Mother-adolescent Dyads Research Articles

Discrepancies between mother and adolescent perceptions of diabetes-related decision-making autonomy and their relationship to diabetes-related conflict and adherence to treatment.

To document the relationship between discrepancies in mother and adolescent perceptions of diabetes-related decision-making autonomy, diabetes-related conflict, and regimen adherence. The sample was composed of 82 mother-adolescent dyads. Measures included adolescent and mother reports of diabetes-related decision-making autonomy, diabetes-related conflict, and regimen adherence. Nurses' reports of adherence and number of glucose tests performed each day were also obtained. Discrepancies between mother and adolescent perceptions of decision-making autonomy were related to greater maternal report of diabetes-related conflict. In particular, when adolescents reported that they were more in charge of decisions than reported by their mothers, mothers reported more conflict. Discrepancies between mother and adolescent perceptions of decision-making autonomy were not related to regimen adherence. The findings suggest that discrepancies between mother and adolescent perceptions of diabetes-related decision-making autonomy may be a potentially important area for intervention.

No sex or safe sex? Mothers' and adolescents' discussions about sexuality and AIDS/HIV.

The authors examined in this study whether mothers and adolescents discussed abstinence and safer sex, and how these discussions relate to demographic characteristics. Fifty mother-adolescent dyads (25 girls and 25 boys, aged 11-15) participated in videotaped conversations about two topics: (1) dating and sexuality, and (2) AIDS/HIV. These conversations were coded for specific topics. Both discussions of abstinence and safer sex occurred relatively infrequently during both conversations, although they were more common during AIDS than sexuality conversations and more for mothers than adolescents. The two topics were related--dyads who discussed one were more likely to discuss the other. Adolescents who discussed safer sex with their mothers tended to be older, less religious and have more educated mothers than those who did not. Using observational rather than self-report measures, this study revealed that the extent to which mothers and adolescents discuss abstinence and safer sex can depend on individual (age, gender, socioeconomic status and religious involvement) and contextual (conversational topic) factors.

Interparental discord and adolescent adjustment trajectories: the potentiating and protective role of intrapersonal attributes.

This prospective study of 360 adolescent-mother dyads examined whether associations between marital discord and trajectories of adolescent depressive symptoms and delinquency varied as a function of three intrapersonal attributes: temperament, childhood behavior problems, and perceived family support. Difficult temperament (i.e., dysrhythmicity, poor task orientation) potentiated the effects of marital discord on adolescent trajectories of adjustment, whereas heightened perceptions of family support protected adolescents from the adverse effects of marital discord. Adolescents with behavior problem histories were initially less vulnerable to marital discord; however, the high levels of depressive symptoms exhibited by adolescents with childhood behavior problems persisted over time only when they were exposed to elevated marital discord. The effects of the moderators differed in terms of duration and course.

Autonomy and adolescent social functioning: the moderating effect of risk.

This study examined the moderating effect of risk on the relation between autonomy processes and family and adolescent functioning. The present sample comprised 131 adolescents from either a low-risk or high-risk social context, their mothers, and their peers. Observational ratings of autonomy processes within the mother-adolescent dyad were obtained, along with adolescent reports of the quality of the mother-adolescent relationship, and both adolescent and peer reports of the adolescent's functioning. Consistent with past research, in low-risk families, behavior undermining autonomy was negatively related to relationship quality, and adolescents' expressions of autonomy were linked with positive indices of social functioning. In high-risk families, however, undermining of autonomy was positively linked with mother-adolescent relationship quality, and adolescents' expressions of autonomy were linked with negative indices of social functioning. Results are interpreted as demonstrating the ways in which the developmental task of attaining autonomy in adolescence is systematically altered depending on the level of risk and challenge in the adolescent's social context.

Autonomy and relatedness in family interactions with depressed adolescents.

