Associations between caregiver-adolescent emodiversity and internalizing symptoms.

Abstract

Relationships between adolescents and primary caregivers play an important role in the development of internalizing (depressive and anxious) symptoms. We examined associations among caregiver-adolescent emotions and their emodiversity (their breadth and frequency) with adolescents' and caregivers' internalizing symptoms. A total of 181 adolescents (aged 13-17 years old) and their primary caregivers participated in a 14-day daily diary study between 2022 and 2023 where they reported their emotions at the end of each day. We used actor-partner interdependence models to examine whether positive and negative emotions and their emodiversity predicted each individual's and their family member's internalizing symptoms. Primary results concentrated on the actor effects of adolescents' and caregivers' mean levels of positive and negative emotions and their own internalizing symptoms. Greater negative emotion and lower positive emotion were associated with greater internalizing symptoms, for both caregivers and adolescents. Caregivers who showed greater positive emodiversity also showed greater internalizing symptoms. In contrast, relatively few partner effects were observed. Our findings point to the need for more research on the role of interpersonal emotions in daily life as they relate to internalizing symptoms. Although our sample captured diversity in ethnicity, results may not generalize across levels of socioeconomic status, gender identity, and caregiver education.