kan påverka attityderna och tilliten mellan föräldrar och ungdomar. Deltagarna bestod av 986 ungdomar och deras föräldrar, från en svensk longitudinell studie, ”10 till 18” studien. Den här studien använde 28 mått som mätte relationen mellan föräldrarna och ungdomarna, dessa skapade tre områden: värme, närhet och konflikter mellan föräldrarna och ungdomarna. Ungdomarna delades in i tre grupper och envägs ANOVA genomfördes för att testa skillnaderna. Resultaten visade att relationen mellan papporna och ungdomarna påverkades mer än relationen mellan mammorna och ungdomarna. Resultaten visade också att attityderna och tilliten mellan föräldrarna och ungdomarna påverkades av skilsmässan

The role of family experiences for adolescents’ readiness to use and participate in illegal political activity

This study used reactance theory as a starting point to explain what role a perceived undemocratic and controlling family has for adolescents’ attitudes toward illegal political activity. We also examined whether adolescents’ readiness to use illegal political means was related to actual political behavior, which has been lacking in research. Data came from a longitudinal two age-cohort sample of 720 adolescents (MC1 = 13.44; MC2 = 16.62) collected in a mid-sized city in Sweden. Results showed that adolescents who perceived their families as undemocratic and controlling increased in readiness to use illegal political means over time. In addition, older adolescents’ attitudes were associated with actual political behavior. This highlights the role a perceived family environment has on adolescents’ political identity development in today’s democratic societies

Exploring parents' experiences and reactions to adolescents' hyperactivity, impulsivity, and attention problems

Adolescents' hyperactivity, impulsivity, and attention problems (HIA) have been shown to make parents feel powerless. In this study, the authors examined whether these feelings were dependent on parents' experiences with their older children. Two models that offer different predictions of how parents make use of their earlier experiences when raising their later-born children were explored: the learning-from-experience model and the spillover model. The authors used reports from 372 parents with 1 child (M-age=11.92) and 198 parents with 2 children (M-age=11.89 and 14.35) from a small town in a European country. The results did not support a learning-from-experience process. Instead, consistent with a spillover process, parents felt particularly powerless about their younger children with HIA if they also felt powerless about their older children. This study suggests that parents' experiences of raising their older children are important for their reactions to HIA in their younger children

Over-time associations among parental self-efficacy, promotive parenting practices, and adolescents' externalizing behaviors

Parental self-efficacy (PSE) is defined as parents' beliefs about their abilities to influence their children in a way that fosters their children's positive development. Research has shown links among PSE, parenting, and children's behavior (Jones &amp; Prinz, 2005), but there are still questions concerning the associations over time. Theory predicts 3 types of processes relevant to these associations: a PSE-driven process, a parent-behavior-driven process, and a child-driven process. In this study, we tested these processes during early to middle adolescence using reports from 401 parents (286 mothers, 115 fathers) from 305 families, and their adolescents (M-age = 11.5 years), at 3 time points. Cross-lagged panel models were used to examine the associations among PSE, promotive parenting practices, and adolescents' externalizing. Results supported a PSE-driven process for mothers within early adolescence. In addition, evidence for parent-behavior-driven and child-driven processes emerged at different times within this developmental period.Funding Agency:W. T. Grant Foundation</p

Examination of Parental Self-Efficacy and Their Beliefs About the Outcomes of Their Parenting Practices

In this study, we examined parental self-efficacy (PSE) in light of Bandura’s distinction between efficacy expectations and outcome expectations, and their links to parenting practices. We used a sample of 968 parents of children aged 11 to 18 years and examined the factor structure of items measuring PSE and parents’ outcome expectations, as well as the links between these two cognitive aspects and parenting practices. The results suggested that PSE and our measure of parents’ outcome expectations constituted two distinct factors and were not part of the same overall factor. Additionally, the analyses showed that PSE might be seen as a unidimensional construct with multidimensional aspects and was more strongly linked to parenting practices than were parents’ outcome expectations. In general, this study offers a comprehensive model of two different parental cognitive mechanisms as antecedents of parenting behaviors in different developmental periods

The Outcomes of an Alcohol Prevention Program on Parents' Rule Setting and Self-efficacy : a Bidirectional Model

Most adolescents have their first encounter with alcohol in early or middle adolescence. Parents' rule setting about alcohol has been shown to be important to delay the onset and reduce the frequency of adolescents' alcohol drinking, but less is known about the potential role of parents' beliefs about their competence in and ability to influence their adolescents' drinking habits (i.e., parental self-efficacy [PSE], Bandura (Psychological Review, 84, 191-215, 1977). In this study, we examined the direction of influence between parents' rule setting and PSE as outcomes of the program "Prevention of Alcohol use in Students" (PAS), a prevention program aiming to reduce underage drinking by targeting parents and adolescents both separately and in a combined intervention. We tested two mediation processes in which the program would (a) have a direct effect on PSE, which in turn would increase parents' rule setting or (b) have a direct effect on parents' rule setting, which in turn would increase PSE. To examine these processes, we used a sample of 2562 parent-adolescent dyads (age 12 at baseline), followed annually over 3 years. The results showed that the combined intervention increased PSE via an increase in parents' rule setting. No significant effect of the intervention on rules about alcohol via PSE was found. This is the first study to test the mediation processes involving PSE and parental rule setting in an experimental context where parenting practices are being actively changed. The results suggest that giving parents concrete advice on how to deal with alcohol drinking in their adolescents and at the same time helping adolescents to develop healthy attitudes about alcohol drinking have a positive influence on parents' self-efficacy.Funding Agency:Dutch Health Care Research Organization 6220.0021</p