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Guided by the life course perspective, this study investigated the developmental antecedents of contact, closeness/warmth, and negativity in young adults' relationships with their parents. Taking the developmental systems approach, we considered interindividual differences in not only initial levels of parenting quality in early adolescence (Grade 6) but also developmental changes in parenting quality across adolescence (Grades 6-12) as predictors of young adult-parent relationship quality. Data were from a large sample of young adults (N = 1,631; M[subscript age] = 22.84; 57% female; 90% White; 25% received free/reduced-price school lunch in Grade 6) followed from the fall of Grades 6 to 12 at eight time points, plus a young adult assessment. Using multivariate latent growth curve modeling, we identified a nuanced pattern of predictors of the three relationship dimensions. Higher initial levels of and lower rates of decline in parental involvement across adolescence predicted more young adult contact with mothers and fathers. Higher initial levels of parental warmth and parental involvement, as well as lower rates of decline in parental warmth, predicted greater closeness/warmth with mothers and fathers in young adulthood. Higher initial levels of and lower rates of decline in effective discipline predicted less young adult negativity toward mothers and fathers. These results held even when accounting for important adolescent and young adult covariates (adolescent sex and race, adolescent family income and structure, adolescent aggressive behavior tendencies, young adult living arrangement). The study offers new insights into how parenting practices in adolescence contribute to parent-child relationship in young adulthood.

We examined whether participation in adolescent substance use prevention programming can enhance long-term resilience into adulthood such that individuals were better able to cope with adversities during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic, yielding benefits for the individuals, their partners/spouses, and children; 197 adults (28-30 years old) who entered the PROSPER randomized trial of substance use prevention programming as 6th graders and subsequently had become parents--and 128 of their partners--participated in two waves of long-term follow-up data collection. Respondents completed questionnaires on substance use, adjustment, parenting quality, and children's mood and behavior problems 15 years after baseline, and again via an online survey in the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results were mixed, with some indications of better adjustment of PROSPER intervention compared to control participants during the early phase of the pandemic (less increase in alcohol use and less decrease in parenting warmth) and their children (lower levels of externalizing and internalizing problems) but several null results as well (no differences in other substance use behaviors, other parenting measures, or parent depression). Adolescent substance use prevention programs can foster long-term individual and interpersonal resilience factors that allow participants--as well as their children--to adapt and cope with unforeseen periods of acute stress and adversity with less deterioration in health and well-being.

This study evaluated emerging adult effects of the PROmoting School-Community-University Partnerships to Enhance Resilience (PROSPER) universal prevention delivery system implemented in middle schools. Twenty-eight rural school districts were randomized to intervention and control conditions, with 1985 nineteen-year-old participants (90.6% White, 54.1% female) evaluated through age 25. Intent-to-treat, multi-level, point-in-time analyses of covariance and growth analyses were conducted. Outcomes were assessed with self-report measures of substance misuse (lifetime, current, frequency) and conduct problem behaviors. Analyses showed very limited point-in-time effects; there were growth pattern effects on measures of illicit drugs, non-prescribed drugs, cigarettes, and drug problems. When risk moderation was observed, it favored higher-risk participants. These emerging adult effects concerning slower growth of lifetime misuse combine with more robust adolescent stage findings to support PROSPER's public health value.

Introduction: This study examined the role of family functioning in predicting family adherence to health-protective behaviors (HPBs) aimed at reducing COVID-19 spread. Pre-COVID-19 family functioning, disruptions to family functioning (cohesion, conflict, routines), and family chaos during the COVID-19 pandemic were tested as pathways to HPB adherence. Method: We utilized a sample of N = 204 families, comprising parents who had children ([M.sub.age] = 4.17). Parents ([M.sub.age] = 27.43) completed one survey prior to COVID-19 onset in the United States, and twice during COVID-19, at a 2-week interval. Structural equation modeling was used to test three potential pathways between prepandemic family-level functioning and HPB adherence during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: Findings indicated that families with higher levels of chaos during COVID-19 demonstrated consistently lower HPB adherence across all three models. Additionally, disruptions in family cohesion from pre-COVID was associated with lower levels of parent and child HPB adherence. Family conflict was indirectly associated with HPB adherence via family chaos during COVID-19; whereas family routines were not associated with HPB adherence at all. Discussion: These findings suggest that family functioning is a meaningful predictor of HPB adherence. Family-based support may be effective in improving HPB adherence by focusing on promoting cohesion and reducing conflict and chaos for families coping with reduced community support and resources. Strategies for family-based supports are discussed. Public Significance Statement Adherence to health-protective behaviors was a critical public health strategy for reducing spread of the COVID-19 virus. Stay-at-home mandates disrupted family functioning, which in turn undermined health-protective behavior adherence. Findings suggest that support efforts to minimize disruptions to family relationships can improve health-protective behavior adherence, potentially reducing virus transmission during early stages of the pandemic. Keywords: COVID-19, health-protective behaviors, family relationships, family processes, social distancing Supplemental materials: https://doi.org/10.1037/fsh0000649.supp, Community strategies, including school, child-care, and public recreation area closures, combined with health-protective beliavior (HPB) strategies including increased personal hygiene, wearing protective face masks, and social distancing (e.g., working from [...]

