Emerging adult psychological problems and parenting style: Moderation by parent-child relationship quality

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Abstract

Current research supports a relationship between parenting style and children's mental health, yet this has been understudied in emerging adults. Moreover, even less research has included the role of parent-child relationship quality on these existing relationships, which has been demonstrated to be an important moderator. Thus, the current study examined the moderating effect of parent-child relationship quality on parenting style and emerging adult internalizing and externalizing problems. It was expected that higher parent-child relationship quality would buffer against negative effects of less adaptive parenting styles on emerging adult psychological problems. Participants included 2732 emerging adults attending college who reported on their own psychological problems, perceived parenting style, and parent-child relationship quality for both mothers and fathers. Results indicated that the lowest rates of emerging adult internalizing and externalizing problems were associated with higher parent-child relationship quality in same-sex parent-child dyads within the context of authoritative parenting. Higher quality father-daughter relationship was protective against the negative effects of permissive parenting style as evidenced by lower reported internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Results emphasize the continuing influence of parenting style and parent-child relationship quality on emerging adult mental health, particularly for daughters.

Section snippets

Parent-child relationship

In childhood, the parent-child relationship is typically the predominate relationship and schema for other relationships. Children most frequently turn to their parents for affection, reassurance, guidance, and direction (Furman & Buhrmester, 1985). As children develop, this relationship should transition as well. If the relationship fails to appropriately adjust it can limit emerging adults from proceeding through this stage during which they explore careers, romantic relationships, and

Parenting style

Prior research supports the existence of four parenting styles: authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and neglecting. Authoritative parenting, as compared to the other styles, has been associated with better outcomes, including lower levels of internalizing and externalizing problems, for children of all ages (Benson et al., 2008; Milevsky, Schlechter, Netter, & Keehn, 2007; Pinquart, 2017). It is worthwhile to note that general dysfunctional parenting is associated with increases in both

Gender differences

Historically, most parenting research as focused on mothers, though a growing field incorporates fathers. For example, Bosco, Renk, Dinger, Epstein, and Phares (2003) found that daughters reported more internalizing and externalizing problems associated with paternal psychopathology and higher maternal control, whereas sons reported increased externalizing problems associated with less paternal control, poor perceptions of their mothers, and lower emotional availability of both parents.

Current study

Given the importance of the parent-child relationship and research supporting the continued central role of parents in emerging adult children's lives, it is important to examine the influence of this relationship on emerging adults' psychological problems. Darling and Steinberg (1993) suggest in their seminal article that parenting style is the existing context in which the parenting behaviors, and thusly the parent-child relationship, exist. Therefore, to fully examine the continuing

Participants

Participants included 2732 emerging adults (70.6% female, 29.4% male) aged 18 to 25 years (M = 18.76; SD = 1.14) attending a Southern United States university. The sample predominately identified as Caucasian (73.3%), and remaining participants reported African American (21.4%), Asian (1.8%), Latino (1.3%), or Other (2.1%) ethnicities. Participants reported that the household they grew up in included two-parent household (79.9%) or single-parent household (20.1%); specifically, the family

Results

See Table 1 for descriptive statistics. As shown in Table 2, results indicate a non-significant direct effect of authoritative parenting style on emerging adults internalizing and externalizing problem. The interaction between parent-child relationship quality and authoritative parenting style was significant for both internalizing and externalizing problems when examining the mother-daughter and father-son dyads only. As shown in Fig. 1, Fig. 2, at higher levels of perceived maternal

Discussion

The current study examined the association of emerging adult children's mental health problems with perceived parenting style in conjunction with parent-child relationship quality. It was hypothesized that higher parent-child relationship quality would buffer against the negative effects (i.e., association with internalizing and externalizing problems) of dysfunctional and enhance the positive effects of functional parenting characteristics. Based on prior research, it was hypothesized that

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