This study investigated family interaction patterns associated with adolescent depression. Twenty adolescent-mother dyads with clinically depressed adolescents participated in the study. Twenty dyads with externalizing youths and 20 nonclinic dyads were included as controls. Dimensions of autonomy and relatedness were rated during a videotaped mother-adolescent problem-solving task. Adolescent perceptions of parent attachment were also evaluated. Results indicated that depressed adolescents and their mothers did not differ in their behavior compared with nonclinic adolescents. Dyads with externalizing adolescents showed the highest impairment in autonomy and relatedness. Depressed adolescents perceived the quality of their relationships with their parents to be impaired relative to nonclinic dyads, as did externalizing adolescents.

How Latino American and European American adolescents discuss conflicts, sexuality, and AIDS with their mothers.

The authors examined how the structure of mother-adolescent conversations differs by ethnic group, age, and dyadic and individual factors. Mother-adolescent dyads of European or Latino descent participated in conversations and reported on their relationship and AIDS knowledge. Latina American mothers dominated conversations more than European American mothers, independent of socioeconomic status. Mothers dominated conversations about sexuality and AIDS more than conversations about conflicts. Mothers of older adolescents reacted more negatively, and older adolescents reported less satisfaction, less openness, and more sexual discussions with persons other than their mothers. Latino American adolescents whose mothers dominated conversations more reported fewer sexual discussions. Latina American mothers who dominated conversations more reported more openness and satisfaction. When mothers dominated conversations more, adolescents had lower AIDS knowledge.

The Interplay between Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Marital Distress in the Prediction of Adolescent Adjustment

We examine the nature and directionality of paths among maternal depressive symptoms, marital distress, and adolescent depressive and externalizing symptoms in 506 adolescent-mother dyads. Structural equation models, used with data from three measurements, were conducted to examine the specificity of marital distress and maternal depressive symptoms as potential mediators of one another in the prediction of adolescent adjustment. Findings from static and dynamic, autoregressive models supported pathways whereby marital distress mediated effects of maternal depressive symptoms on adolescent externalizing symptoms and maternal depressive symptomatology mediated effects of marital distress on adolescent depressive symptoms. Key Words: adolescent adjustment, family discord, interparental distress, maternal depression. Children and adolescents who are exposed to high levels of maternal depressive symptoms exhibit increased risk for a wide range of psychological problems (e.g., Downey & Coyne, 1990). Family socialization models have stressed that incorporating marital distress into the study of maternal depressive symptoms may help to clarify more precisely how and why mothers' depressive symptoms increase children's vulnerability (Coyne, Downey, & Boergers, 1992; Cummings & Davies, 1994b, in press). Empirical bases for these conceptualizations are rooted in consistent reports of interrelations among marital quality, maternal depressive symptoms, and child adjustment. Specifically, maternal depressive symptomatology has been shown to covary to a moderate degree with marital distress (Beach & Nelson, 1990). Exposure to mothers' depressive symptoms and marital distress, in turn, has forecasted a similar range of child problems, encompassing both depressive symptoms and externalizing problems in the form of aggression, delinquency, and other types of misconduct (Cummings & Davies, 1994a). However, advances in the study of marital distress and maternal depression most commonly have occurred independently of one another. As a result, it is equally plausible to interchange maternal depressive symptoms and marital quality in numerous conceptual roles as mediators of one another; distal, indirect predictors; or independent predictors (e.g., Downey & Coyne, 1990; Fincham, 1998). Thus, precisely mapping the etiological pathways among maternal depressive symptoms, marital distress, and child maladjustment remains a critical, unresolved task. Downey and Coyne (1990) distilled two primary types of models for the joint influence of maternal depressive symptoms and marital distress. In the first type of model, the marital-distress-asmediator model, marital distress was hypothesized to be a mediator of the risk posed by maternal depressive symptoms to children's psychological maladjustment. Maternal depressive symptoms are conceptualized as indirectly influencing children's adjustment problems by increasing exposure to marital distress. In contrast, in the second type of model, the maternal-depression-as-mediator model, maternal depressive symptomatology was depicted as a mediator of marital distress. Under these conditions, mothers' marital distress leads to children's adjustment problems primarily by increasing their exposure to maternal depressive symptoms. Downey and Coyne hypothesize that the efficacy of these two models varies systematically across specific forms of children's psychological maladjustment. Higher levels of externalizing problems exhibited by children of depressed mothers were posited as developing out of their exposure to concurrent marital distress. By contrast, the greater vulnerability of children in maritally distressed homes to experiencing depressive symptoms was thought to result, in part, from exposure to concurrent depressive symptoms. Thus, marital distress is conceptualized as mediating the influence of maternal depressive symptoms only in the prediction of child externalizing symptoms (marital distress as mediator), whereas maternal depressive symptoms are proffered to be proximate mediators of the effects of marital distress on child depressive symptoms (maternal depression as mediator). …

