Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Dec;52(12):1861-1872.
doi: 10.1007/s10802-024-01241-6. Epub 2024 Sep 3.

Adolescent Emotional Reactivity in Family and School Contexts: Prospective Links to Adolescent Psychopathology

Shou-Chun Chiang  1   2 , Sunhye Bai  3
Affiliations

Adolescent Emotional Reactivity in Family and School Contexts: Prospective Links to Adolescent Psychopathology

Shou-Chun Chiang et al. Res Child Adolesc Psychopathol. 2024 Dec.

Abstract

Emotional reactivity has been linked to adolescent psychopathology and mental health problems. However, limited research has investigated the distinct associations between emotional reactivity in multiple interpersonal contexts and the development of adolescent psychopathology. The current study examined emotional reactivity to interparental conflict, parent-adolescent conflict, and school problems as predictors of adolescent internalizing problems, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms six months later. The sample included 139 adolescents (54% girls; Mage = 13.30, SDage = 0.73) and their parents who completed 10-day daily reports and 6-month follow-up assessments in Taiwan. Results showed that negative emotional reactivity to interparental conflict was associated with increased internalizing problems, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms, after controlling for emotional reactivity to parent-adolescent conflict and school problems, outcomes at baseline, mean negative emotions, and sex. Furthermore, the associations between both positive and negative emotional reactivity to interparental conflict and adolescent anxiety symptoms was stronger for girls than boys. Findings suggested that heightened emotional reactivity to interparental conflict is a risk factor for predicting adolescent psychopathology, especially for girls' anxiety symptoms. Results highlight the importance of emotional reactivity across multiple interpersonal contexts in adolescence.

Keywords: Adolescent; Emotional Reactivity; Interparental Conflict; School Problems.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Compliance with Ethical Standards. Funding: Data collection was supported by the Taiwan Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST 110-2410-H-004 -109 -). MOST had no role in the study design, collection, analysis, or interpretation of the data, writing the manuscript, or the decision to submit the paper for publication. Shou-Chun Chiang was supported by the Prevention and Methodology Training Program (T32 DA017629; MPIs: J. Maggs & S. Lanza) with funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute on Drug Abuse or the National Institutes of Health. Conflict of interest: The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article. Ethics Approval: The study was approved and followed by the Institutional Review Board of the National Chengchi University (NCCU-REC-202105-I038). The study is in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Consent to Participate: Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Allgaier, A. K., Pietsch, K., Frühe, B., Sigl-Glöckner, J., & Schulte‐Körne, G. (2012). Screening for depression in adolescents: Validity of the patient health questionnaire in pediatric care. Depression and Anxiety, 29(10), 906–913. - PubMed - DOI
    1. Arnett, J. J. (2008). The neglected 95%: Why American psychology needs to become less American. American Psychologist, 63(7), 602–614. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.63.7.602 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Auerbach, R. P., Mortier, P., Bruffaerts, R., Alonso, J., Benjet, C., Cuijpers, P., & Kessler, R. C. (2018). WHO world mental health surveys international college student project: Prevalence and distribution of mental disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 127(7), 623. - PubMed - PMC - DOI
    1. Bai, S., & Repetti, R. L. (2018). Negative and positive emotion responses to daily school problems: Links to internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 46(3), 423–435. - PubMed - PMC - DOI
    1. Bai, S., Robles, T. F., Reynolds, B. M., & Repetti, R. L. (2020). Daily mood reactivity to stress during childhood predicts internalizing problems three years later. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 48, 1063–1075.