Reciprocal influences among marital relationship, Parent–adolescent relationship, and youth depressive symptoms

Abstract

Drawing on the family systems framework, this study investigated the reciprocal prospective associations between marital relationship quality, parent-adolescent closeness and conflict, and adolescent depressive symptoms among families in Taiwan. Background: The family systems theory posits reciprocity between family subsystems. However, the direction of influences between marital relationship quality, parentadolescent relationship quality and adolescent well-being may be more unidirectional in Chinese societies due to hierarchical family values. Method: Data were from a longitudinal survey of 2292 parent-youth dyads in the Taiwan Youth Project. Crosslagged path models were used to test the bidirectional associations between marital relationship quality, parentadolescent closeness and conflict, and adolescent depressive symptoms from ages 12 to 18. Results: Our primary hypothesis that marital relationship quality predicts parent-adolescent relationship quality, which then predicts adolescent depressive symptoms in a unidirectional manner was partially substantiated. Moreover, marital relationship quality directly predicted fewer depressive symptoms from middle to late adolescence and indirectly from early to late adolescence via parentadolescent relationship quality in middle adolescence. We also found that child depressive symptoms predicted less parent-adolescent closeness, and more conflicts which Shou-Chun Chiang, Ph.D. Student The Pennsylvania State University Human Development & Family Studies

Cross-Tissue Specificity of Pediatric DNA Methylation Associated with Cumulative Family Adversity

“…Several medium-confidence CpGs from the exploratory EWAS discovery identified in PBMCs are associated with immune function or reside within or near immune-related genes. Specifically, TNF , a key immune gene encoding tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) [87], has been linked to early-life adversity, such as childhood maltreatment [2,7,8]. Furthermore, differential DNAm of TNF was shown to be associated with early protective parenting and later proinflammatory responses [10,24].…”

“…Environmental programming models, such as the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) [95] and the Predictive-Adaptive Response model [96], posited that children may develop phenotypes considered adaptive to stimuli in their early environment but contribute to later adverse health outcomes. Specifically, exposure to cumulative FA in early life may induce a chronic proinflammatory state in children, reflected by changes in the proportion of immune cells in blood, increased cytokine levels, and DNAm of key immune-related genes [2,7,97]. Indeed, several studies showed that early-life stress exposure was associated with elevated levels of both CRP and IL-6 in children [98,99].…”

Emotional Reactivity to Daily Family Conflicts: Testing the Within‐Person Sensitization

“…It may be a result of cultural differences. Taiwanese families tend to follow a hierarchical structure in which parents and adolescents are less egalitarian compared to Western families (Chiang & Bai, 2022; Chuang et al., 2021). To maintain parental authority, it is possible that parents may not express conflict with adolescent children, which, in turn, reduces adolescents' exposure to interparental conflict.…”

“…Compared to Western families, families in Chinese culture, such as Taiwan, tend to emphasize interdependence, filial piety, and relationship harmony (Chiang & Bai, 2022; Fang et al., 2022). Family relationship quality has been consistently linked to child and adolescent emotional development and well‐being in Chinese societies (Jhang, 2017; Xing et al., 2010).…”

Daily association between parent−adolescent relationship and life satisfaction: The moderating role of emotion dysregulation

“…Last, we recruited adolescent participants in Taiwan, which may limit the generalization of the results to other cultures and regions. For instance, research has shown that compared to independent and egalitarian values in Western families, Taiwanese families tend to emphasize the interdependence between family members (Chiang & Bai, 2022a). This may exacerbate the close links between family relationships and adolescent psychological well-being across adolescence.…”