Parent Influences on Adolescent Peer Orientation and Substance Use: The Interface of Parenting Practices and Values

This study examines how experiences in the family domain may magnify or mitigate experiences in the peer domain, and how processes in both milieus may influence adolescent substance use. The data derived from 666 European American mother-adolescent dyads and 510 European American father-adolescent dyads. Consistent with individuation-connectedness theory, mothers' responsiveness lessened their adolescents' orientation to peers, which, in turn, reduced adolescent substance use. This process was moderated by maternal values regarding adolescent alcohol use; that is, the relation of maternal responsiveness to adolescent substance use depended on the extent of maternal approval or disapproval of adolescent alcohol use. Among fathers, closer monitoring was directly associated with less adolescent substance use, with stronger effects among fathers who held more disapproving values regarding adolescent alcohol use. Theoretical, methodological, and pragmatic implications are given.

"Other Teens Drink, but Not My Kid": Does Parental Awareness of Adolescent Alcohol Use Protect Adolescents from Risky Consequences?

This study included 199 White mother-adolescent dyads and 144 White father-adolescent dyads. All adolescents reported regular alcohol use, yet less than one third of parents were aware of their adole.scents' drinking. Parental awareness of adolescent alcohol use served to protect adolescents by moderating the relation of parents' responsiveness to episodes of drinking and driving. Aware parents were more likely than unaware parents to believe their adolescents' close friends drank alcohol. Aware mothers worried more about their adolescents ' risky behaviors and discussed them more frequently with their adolescents. Aware fathers held values less disapproving of adolescent alcohol use and were less apt to perceive their community as supportive. Key Words: adolescents, alcohol use. parenting. Despite public concern and media hype surrounding drug use by adolescents, studies have confirmed that American adolescents use of some illicit drugs, including cocaine, hallucinogens, and heroin, is minimal. In a 1995 national survey, only from 1% to 4% of eighth, lOth, and 12th graders reported using any of these substances in the previous 30 days. The use of other substances during the month preceding the study was more prevalent, with from 9%Sc to 21% of students reporting marijuana use and from 19% to 34% reporting cigarette use. Alcohol use was even higher, with 25% of eighth graders, 39% of lOth graders, and 51 % of 12th graders reporting that they drank in the previous month (Johnston, O'Malley, & Bachman, 1996). Public attention has been misdirected at adolescents' use of illicit drugs, even though licit drugs, such as alcohol and tobacco, cause more deaths in the United States than all other drugs combined (Ellickson, 1992) and may, in the long run, pose a greater risk to the developing adolescent and more harm to society (Kandel, Single, & Kessler,1976; Newcomb & Bentler, 1989). Clearly, the drug of choice among adolescents, even those in early adolescence, is alcohol (Kandel et al., 1976; Smart, Chibucos, & Didier, 1990). Alcohol use by adolescents jeopardizes their development. For example, alcohol use often occurs with other risky behaviors, such as delinquency, unprotected sexual activity, and dropping out of school (Hawkins, Catalano, & Miller, 1992; Levy, Lampman, Handler, Flay, & Weeks, 1993). Moreover, when use begins before age 15, adolescents increase their risk of later drug dependency by 6-10 times (Robins & Przybeck, 1987). Alcohol use also has been implicated in accidental injuries and death (Hawkins et al., 1992; Higgins, 1988; Irwin & Millstein, 1986). Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of disability and death among adolescents and young adults. In 1994 alcohol was involved in 29% of motor vehicle deaths of IS- to 17-year-olds and in 44% of deaths of 18- to 20-year-olds (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1995a, 1995b). Because alcohol use is normative for many adolescents, youth must acquire values, motives, skills, and habits for avoiding negative consequences (Maccoby, 1992) when using alcohol. Parenting practices have proven to be critical influences on adolescents' decisions about alcohol use (Barnes & Farrell, 1992; Barnes, Farrell, & Banerjee, 1994; Kandel. 1986; Patterson, De Baryshe, & Ramsey, 1989; Simons, Conger, & Whitbeck, 1988), even more important than parents' own use of drugs (Brook, Whiteman, Gordon, & Cohen, 1986b; Kandel & Andrews, 1987). During adolescence, parents' attempts to control adolescents' behavior should not be abandoned or applied arbitrarily (Maccoby & Martin, 1983) but transformed into explanation, discussion, and negotiation. One dimension of parents' management practices-their awareness of adolescent alcohol usehas received surprisingly little empirical attention, despite its pragmatic salience to practitioners involved in alcohol prevention efforts and its consistency with theoretical explanations of parenting behavior. …

