Background Family‐based assessments of risk factors for adolescent emotional, behavioral, and substance use problems can be used to identify adolescents who are at risk and intervene before problems cause clinically significant impairment. Expanding traditional methods for assessing risk, this study evaluates whether lability, referring to the degree to which parent–adolescent relationships and parenting fluctuate from day to day, might offer additional value to assessment protocols aimed at identifying precursor risk factors. Methods This study sampled 151 adolescents and caregivers, collecting data at a baseline assessment, a 21‐day daily diary protocol, and a 12‐month follow‐up assessment. Daily diary data were used to calculate within‐family lability scores in parenting practices, parent–adolescent connectedness, and parent–adolescent conflict. Results Regression analyses evaluated whether lability predicted adolescent's depression, anxiety, antisocial behavior (ASB), drunkenness, and marijuana use at 12‐month follow‐up. Lability in parent–adolescent connectedness, accounting for baseline levels, gender, age, and initial levels of outcomes, was associated with risk for depression, anxiety, ASB, drunkenness, and marijuana use. Lability in parenting practices also was associated with risk for depression, anxiety, and drunkenness. Baseline levels moderated some of these effects. Parent–adolescent conflict lability was only associated with depression. Conclusions These findings provide evidence for substantial value added when including dynamic assessments of family lability in predicting long‐term adolescent risk outcomes and call for integration of dynamic methods into assessment practices.

Objective: Mothers are known to be reliable reporters of smoking during pregnancy, type of delivery, and birth weight when compared with medical records. Few studies have considered whether the timing of retrospective collection affects the mother's retrospective self-report. We examined the consistency of maternal retrospective recall of prenatal experiences, behaviors, and basic birth outcomes between 6 months and 8 years postpartum. Method: We examined 117 mothers (62% White, 44% living in a committed relationship, median high school education) from the Early Growth and Development Study (EGDS). EGDS is a longitudinal adoption study that includes birth mothers of children born between 2003 and 2009 who were involved in a domestic adoption. Using the modified life history calendar and a pregnancy screener, mothers reported on their prenatal health behaviors, prenatal substance use, and labor and delivery at 6 months and 8 years postpartum. Cohen κ was calculated to examine consistency, and χ2 tests were used to test differences by parity and maternal education. Results: Mothers' recall was very good for recall of the type of delivery and good for smoking during pregnancy, medicine used for labor induction, and specific medical problems (i.e., pre-eclampsia, sexually transmitted infections, and kidney infections). Recall consistency was poor for illicit drug use, specific prenatal tests performed (i.e., amniocentesis and emergency room visits), and using drugs other than an epidural during delivery. Conclusion: This study provides support for using retrospective collection of maternal self-report on some prenatal experiences up to 8 years postpartum and offers a potential way to more accurately collect self-reported prenatal experiences.

Background: Evocative gene-environment correlation (rGE) describes a process through which children's heritable characteristics influence their rearing environments. The current study examined whether heritable influences on parenting and children's behavioural outcomes operate through child negative emotionality. Method: Using data from the Early Growth and Development Study, we examined associations among adoptive parent reports of child anger and sadness at 4.5 years, adoptive parents' hostile and warm parenting at 6 years and child behavioural problems and social competence at age 7. Birth parent temperament was included to test whether child effects on parents reflect evocative gene-environment correlation (rGE). Results: Child anger at 4.5 years evoked hostile parenting from adoptive parents at 6 years, which was subsequently related to child problem behaviours at 7 years. Evocative rGE effects were identified for adoptive parents' hostile parenting. Conclusions: By employing a genetically informed design, we found that birth parent temperament was related to child negative emotionality. Adoptive parents were sensitive to child negative emotionality, and this sensitivity was linked to the child's later adjustment.

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Virtuous character development in children is correlated with parenting behavior, but the role of genetic influences in this association has not been examined. Using a longitudinal twin/sibling study (N = 720; Time 1 (T1) Mage = 12-14 years, Time 3 (T3) Mage = 25-27 years), the current report examines associations among parental negativity/positivity and offspring responsibility during adolescence, and subsequent young adult conscientiousness. Findings indicate that associations among parental negativity and offspring virtuous character during adolescence and young adulthood are due primarily to heritable influences. In contrast, the association between concurrent parental positivity and adolescent responsibility was due primarily to heritable and shared environmental influences. These findings underscore the contributions of heritable influences to the associations between parenting and virtuous character that have previously been assumed to be only environmentally influenced, emphasizing the complexity of mechanisms involved in the development of virtuous character.