Parent Relationship Quality and Youth Behavioral Adjustment: Exploring Parental Supportiveness as a Mediating Factor
Yiyu Chen and Mindy E. Scott
Research finds positive associations between parents’ relationship quality and child behaviors across family structures and suggests that parent relationship quality affects child behaviors in part through its positive influences on parenting and parent-child relationships. However, the literature offers limited evidence about how these factors shape child behaviors in adolescence, a gap that our study aims to explore. This study examines ways that parents’ relationship quality influences adolescent behaviors. It uses data from a federal evaluation of relationship education programming for married couples. Key findings suggest relationship quality has a direct, independent effect on youth behaviors, whereas parental supportiveness mediates this relationship in some models.
This poster was presented at the 2022 National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) Annual Conference.
