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

Authors

Ann T. Skinner, Duke UniversityFollow
Jennifer Godwin, Duke UniversityFollow
Liane Peña Alampay, Ateneo de Manila UniversityFollow
Jennifer E. Lansford, Duke UniversityFollow
Dario Bacchini, University of Naples Federico IIFollow
Marc H. Bornstein, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human DevelopmentFollow
Kirby Deater-Deckard, University of Massachusetts AmherstFollow
Laura Di Giunta, University of Rome La SapienzaFollow
Kenneth A. Dodge, Duke UniversityFollow
Sevtap Gurdal, University WestFollow
Concetta Pastorelli, University of Rome La SapienzaFollow
Emma Sorbing, University WestFollow
Laurence Steinberg, Temple UniversityFollow
Sombat Tapanya, Chiang Mai UniversityFollow
Saengduean Yotanyamaneewong, Chiang Mai University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-2021

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.

Recommended Citation

Skinner, A. T., Godwin, J., Alampay, L. P., Lansford, J. E., Bacchini, D., Bornstein, M. H., Deater-Deckard, K., Di Giunta, L., Dodge, K. A., Gurdal, S., Pastorelli, C., Sorbring, E., Steinberg, L., Tapanya, S., & Yotanyamaneewong, S. (2021). 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. Developmental Psychology, 57(10), 1648–1666. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001236