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. 2024 Jan;52(1):141-154.
doi: 10.1007/s10802-023-01102-8. Epub 2023 Jul 17.

Coercive Parent-Adolescent Interactions Predict Substance use and Antisocial Behaviors Through Early Adulthood: A Dynamic Systems Perspective

Jingchen Zhang  1 , Alexandra N Hanson  2 , Timothy F Piehler  2 , Thao Ha  3
Affiliations

Coercive Parent-Adolescent Interactions Predict Substance use and Antisocial Behaviors Through Early Adulthood: A Dynamic Systems Perspective

Jingchen Zhang et al. Res Child Adolesc Psychopathol. 2024 Jan.

Abstract

This study revisits the association between coercive parent-adolescent interactions and adolescent externalizing behaviors. Specifically, we investigate the moment-to-moment coercive exchanges between parents and adolescents and how these dynamic processes map to the long-term development of substance use and antisocial behavior from middle adolescence to early adulthood. We collected videotaped observations with 794 adolescents (ages 16-17 years) and their parents during interactions and coded their real-time behavioral exchanges. State Space Grid analyses were used to measure the proportion of time in which each parent-adolescent dyad engaged in the Dyadic Coercion region as an indicator of rigidity in dyadic coercion. We also measured adolescents' substance use and antisocial behavior at ages 16-17, ages 18-19, and ages 21-22. The enduring impact of parent-adolescent coercive interaction on substance use and antisocial behavior was tested using categorical latent growth curve models and path models. Adolescents with more coercive interactions with parents showed higher rates of increase in alcohol use and higher levels of antisocial behavior through early adulthood. The findings highlight the unique contribution of using intensive data to understand coercive interactions on a micro-timescale and how these dynamics influence long-term development in externalizing behaviors. Implications for intervention studies are discussed.

Keywords: Adolescents; Antisocial behavior; Coercion; Intensive longitudinal data; Substance use.

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