Parent-adolescent relationship quality as a moderator of links between COVID-19 disruption and reported changes in mothers' and young adults' adjustment in five countries

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented families around the world with extraordinary challenges related to physical and mental health, economic security, social support, and education. The current study capitalizes on a longitudinal, cross-national study of parenting, adolescent development, and young adult competence to document the association between personal disruption during the pandemic and reported changes in internalizing and externalizing behavior in young adults and their mothers since the pandemic began. It further investigates whether family functioning during adolescence 3 years earlier moderates this association. Data from 484 families in five countries (Italy, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States) reveal that higher levels of reported disruption during the pandemic are related to reported increases in internalizing and externalizing behaviors after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic for young adults (Mage = 20) and their mothers in all five countries, with the exception of one association in Thailand. Associations between disruption during the pandemic and young adults' and their mothers' reported increases in internalizing and externalizing behaviors were attenuated by higher levels of youth disclosure, more supportive parenting, and lower levels of destructive adolescent-parent conflict prior to the pandemic. This work has implications for fostering parent-child relationships characterized by warmth, acceptance, trust, open communication, and constructive conflict resolution at all times given their protective effects for family resilience during times of crisis. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Figure 1:

Moderation of Relation between Personal Disruption during the Pandemic and Mothers’ Increase in Internalizing Problems 1^st Panel: Results for Italy are shown with a region of significance outside (1.56, 16.01) indicating that the slope was not significantly different from zero at high levels of disclosure (> 1.56 SD above the M). The results were similar for Sweden, Thailand, and the U.S. Full set of figures provided in Figure S2. 2^nd Panel: Results for Italy are shown with a region of significance outside (1.32, 4.61) indicating that the slope was not significantly different from zero at high levels of supportive parenting (> 1.32 SD above the M). The results were similar for the Philippines, Thailand, and the U.S. The moderation is in the opposite direction for Sweden. Full set of figures provided in Figure S3. 3^rd Panel: Results for the Philippines are shown with a region of significance outside (−67.55, −2.07) indicating that the slopes are significant for the entire distribution of destructive mother-adolescent conflict. The results are similar for all other countries. Full set of figures provided in Figure S4.

Figure 2:

Moderation of Relation between Personal Disruption during the Pandemic and Young Adults’ Increase in Externalizing Problems 1^st Panel: Results for Italy are displayed with a region of significance outside (1.18, 6.25) indicating that the slopes were not significantly different from zero at high levels of youth disclosure (> 1.18 SD above the M). The results were similar for Sweden. 2^nd Panel: Results for US are displayed with a region of significance outside (−0.14, 1.84) indicating that the slopes were not significantly different from zero at youth disclosure values within this range. Full set of figures provided in Figure S5.

Figure 3:

Moderation of Relation between Personal Disruption during the Pandemic and Mothers’ Increase in Externalizing Problems 1^st Panel: The results for the U.S. are displayed with a region of significance outside (0.54, 29.94) indicating that the slopes were not significantly different from zero at higher levels of youth disclosure (> 0.54 SD above the M). The same pattern of moderation emerges in Thailand and Sweden. In Italy, the slopes are slightly steeper due to a higher coefficient on disruption, and the simple slopes are significantly different from zero for all possible disclosure values. Full set of figures provided in Figure S6. 2^nd Panel: The results for the Philippines are displayed with a region of significance outside (0.74, 56.44) indicating that the slopes were not significantly different from zero at higher levels of supportive parenting (> 0.74 SD above the M). The same pattern of moderation emerges in Thailand, Sweden, and the U.S. In Italy, the slopes are slightly steeper due to a higher coefficient on disruption, and the simple slopes are significantly different from zero for all possible supportive parenting values. Full set of figures provided in Figure S7.