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Individual and Sibling Characteristics: Parental Differential Treatment and Adolescent Externalizing Behaviors.

ABSTRACT: Adolescents' reports of parental differential treatment have been linked to increased externalizing behaviors. The current study investigated whether adolescent self-esteem and sibling relationship characteristics (age-spacing and sibling relationship quality) moderated associations between parental differential treatment and later externalizing behavior. Data was gathered at two assessments from 708 sibling pairs (94% White; 51% male; same-gender pairs <4 years apart in age). Older/younger siblings were aged MAssessment1?=?13.5/12.1 and MAssessment2?=?16.2/14.7 years. We found that higher levels of maternal differential treatment predicted greater residualized gains in externalizing behavior among older siblings who were (a) the same age as their sibling or near-to and had low self-esteem or (b) three years older than their sibling and had higher self-esteem. Higher levels of paternal differential treatment predicted greater residual gains in externalizing for older siblings with wider age ranges (regardless of self-esteem), and among older siblings with high levels of self-esteem (regardless of age difference). Surprisingly, maternal differential treatment was protective in one case: for adolescents with low self-esteem who were at least three years older than their siblings, maternal differential treatment predicted reduced externalizing behaviors. Paternal differential treatment was protective for more youth than maternal differential treatment: older siblings with low self-esteem who experienced paternal differential treatment exhibited decreased externalizing behaviors across adolescence, regardless of age difference. The findings highlight the importance of self-esteem and sibling age-spacing as particularly salient contextual influences in older siblings' perceptions of maternal and paternal differential treatment, and that maternal and especially paternal differential treatment does not always serve as a risk factor for externalizing problems.

SUBMITTER: Rolan E

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6329658 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Individual and Sibling Characteristics: Parental Differential Treatment and Adolescent Externalizing Behaviors.

Rolan Emily E Marceau Kristine K

Journal of youth and adolescence 20180710 12

Adolescents' reports of parental differential treatment have been linked to increased externalizing behaviors. The current study investigated whether adolescent self-esteem and sibling relationship characteristics (age-spacing and sibling relationship quality) moderated associations between parental differential treatment and later externalizing behavior. Data was gathered at two assessments from 708 sibling pairs (94% White; 51% male; same-gender pairs <4 years apart in age). Older/younger sibl ...[more]

PMID: 29992521

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Project description:This study examined the associations between parental cigarette smoking and youth externalizing behaviors (i.e., oppositional and conduct problems) both concurrently and 1 year later, and tested whether parental smoking predicted youth externalizing over and above parent psychosocial, family, and demographic characteristics linked to smoking and externalizing behaviors. Data were drawn from the Seattle Social Development Project (SSDP) and The Intergenerational Project (TIP), a prospective longitudinal study aimed toward understanding the intergenerational transmission of substance use, mental health, and risky behaviors. The current study used multilevel modeling to examine both concurrent and lagged associations from 325 families, which included parents and youth (Aged 6-19) across seven waves of data. In concurrent analyses, both parental smoking and several family characteristics independently predicted higher levels of child externalizing behaviors, even after controlling for parent age at child birth and demographic correlates of smoking. However, parental depressive symptoms reduced the association between smoking and externalizing behaviors to nonsignificance in concurrent models. In lagged analyses, only harsh parenting, low monitoring, and low parent-child bonding predicted externalizing behaviors 1 year later; parental smoking did not predict externalizing behaviors over time. Results showed that parental smoking, mental health, parenting, and family relationships all are associated with externalizing problems and constitute potential intervention targets in the short term, though poor parenting and parent-child bonding, rather than smoking, predicted externalizing behaviors over time. The robust association between concurrent parental depressive symptoms and youth conduct problems may suggest prioritizing parental mental health (e.g., via mental health screening) for improving both parent and child well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Dataset Information

Individual and Sibling Characteristics: Parental Differential Treatment and Adolescent Externalizing Behaviors.

Publications

Individual and Sibling Characteristics: Parental Differential Treatment and Adolescent Externalizing Behaviors.

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