Cognitive and Behavioral Predictors of Communication in Clinic-Referred and Nonclinical Mother-Adolescent Dyads

JANET S. REED Missouri Institute of Mental Health ERIC F. DuBow Bowling Green State University* This study examines the relation between mothers' and adolescents' perceptions of one another's behavior and their actual communication behavior during a problem-solving task. Forty mother-adolescent dyads completed self-report and observational measures of conflict and negative beliefs regarding the other. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that adolescents' negative beliefs about their mothers significantly contributed unique variance in predicting adolescent negative communication, beyond the effects of maternal communication behavior. Thus, treatment of parent-adolescent conflict should address adolescents' and parents' perceptions of one another, as well as their problemsolving behavior. Key Words: adolescence, cognitions, communication, observational measures, parent-child relations. An estimated 15% to 20% of adolescents aged 12 through 17 years experience significant levels of parent-adolescent communication problems, to the point that they may feel distressed enough to seek professional help (Montemayor, 1983). Researchers associate poor parent-adolescent communication with schizophrenia, aggression, low academic achievement, problems in social competence, difficulties with individuation, suicidal behavior, depressive symptomatology, and low self-esteem (Demo, Small, & Savin-Williams, 1987; Isberg et al., 1989; Tesser, Forehand, Brody, & Long, 1989). Only a few investigators (Alexander, Barton, Waldron, & Mas, 1989; Vincent Roehling & Robin, 1986) have examined the role of perceptions or interpretations of the other's behavior in relation to parent-adolescent communication. This type of investigation, which forms the basis for our study, is important because individuals' cognitions are increasingly cited as potential determinants of behavior. From the social learning perspective, psychological functioning is determined by the environment, by the behavior of the individual, and by factors associated with the person (Robinson & Jacobson, 1987, p. 122). PARENT AND ADOLESCENT COMMUNICATION BEHAVIOR Both self-report and observational measures of parent-adolescent communication have been associated with adolescent adjustment indices such as self-esteem (Demo et al., 1987; Isberg et al., 1989), grade point average, cognitive competence, social competence, acting-out behavior, and depressive symptoms (Alexander 1973a, 1973b; Prinz, Foster, Kent, & O'Leary, 1979; Tesser et al., 1989). These associations were generally stronger among male adolescents than among female adolescents. Researchers have employed observational methods to examine the bidirectional nature of parent and adolescent communication behavior or reciprocity as defined in the family systems literature (Alexander 1973a, 1973b). Alexander found that observed negative communication between parents and their delinquent adolescents was moderately to highly correlated, as was positive communication among parents and their nondelinquent adolescents. Both self-report and observational measures of parent and adolescent communication behaviors are important assessment methods. Although selfreport methods assess the insider's perspective of events, direct observation yields the outsider's perspective (Robin, Koepke, & Nayar, 1986). Self-report methods provide information about an individual's perceptions but may be subject to significant social desirability effects (Smith & Forehand, 1986). Observational methods, on the other hand, provide information about an individual's behaviors during interactions but are based on a limited amount of interaction time. ROLE OF PARENT AND ADOLESCENT COGNITIONS Parents' and adolescents' cognitions (e.g., family belief systems, expectations, and attributions of another) may be related to the behaviors that parents and adolescents exhibit toward one another, as well as to adolescent adjustment. …