Studies that distinguish parental monitoring (parent-driven behaviors) from parental knowledge often fail to find protective effects of monitoring on adolescent behavior problems. To answer whether parental monitoring is more strongly associated with adolescent behavior problems among adolescents who may need it most, this study applied group-based trajectory modeling to change in early- to mid-adolescent aggressive behavior problems and examined associations between parental monitoring with different subgroups. Three latent groups of adolescents were found: Low Aggression, Medium-Increasing Aggression, and High-Increasing Aggression. Results show that more maternal and paternal monitoring were associated with fewer adolescent aggressive behavior problems only for adolescents in the High-Increasing Group. This result suggests that parental monitoring is a protective factor against adolescent aggressive behavior problems for subgroups of adolescents who may need it most and less impactful for other adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to understand the strategies families used to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, and their effects on family, parent, child, and couple functioning and well-being. In April and May 2020, and again one month later, 277 parents from 174 families who previously participated in a trial of a family preventive intervention were invited to participate in an online survey regarding the pandemic. Parents completed measures regarding family cohesion, couple coparenting and relationship quality, parenting quality, and parent and child mental health and well-being. Parents were asked to share the coping strategies they found most effective, and responses were coded into four groups: Family Unity, Healthy Habits, Adaptability, and Child-Focused. Adaptability was associated with increases in couple relationship quality but also in child internalizing and externalizing behaviors from Month 1 to Month 2. The results suggest that the strategies parents use may have differing effects on parents and children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Recipe 4 Success preventive intervention targeted multiple factors critical to the health and well‐being of toddlers living in poverty. This randomized controlled trial, which was embedded within Early Head Start home visits for 12 weeks, included 242 racially and ethnically diverse families (51% girls; toddler mean age = 2.58 years; data collected 2016–2019). Compared to parents in usual practice home visits, parents in Recipe 4 Success displayed greater sensitive scaffolding of toddlers' learning and more responsive food parenting practices (Cohen's d =.21–.30). Toddlers in Recipe 4 Success exhibited greater self‐regulation and had healthier eating habits (Cohen's d = |.16–.35|). Results highlight the value of Recipe 4 Success in promoting parent and toddler behavior change that could have life‐long benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) pandemic has necessitated the use of health‐protective behaviors (HPB), such as social distancing, staying at home, frequent handwashing, and wearing facemasks to mitigate the transmission of disease. An investigation of interpersonal costs associated with the use of HPB can help inform strategies to promote their sustained implementation. This study examined the daily associations between the implementation of HPB and family functioning and assessed moderation by coparenting quality, economic strain, and the number of days that state‐level stay‐at‐home policies had been in effect, during the early days of the pandemic. Mothers and fathers from 155 families with children who were 9 years old, on average, completed daily reports of HPB, parental stress, and family relationship quality over eight consecutive days in April or May of 2020. Hierarchal linear models showed that HPB was associated with increased levels of parental stress and interparental conflict. Negative coparenting relations exacerbated the next‐day association between HPB and interparental conflict. HPB was also associated with increased levels of parent–child and interparental closeness, but these linkages dissipated for families who had spent more days under state‐level stay‐at‐home policies. Although crucial for public health, the implementation of HPB may have detrimental short‐term effects on daily family life. Family support and interventions are necessary to minimize the psychosocial burden of these important public health measures and increase their sustained adherence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Family Process is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Family Process is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objectives: We examine the impacts of adolescent arrest on friendship networks. In particular, we extend labeling theory by testing hypotheses for three potential mechanisms of interpersonal exclusion related to the stigma of arrest: rejection, withdrawal, and homophily. Method: We use longitudinal data on 48 peer networks from PROSPER, a study of rural youth followed through middle and high school. We test our hypotheses using stochastic actor–based models. Results: Our findings suggest that arrested youth are less likely to receive friendship ties from school peers and are also less likely to extend them. Moreover, these negative associations are attenuated by higher levels of risky behaviors among peers, suggesting that results are driven by exclusion from normative rather than nonnormative friendships. We find evidence of homophily on arrest but it appears to be driven by other selection mechanisms rather than a direct preference for similarity on arrest. Conclusions: Overall, our findings speak to how an arrest may foster social exclusion in rural schools, thereby limiting social capital for already disadvantaged youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the COVID‐19 pandemic has been highly stressful for parents and children, it is clear that strategies that promote long‐term family resilience are needed to protect families in future crises. One such strategy, the Family Foundations program, is focused on promoting supportive coparenting at the transition to parenthood. In a randomized trial, we tested the long‐term intervention effects of Family Foundations on parent, child, and family well‐being one to two months