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. 2025 Jun 25;15(7):862.
doi: 10.3390/bs15070862.

Effects of Parent-Adolescent Relationship Quality on Youth Symptoms Amidst COVID-19

Frances M Lobo  1 , Casandra J Gomez Alvarado  2 , Giselle De Leon  3 , Valerie V Salcido  4 , Paula Sanchez-Hernandez  4 , Gabriela L Stein  1
Affiliations

Effects of Parent-Adolescent Relationship Quality on Youth Symptoms Amidst COVID-19

Frances M Lobo et al. Behav Sci (Basel). .

Abstract

Amidst the health and socioeconomic burdens COVID-19 placed on families, communities of color also grappled with heightened xenophobia and racism. Yet, adolescents also found silver linings in the form of spending time with family and engaging in activities promoting relaxation and leisure. The present study examined parent-adolescent relationship quality (RQ) as a moderator of the relations of Latinx youth's environment (i.e., racial-ethnic discrimination, COVID-19 stress, and COVID-19 silver linings) on their anxiety and depressive symptoms, both concurrently and six months later. Participants included 135 Latinx adolescents (Mage = 16.00, SD = 1.27; 59.3% female; 85.2% U.S.-born). Path analytic models revealed that youth discrimination experiences were positively associated with youth symptomatology, whereas COVID-19 silver linings and positive RQ were negatively associated with youth symptomatology. We also found that at mean and higher levels of negative RQ, discrimination experiences were positively associated with concurrent anxiety symptoms, suggesting that negative relationship features (e.g., conflict, pressure) exacerbated the effects of discrimination on youth anxiety. Therefore, stressors may predict youth symptomatology concurrently, but cultivating a positive parent-adolescent relationship and encouraging finding silver linings may bolster resilience in Latinx youth across time amidst adversity.

Keywords: COVID-19; anxiety; depression; parent-adolescent relationship quality.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Positive relationship quality moderating the effects of environmental factors on concurrent (a) youth anxiety and (b) depressive symptoms. N = 135. Standardized regression coefficients depicted. Solid blue lines represent significant associations, dashed blue lines indicate marginally significant associations, and light gray lines represent nonsignificant associations. T p < 0.10, * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Positive relationship quality moderating the effects of environmental factors on (a) youth anxiety and (b) youth depressive symptoms six months later. N = 135. Standardized regression coefficients depicted. Solid blue lines represent significant associations, dashed blue lines indicate marginally significant associations, and light gray lines represent nonsignificant associations. T p < 0.10, * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Negative relationship quality moderating the effects of environmental factors on concurrent (a) youth anxiety and (b) youth depressive symptoms. N = 135. Standardized regression coefficients depicted. Solid blue lines represent significant associations, dashed blue lines indicate marginally significant associations, and light gray lines represent nonsignificant associations. T p < 0.10, * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Johnson–Neyman plot describing the regions of significance for the interaction between racial-ethnic discrimination and negative parent-adolescent relationship quality in predicting youth concurrent anxiety symptoms. The bolded line represents the range of observed values for negative parent-adolescent relationship quality. The blue region represents the range of values for negative parent-adolescent relationship quality for which the slope of discrimination is significantly associated (p < 0.05) with youth symptoms; the red represents the region of non-significance. When negative relationship quality is greater than −0.12, racial-ethnic discrimination is positively associated with concurrent youth anxiety symptoms.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Negative relationship quality moderating the effects of environmental factors on (a) youth anxiety and (b) depressive symptoms six months later. N = 135. Standardized regression coefficients depicted. Solid blue lines represent significant associations, dashed blue lines indicate marginally significant associations, and light gray lines represent nonsignificant associations. T p < 0.10, * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.
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