Maternal emotional distress and diminished responsiveness: the mediating role of parenting efficacy and parental perspective taking.

The present study examined whether the inverse relation between maternal emotional distress and maternal responsiveness was mediated by mothers' parenting efficacy and parental perspective taking. Questionnaire and observational data were gathered from 94 nonclinical mother-adolescent dyads. Emotional distress was measured with multiple indicators of negative affectivity, and responsiveness was measured with self-report and observational indicators of maternal acceptance and psychological autonomy promotion. Analyses indicated that maternal emotional distress was associated with lower levels of mother- and adolescent-reported responsiveness. Moreover, the association was mediated by mothers' perceptions of their parenting efficacy. Processes by which emotional distress may affect parenting efficacy, parental perspective taking and parenting were discussed.

Turn-taking in mother-adolescent conversations about sexuality and conflict

The current study examined the nature and style of mother-adolescent conversations, how these conversations differ by subject matter, and dyadic and individual differences. Thirty-one mother-adolescent dyads (17 boys, 14 girls) with a child between the ages of 11 and 14 had a nonstructured conversation, and conversations about conflict and sexuality. They also completed questionnaires on beliefs about acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Conversations were measured for turn taking, total number of words, and conversational dominance, as well as nonverbal measures of affiliation, shame, and contempt. Conversations about sexuality involved less turn taking, fewer words, and more mother dominance than nonstructured conversations. Conversations about conflicts involved less turn taking but more words than nonstructured conversations. Some gender and age differences were found. More interactive conflict conversations contained higher levels of affiliation, and lower levels of child shame than conversations with fewer turns or higher mother dominance. In addition, children in more interactive dyads possessed a larger percentage of their mother's AIDS knowledge, and worried about AIDS a moderate amount.

Parent-Adolescent Communication and Adolescent Decision-Making*

The purpose of this study was to explore the nature of parent-adolescent communication and its role in the process of adolescent decision-making. Barnes and Olson’s (1985) Parent-Adolescent Communication Scale (PACS) and Moos and Moos’ (1976) Family Environment Scale (FES) were administered to measure the quality of communication within 76 family systems. Sources of influence in adolescent decision-making were also explored using a dyadic-system approach. Differences in generational perceptions of patterns of family communication were found. Adolescent-mother dyads who perceived their communication as “open” and “problem-free” were more likely to agree on the source of influence in decision-making than adolescent-mother dyads who perceived their communication as less open and problem-free. The complex dynamics of parent-adolescent communication suggest that mothers’ and fathers’ perceptions of and influence on family processes are distinctive and disparate.

Adolescent depression: effects of mutuality in the mother-adolescent dyad and locus of control.

A group of 213 adolescents and their mothers participated in a study of the combined relationship between gender, locus of control, and perceived mutuality in the mother/adolescent dyad and self-rated adolescent depression. High mutuality and internal locus of control were significantly related to low levels of depression for both female and male adolescents. The study findings are considered in the context of current theoretical work on female relational psychology.

Constructive Conflict Management and Coping in Homeless Children and Adolescents

In this largely exploratory study of the conflict management and coping behavior of homeless adolescents, the authors interviewed 176 families (mother-adolescent dyads) living in New York City welfare hotels. Results indicated that peer conflict was the “worst” problem of the previous month as reported by approximately 50% of these youth. Homeless adolescents demonstrated conflict management and coping patterns that differed in certain respects from adolescent patterns previously described in the literature. The implications of these differences as well as directions for future research are discussed.