after the imposition of a national shelter‐in‐place public health intervention in 2020. We used regression models to test intervention impact on outcomes reported on by parents in a standard questionnaire format and a series of 8 days of daily reports. We also tested moderation of intervention impact by parent depression and coparenting relationship quality. Relative to control families, intervention families demonstrated significantly lower levels of individual and family problems (general parent hostility, harsh and aggressive parenting, coparenting conflict, sibling relationship conflict, and children's negative mood and behavior problems), and higher levels of positive family relationship quality (positive parenting, couple relationship quality, sibling relations, and family cohesion). For some outcomes, including coparenting conflict, harsh parenting, and child behavior problems, intervention effects were larger for more vulnerable families—that is, families with higher pre‐pandemic levels of parent depression or lower levels of coparenting relationship quality. We conclude that targeted family prevention programming is able to promote healthy parent and child functioning during unforeseen future periods of acute stress. The long‐term benefits of a universal approach to family support at the transition to parenthood indicate the need for greater investment in the dissemination of effective approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To quantify the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic and public health interventions on parent and child mental health and family relationships, we examined change in individual and family functioning in a sample of parents enrolled in a prevention trial; we examined change before the pandemic (2017–2019) when children were an average of 7 years old to the first months after the imposition of widespread public health interventions in the United States (2020) with paired t tests and HLM models. We examined moderation by parent gender, education, family income, and coparenting conflict. We found large deteriorations from before the pandemic to the first months of the pandemic in child internalizing and externalizing problems and parent depression, and a moderate decline in coparenting quality. Smaller changes were found for parent anxiety and parenting quality. Mothers and families with lower levels of income were at particular risk for deterioration in well‐being. Results indicate a need for widespread family support and intervention to prevent potential family "scarring," that is, prolonged, intertwined individual mental health and family relationship problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Family Process is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: This study evaluated two risk pathways that may account for increases in child internalizing and externalizing problems during the COVID‐19 pandemic: one pathway operating through pre‐existing family vulnerability and a second pathway operating through disruption in family functioning occurring in response to the pandemic. We assessed family disruption and family functioning with measures of key family‐level and parenting dimensions, including family cohesion, conflict and routines, and parents' harsh discipline, lax discipline and warmth. In all models, pre‐pandemic parent emotional distress, financial strain and child maladjustment were included as covariates. Methods: The sample included 204 families, comprised of parents who had children (MAge = 4.17; 45.1% girls). Parents (MAge = 27.43) completed the first survey prior to COVID‐19 onset in the United States, a second survey after COVID‐19 onset in May 2020 and a third survey two weeks later. Results: Analyses were conducted in a model‐building fashion, first computing structural equation models for each family and parenting dimension separately, then advancing significant dimensions into one integrated model for the family‐level factors and a second model for parenting quality factors. Results provided more support for the family disruption hypothesis across all tests. In the family‐level domain, decreases in family cohesion and increases in family conflict each uniquely predicted subsequent child maladjustment. In the parenting domain, increases in harsh discipline and lax discipline each uniquely predicted subsequent child maladjustment. Family routines and parental warmth were not associated with child adjustment. However, parents' emotional distress prior to the pandemic exhibited a robust association with children's internalizing problems. Conclusions: These findings indicate that efforts to support families in adapting to unique conditions of the pandemic will yield the greatest effect for child adjustment. Specifically, interventions should include efforts to help families maintain cohesion and manage conflict, and help parents minimize increases in harsh and lax discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored young children's mental health trajectories during the pandemic (May 2020 to April 2021) as well as associations with family functioning (i.e., cohesion, conflict, chaos, and routines) using data reported by 204 parents (children Mage 5.49; 45% girls, 90% White). Children's internalizing problems decreased early on with the onset of the pandemic, but then leveled off, while no change in externalizing problems was found. Family conflict and chaos were significantly associated with internalizing and externalizing problems at the within‐ and between‐family level, when examined independently. When family‐level factors were evaluated simultaneously, family conflict emerged as a robust risk factor. Intervention efforts, specifically for families experiencing increased conflict, may help support the mental health needs of children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study of fathers has gained significant traction over recent decades. However, the experience for men over the transition to parenthood remains focused on high‐socioeconomic and socially advantaged fathers. Researchers have yet to thoroughly investigate how fathers may uniquely experience this transition period with a history of childhood maltreatment, given that childhood abuse is known to impact several components of development and relationship functioning into adulthood. The current study endeavored to fill this gap