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The present study investigates how parenting stress mediates the intergenerational continuity of childhood adversity in teenage mothers. Childhood adversity experiences of caregivers significantly affect their offspring's exposure to childhood adversity. However, little is known about the mechanisms linking childhood adversity across generations. The study measures how parental distress and parent-child dysfunctional interaction mediate the association between teen mothers' childhood adversity and their offspring's adversity, measuring when the offspring reached 11.5 years of age. The results revealed that parental distress, but not parent-child dysfunctional interaction, mediated the association between teen mothers' child abuse and their offspring's household dysfunction. This suggests that parental distress may be a crucial intervention target to prevent the intergenerational continuity of childhood adversity. The findings imply that efforts to prevent the intergenerational continuity of childhood adversity may be more successful if the public and professionals have a broader understanding of the associations between early adversity and parenting contexts. In conclusion, the study shed light on the potential mechanisms underlying the intergenerational continuity of childhood adversity and highlights the importance of targeting parenting stress, specifically parental distress, as an intervention strategy to prevent the perpetuation of childhood adversity across generations.

AbstractWe examined whether adolescent normative beliefs about aggression (NBA) functioned as a mechanism through which parental psychological control (PPC) predicted physical aggression in emerging adulthood via secondary data analyses with the Child Development Project longitudinal data. Fathers' psychological control (fPC) that adolescents reported at age 13 predicted NBA at age 16, which then predicted their aggression at age 18, after controlling for harsh parenting, earlier NBA, aggression, and SES at age 13 and adolescent gender. However, mothers' psychological control (mPC) that adolescents perceived at age 13 did not predict NBA at age 16. Our results suggest that fPC at age 13 uniquely predicts NBA at age 16, and that adolescents are able to distinguish fPC from mPC. Moreover, no differences in the mediational paths were found based on the gender of the adolescents, emphasizing the detrimental impacts of PPC regardless of the gender of the adolescents. Our findings suggest that adolescents may receive the message from their psychologically controlling fathers that it is okay to hurt others for one's own gain, and then the resulting belief that aggression is appropriate predicts their physical aggression in their emerging adulthood.

AbstractParental psychological control (PPC)'s association with romantic relationships and the mechanisms through which PPC impairs relationship qualities remain crucial questions to understanding PPC. To this end, we examine if insecure attachment at age 18 mediated the association between PPC perceived at age 16 and jealousy at age 22. Our results showed that PPC perceived at age 16 predicted attachment anxiety at age 18, which then predicted jealousy at age 22. Both mothers' and fathers' models show significant mediational paths, although only mothers' mediational paths remain significant when entered together with fathering in the model. The paths were significant regardless of the gender of the adolescents. The results suggest that adolescents of psychologically controlling parents may experience compromised attachment security during early emerging adulthood and carry that insecure attachment into their romantic relationships later in emerging adulthood. We discuss the implications for interventions and policy‐making.

AbstractWe examined the relationship among perceived parental psychological control (PPC), self‐concept, and empathy, from adolescence to emerging adulthood. Child Development Project longitudinal data analyses indicate that, when adolescents notice PPC at age 13, they have poor self‐concept (less competence) at age 16, and they show less empathic concern (EC) toward others at age 24. The indirect effects of self‐concept at age 16 are significant for EC, but not for perspective taking (PT). Moreover, perceived PPC at age 13 does not directly predict their EC at age 24, but it does their PT at age 24, and these results were found regardless of the gender of the parents and adolescents. Our results shed light on poor self‐concept in adolescence as a mechanism by which PPC impairs healthy emotional development from adolescence to emerging adulthood.