Symptomatology and personality changes in mother-adolescent daughter dyads: Mothers diagnosed with or without premenstrual syndrome

Symptomatology and personality changes in mother-adolescent daughter dyads: Mothers diagnosed with or without premenstrual syndrome

The Matthew Effect in Science, II: Cumulative Advantage and the Symbolism of Intellectual Property

HE SUBJECT OF THIS ESSAY is a problem in the sociology of science that has long been of interest to me. That problem, a candid friend tells me, is somewhat obscured by the formidable title assigned to it. Yet, properly deciphered, the title is not nearly as opaque as it might at first seem. Consider first the signal emitted by the Roman numeral II in the main title. It informs us that the paper follows on an earlier one, “The Matthew Effect in Science, ” which I finally put into print a good many years ago.’ The ponderous, not to say lumpy, subtitle goes on to signal the direction of this follow-on. The first concept, cumulative advantage, applied to the domain of science, refers to the social processes through which various kinds of opportunities for scientific inquiry as well as the subsequent symbolic and material rewards for the results of that inquiry tend to accumulate for individual practitioners of science, as they do also for organizations engaged in scientific work. The concept of cumulative advantage directs our attention to the ways in which initial comparative advantages of trained capacity successive increments of 7 s

Effects of Parent-Adolescent Interaction on the Continuity of Cognitive Development from Early Childhood to Early Adolescence

The continuity of cognitive development from early childhood to early adolescence is examined in light of mother-adolescent interaction and demographic measures. The sample was comprised of fifty-four mother-adolescent dyads, from a follow-up of an early-age antipoverty intervention. Middle class and lower class control groups and an experimental group were balanced by social class, ethnicity and gender. Measures used were the Participatory Style of Interaction, (PSI), the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, the Stanford Binet, and the California Test of Basic Skills. There was a continuity of cognitive development within each social class, in the absence of intervention. Social class and ethnic differences were mitigated for the lower class treated group, but re-emerged over the decade following the intervention. For the middle class and treated lower class groups, a participatory style of mother-adolescent interaction was found to be related to cognitive development and to account for much of the power of demographic variables in the prediction of cognitive development.

Self-esteem and adjustment in adolescents from bereaved, divorced, and intact families: Family type versus family environment

Abstract This study dealt with the long-term effects of father absence as a consequence of bereavement or divorce on adolescents' self-esteem and adjustment. The relative strengths of two models were compared. The first, a family deficit model, predicted poorer outcomes for adolescents from disrupted families than for adolescents from intact families. The second, a family environment model, predicted that the quality of family interaction, rather than family type, would influence adolescents outcomes. Three closely matched groups of 18 mother-adolescent dyads (N = 54) from bereaved, divorced, and intact families were interviewed. The results did not support the family deficit model. Whereas family type accounted for less than 1% of the variance in measures of adolescent self-esteem and adjustment, family environment accounted for between 12% and 29% of the variance. It is argued that family type is too crude a concept to capture the complexity of family influence on adolescent well-being. Instead, the val...

Parenting Style and Parent-Adolescent Religious Value Consensus

Three dimensions of parenting are examined as they relate to value consensus between late adolescents and their parents. A sample of 222 college students completed a questionnaire that assessed perceptions of their parents' childrearing practices in terms of control, nurturance, and communication. The parents and students completed a series of items related to religious values or beliefs. It was found that for father-adolescent dyads, father control and nurturance interacted in relation to value consensus. A parenting style characterized as low in control and low in nurturance was associated with significantly less creedal assent and devotionalism consensus than were other styles of parenting. For mother-adolescent dyads, a three-way interaction between mother control, nurturance, and gender of adolescent was found in relation to religious relativism value consensus, and an interaction between mother control and communication was marginally related to creedal assent and devotionalism value consensus. A high control-high nurturance parenting style was associated with greater creedal assent and devotionalism value consensus than were other styles of parenting. A main effect for gender of adolescent was found in relation to devotionalism value consensus. Mothers had greater agreement with their daughters than with their sons.