Stress is a hallmark of adolescence with long-term implications for adolescent health and socio-emotional, behavioral, and educational outcomes. Although parents remain sources of support for adolescents in times of stress, there is limited scientific evidence about how parents can be most effective at helping adolescents manage stress. Surprisingly, even less is known about the extent to which adolescents are receptive or open to parental involvement, which can provide critical insights about parenting effectiveness. Thus, the overarching goal of the proposed study is to investigate mother-adolescent communication about two prominent adolescent stressors ? social and academic stress ? across the middle school transition and the associations of these communication processes with adolescent adjustment over time. Utilizing data from the Transition to Middle School Project, which includes observational, physiological, and survey data collected from 100 mother- adolescent dyads, the proposed project will examine the: (1) concurrent and prospective associations between maternal socialization style (i.e., sensitivity, autonomy support, control) and adolescent receptivity (i.e., behavioral responsiveness, behavioral and physiological engagement), and (2) adolescent receptivity as a moderator of the prospective association between maternal coaching (e.g., engaged, problem-focused suggestions) and adolescent social and academic adjustment.
Aims will be addressed across the social and academic domains to identify potential similarities and/or differences in the patterns of associations. The short-term longitudinal design involved two waves of data, spaced approximately eight months apart (before and after the middle school transition). The sample consists of 100 mother-adolescent dyads recruited across two consecutive cohorts with a high representation of ethnic minorities. At both waves, mothers and adolescents participated in two 5-minute video-recorded conversations about a recent social and academic problem the adolescent had experienced. Adolescents? respiratory sinus arrhythmia, conceptualized as physiological engagement that facilitates receptivity, was recorded continuously during the protocol. Maternal socialization (e.g., style, coaching) and adolescent behavioral receptivity (e.g., responsiveness, engagement with mother) will be coded from video-recordings. At both waves, adolescents, mothers, and teachers completed questionnaires about adolescents? social and academic adjustment. Hypotheses will be tested using multivariate generalized linear regression in MPlus. Results from the proposed study will address a significant gap in the literature regarding adolescent receptivity to maternal socialization. Findings will also have important applied implications for adolescent social and academic development, providing new knowledge about specific maternal socialization approaches that may be most effective in promoting adolescent resilience in the face of stress.
Today?s adolescents experience alarmingly high rates of stress-related mental health problems, raising questions about how to best help adolescents cope with stress. The proposed study will identify approaches of parental socialization about stress to which adolescents are receptive and can promote adolescent resilience. Thus, the proposed study will advance knowledge and inform efforts to promote parental socialization approaches that can effectively reduce the risk of stress-related adjustment problems.