by evaluating the associations between fathers' childhood experiences of physical and emotional abuse and their relationship functioning over the transition to parenthood in terms of both the couple relationship and social adjustment in relationships with others. Using data from 399 fathers who participated in a randomized control trial during pregnancy, the results from stepwise regressions indicate fathers with a history of emotional abuse experience particular declines in their external relationships (reductions in social support and increases in social stress) from prenatal (Wave 1) to postpartum (Wave 2) reports. However, no significant association emerged between fathers' history of maltreatment and their relationship functioning with their partners. These results underscore the importance of investigating the impact of different types of abuse on men in fatherhood. Moreover, we emphasize the need to study further fathers' social adjustment over the transition to parenthood beyond the couple relationship and broad social support to address the needs of men with a history of maltreatment in their new role as fathers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-term studies evaluating threat appraisals as an intervening variable linking interparental conflict (IPC) and internalizing problems are lacking, as are longitudinal studies evaluating the role of the broader family context in these models. Guided by the cognitive-contextual framework, this study followed 225 adolescents (53% females) and their families from age 11 into young adulthood (age 19.6) to evaluate the long-term implications of IPC and threat appraisals for young adult internalizing symptoms. First, a long-term mediation model revealed that increases in IPC from age 11 to 14 (but not initial levels) best accounted for adolescent threat appraisals at age 14. In turn, threat appraisals mediated the association between IPC and young adult (age 19.6) internalizing problems. Second, the family climate—defined as high levels of cohesion and organization—moderated the relation between IPC and threat appraisals. Adolescents in families that experienced declines in positive family climate and increasing IPC had the highest threat appraisals; however, families that maintained (or increased in) positive family climate were protective against increasing IPC. Interestingly, the combination of decreasing IPC and decreasing positive family climate corresponded with the lowest threat appraisals in the sample, contrary to expectations. This finding seems consistent with a family disengagement perspective which may be less threatening to adolescents but may confer risk for other problem outcomes. This study underscores the importance of IPC and threat appraisals during adolescence, and offers new insights into the role of the family climate in protecting against escalating IPC for young adult internalizing risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parents' management of their children's sibling relationships, or sibling-focused parenting, has substantial theoretical and practical importance but is rarely studied. This study's goals were to describe dimensions of sibling-focused parenting and to examine sociocultural resources and challenges as potential correlates among Latinx mothers and fathers in 262 families with two children in middle childhood. Families were recruited from 11 public elementary schools, and caregivers (248 mother figures; 118 father figures) participated in a home visit and phone interviews at the onset of the study. Sibling-focused parenting included three dimensions: positive guidance (10 items), nonintervention (four items), and authoritarian control (five items). Parents rated positive guidance as their most frequent strategy, and comparisons of mothers and fathers from the same families revealed that mothers engaged in more sibling-focused parenting overall than fathers. Regarding correlates, mothers' familism values and mothers' and fathers' family cohesion reports were associated with more positive guidance and mothers' cohesion was negatively related to nonintervention in sibling conflicts. For mothers only, parenting stress was linked to all three dimensions of sibling-focused parenting—negatively to guidance and positively to authoritarian control and nonintervention; maternal depressive symptoms were positively linked to authoritarian control. Economic hardship was not a significant correlate of any dimension. Findings suggest that sibling-focused parenting is a key domain of parenting in need of further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guided by the life course perspective, this study investigated the developmental antecedents of contact, closeness/warmth, and negativity in young adults' relationships with their parents. Taking the developmental systems approach, we considered interindividual differences in not only initial levels of parenting quality in early adolescence (Grade 6) but also developmental changes in parenting quality across adolescence (Grades 6-12) as predictors of young adult-parent relationship quality. Data were from a large sample of young adults (N = 1,631; Mage = 22.84; 57% female; 90% White; 25% received free/reduced-price school lunch in Grade 6) followed from the fall of Grades 6 to 12 at eight time points, plus a young adult assessment. Using multivariate latent growth curve modeling, we identified a nuanced pattern of predictors of the three relationship dimensions. Higher initial levels of and lower rates of decline in parental involvement across adolescence predicted more young adult contact with mothers and fathers. Higher initial levels of parental warmth and parental involvement, as well as lower rates of decline in parental warmth, predicted greater closeness/warmth with mothers and fathers in young adulthood. Higher initial levels of and lower rates of decline in effective discipline predicted less young adult negativity toward mothers and fathers. These results held even when accounting for important adolescent and young adult covariates (adolescent sex and race, adolescent family income and structure, adolescent aggressive behavior tendencies, young adult living arrangement). The study offers new insights into how parenting practices in adolescence contribute to parent-child relationship in young adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]