The Parental Relationship and Adolescent Conduct Problems in Mexican American and European American Families

Abstract

Couple and family therapists have long noted the connection between discord in the marital relationship and adolescent conduct problems. To clarify the processes involved in this relationship, we tested a path model linking marital discord and adolescent conduct problems via the parenting alliance for mothers and fathers in European American, Mexican American English-preference, and Mexican American Spanish-preference families. Results indicated that a strong parenting alliance significantly affected parenting self-efficacy. Parenting self-efficacy was negatively related to adolescent conduct problems for mothers but not for fathers. Results suggest that maternal perceptions of low parenting alliance and low maternal parenting self-efficacy are salient risk factors for adolescent conduct problems in Mexican American families. Implications of the findings for couple and family therapy are discussed.