Adolescents' Affective Experience of Family Behaviors: The Role of Subjective Understanding

Powers, Sally I.; Welsh, Deborah P.; Wright, Virginia

doi:10.1207/s15327795jra0404_9

Cited by 50 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 17 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Participants rated both their own and their partner’s behavior on a series of dimensions derived from previous interpersonal conflict research (see 38 for a full description of and justification of the rating method—as shown in 37, self-ratings of behavior, as opposed to observer ratings, may be especially relevant to partners’ well-being; see also 39 for an example using this rating method). Participants were shown their video-taped discussion, which was paused automatically every 15 seconds by a computer to allow them time to rate each dimension for the previous 15-second segment.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

HPA regulation and dating couples' behaviors during conflict: Gender-specific associations and cross-partner interactions

Laurent

Powers

Laws

et al. 2013

Physiology & Behavior

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The way romantic partners behave during conflict is known to relate to stress responses, including activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis; however, little attention has been paid to interactive effects of partners’ behaviors, nor to behavior outside of marital relationships. This study examined relations between unmarried partners’ negative and positive behaviors during discussion of conflict and their HPA responses, including both main effects and cross-partner interactions. Emerging adult opposite-sex couples (n=199) participated in a 15-minute conflict discussion and afterward rated their behavior on 3 dimensions: conflictual, holding back, and supportive. Seven saliva samples collected before and after the discussion were assayed for cortisol to determine HPA response. Quadratic growth models demonstrated associations between male x female partners’ behaviors and cortisol trajectories. Two negative dyadic patterns—mutual conflictual behavior (negative reciprocity); female conflictual/male holding back (demand-withdraw)—and one positive pattern—mutual supportive behavior—were identified. Whereas negative patterns related to lower cortisol and impaired post-discussion recovery for women, the positive pattern related to lower cortisol and better recovery for men. Women’s conflictual behavior only predicted problematic cortisol responses if their partner was highly conflictual or holding back; at lower levels of these partner behaviors, the opposite was true. This work demonstrates similar costs of negative reciprocity and demand-withdraw and benefits of supportive conflict dynamics in dating couples as found in marital research, but associations with HPA are gender-specific. Cross-partner interactions suggest behavior during discussion of conflict should not be categorized as helpful or harmful without considering the other partner’s behavior.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

HPA regulation and dating couples' behaviors during conflict: Gender-specific associations and cross-partner interactions

Laurent

Powers

Laws

et al. 2013

Physiology & Behavior

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The impact of parenting on adolescent adjustment is influenced by how adolescents perceive their parents (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Powers, Welsh, & Wright, 1994). Adolescent report of fathers’ behavior, for example, is strongly related to adolescent depression (Forehand & Nousiainen, 1993; Plunkett, Henry, Robinson, Behnke, & Falcon, 2007; Sheeber, Davis, Leve, Hops, & Tildesley, 2007).…”

Section: Father and Adolescent Adjustmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paternal Depressive Symptoms and Adolescent Functioning: The Moderating Effect of Gender and Father Hostility

Reeb

Conger

2010

Fathering: A Journal of Theory, Research, and Practice about Me

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study examined the longitudinal relationship between paternal depressive symptoms, paternal hostility, and adolescent functioning in a community sample of 451 families. Paternal depressive symptoms were a strong predictor of adolescent outcome, even after controlling for family demographic variables, maternal depressive symptoms, and previous adolescent symptoms. Adolescent gender and perception of paternal hostility moderated this association such that females reporting high paternal hostility were particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of paternal depressive symptoms. Maternal and paternal depressive symptoms had an additive, rather than interactive, effect on adolescent functioning. These results contribute to our knowledge of the interpersonal processes by which depression runs in families and highlight the importance of including fathers in developmental research on adolescent internalizing problems. Keywordsfathers; adolescent adjustment; depressive symptoms; gender; paternal hostility A considerable amount of research has documented the adverse effects of parental depression (for review, see Goodman & Gotlib, 2002) and critical family interactions (e.g., Sheeber, Hops, & Davis, 2001) on the social and psychological development of adolescents. These literatures have been limited by several factors. First, fathers have been dramatically underrepresented in developmental research (for review, see Phares, 1992). Second, most studies of paternal depression and offspring development have failed to control for the effects of maternal depression (see Kane & Garber, 2004). Third, little is known about gender differences in adolescent vulnerability to depressive family environments (Hammen, 1991). Finally, research on intergenerational psychopathology has predominately used clinical samples and cross-sectional design. Controlling for maternal depressive symptoms and previous adolescent symptoms, the present study used longitudinal data from a large community sample to examine adolescent gender and perceptions of father hostility as moderators of the association between paternal and adolescent functioning. Adolescent DepressionDepression is a prevalent and serious problem during adolescence. By age nineteen, 35% of adolescent females and 19% of adolescent males will experience at least one episode of clinical depression (Lewinsohn, Rohde, & Seeley, 1998), which has been associated with serious risks including substance abuse, suicide, and impaired academic achievement (Field, Diego, & Sanders, 2001 (Rao, Hammen, & Daley, 1999), data on the psychosocial characteristics of depression during the teenage years are limited (see Essau & Petermann, 1999). For example, the majority of research on adolescent depression has relied on clinical samples which are not representative of the general population of adolescents (Costello, 1993). Although diagnostic criteria and categorical approaches can be informative about depression, power to detect effects may be compromised with dichotomous data. Research has...

show abstract

“…We have argued previously that families provide a context for successful individuation by tolerating moderate levels of parent-adolescent conflict and not requiring excessive submission by the adolescent (Powers, Welsh, & Wright, 1994;Welsh, Galliher, & Powers, 1998). As they develop, adolescents typically increase assertions of personal autonomy (Smetana & Asquith, 1994), causing moderate increases in conflict with parents and decreased adolescent submission (Montemayor, 1983).…”

Section: Please Scroll Down For Articlementioning

confidence: 99%

“…We used video-recall (VR) to obtain adolescents' own understanding of their observable behaviors during an interaction (Powers et al, 1994;see Welsh & Dickerson, 2005, for a review). VR was originally developed by Levenson and Gottman (1983) and has been used effectively in marital interaction (Margolin, Hattem, John, & Yost, 1985;Waldinger & Schulz, 2006) and child/adolescent research (Darling & Clark, 2009;Gunlicks & Powers, 2008) to capture the subjective meaning that behaviors have in the context of ongoing relationships.…”

Section: Adolescents' Subjective Understanding Of Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Adolescents' Submission and Conflict Behaviors with Mothers Predicts Current and Future Internalizing Problems

Powers

Battle

Dorta

et al. 2010

Research in Human Development

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Adolescents' Affective Experience of Family Behaviors: The Role of Subjective Understanding

Cited by 50 publications

References 17 publications

HPA regulation and dating couples' behaviors during conflict: Gender-specific associations and cross-partner interactions

HPA regulation and dating couples' behaviors during conflict: Gender-specific associations and cross-partner interactions

Paternal Depressive Symptoms and Adolescent Functioning: The Moderating Effect of Gender and Father Hostility

Adolescents' Submission and Conflict Behaviors with Mothers Predicts Current and Future Internalizing Problems

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About