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Chen, L, Fosco, G. M., & Tornello, S. L. (2024). Journal of Child and Family Studies, 33, 1184-1197.
Dramatic changes occur during adolescence, elevating vulnerability to mental health problems.
This study investigated the differential effect of autonomy-supportive parenting on adolescent mental health outcomes and the moderating role of adolescent emotional reactivity. We hypothesized that autonomy-supportive parenting would be beneficial for adolescents’ mental health and that emotional reactivity would moderate this effect, such that low adolescent emotional reactivity plus high autonomy-supportive parenting would produce higher positive affect and flourishing and lower negative affect, depression, and anxiety. This study included 188 adolescents from two-caregiver families who completed surveys on autonomy-supportive parenting and emotional reactivity at baseline survey: positive affect, flourishing, negative affect, anxiety, and depression at baseline and 12-month follow-up assessments.
Results indicated that higher levels of autonomy-supportive parenting were associated with increased flourishing and decreased negative affect and anxiety 12 months later. Interaction analysis revealed that for adolescents with low emotional reactivity, higher levels of autonomy-supportive parenting were associated with increases in positive affect and flourishing and decreases in negative affect and depression. For adolescents with high emotional reactivity, higher levels of autonomy-supportive parenting were associated with decreases in positive affect and flourishing.
These findings underscore the importance of considering the role of adolescent emotional reactivity in understanding the effects of autonomy-supportive parenting on adolescent well-being, especially when personalizing parenting-focused interventions.
Highlights
- Adolescents’ emotional reactivity moderated the association between autonomy-supportive parenting and adolescent mental health outcomes.
- Autonomy-supportive parenting is beneficial for adolescents who are less emotionally reactive: it was positively associated with positive affect and flourishing and negatively associated with negative affect and depression.
- For adolescents who are high in emotional reactivity, autonomy-supportive parenting was a risk factor: it was associated with greater decreases in positive affect and flourishing.
