Studies on the relationship between parents and adolescents have shown consistently the importance of warm, supportive parenting for the healthy development of adolescents. Although theories...Show moreStudies on the relationship between parents and adolescents have shown consistently the importance of warm, supportive parenting for the healthy development of adolescents. Although theories suggest a bidirectional relationship between parental warmth and adolescent affect, the number of studies examining this bidirectionally is small. Additionally, previous studies have frequently used macro-level designs with retrospective self-report measures, while parent-adolescent processes can fluctuate at a smaller scale (i.e., days). The current study aimed to build on the small body of empirical research on the bidirectional, micro-level relationship between adolescent negative affect and parental warmth. We investigated whether perceived parental warmth on one day predicted changes in negative affect the following day, and vice versa. Our sample consisted of 80 adolescents (Mage = 15.90, 63.75% female). They completed four questionnaires a day for 14 consecutive days, including questions on perceived warmth from mothers and fathers and their affective states. Using EMA, results of multilevel analyses with a lagged effect showed that adolescents who experienced less parental warmth from both fathers and mothers experienced more negative affect the following day, while controlling for affect the previous day. Additionally, increased negative affect predicted more maternal warmth the following day. These findings suggest that the idea of bidirectionality is also applicable to day-to-day parenting processes, though support erosion appears to not take place at micro-level. These findings highlight the importance of supportive and warm parenting in family-focused prevention or reduction of negative affect in adolescents.Show less
Parental criticism and a lack of parental warmth are associated with more internalizing problems and less overall well-being in adolescents. Negative affect could be an indicator for internalizing...Show moreParental criticism and a lack of parental warmth are associated with more internalizing problems and less overall well-being in adolescents. Negative affect could be an indicator for internalizing problems, but little is known about how fluctuations of perceived parental warmth and criticism of both mothers and fathers are linked to fluctuations of adolescent negative affect in daily life. The current study aimed to examine these daily micro-level processes. In addition, the moderating role of parental empathy (i.e. perspective taking and empathic concern) was investigated, as a lack of parental empathy is related to less warm parenting and more child psychopathology. The sample of this study consisted of 80 Dutch adolescents (29 boys and 51 girls) between 12-17 years old (M = 15.9) who completed four ecological momentary assessments per day for two consecutive weeks in which they reported their affect and perceived parenting. Their parents were asked to fill in a questionnaire to rate their level of empathy. Results from the multilevel regression analyses showed that, on average, adolescents experienced less negative affect on days when they perceived their mothers and fathers to be warmer and less critical. Furthermore, adolescents perceived their mothers to be more critical and warmer than their fathers. For both mothers and fathers, more parental empathic concern strengthened the negative association between daily parental warmth and daily negative affect. These findings could help clinical practice to better tailor preventive interventions in the field of psychopathology for adolescents and families.Show less
