Suchergebnisse

AbstractObjectiveThis study aimed to provide a novel evaluation of adolescent sensitization to interparental conflict (IPC), which is thought to be a critical factor in understanding multifinality in risk outcomes.BackgroundAdolescents' threat and self‐blame appraisals of IPC are mechanisms of risk for subsequent maladjustment. Youth who are exposed to high levels of frequent, intense, and unresolved interparental conflict are thought to become more reactive to future conflicts, a process labeled sensitization. We hypothesized that adolescents with more extensive histories of IPC would exhibit sensitization operationalized as greater intraindividual responsiveness to daily IPC. Sensitization may explain why some youth are more adversely affected by IPC than others.MethodA 21‐day daily diary study was conducted with 150 adolescents (61.3% girls) in 9th and 10th grade (Mage = 14.61) who resided in two‐caregiver families. Adolescents provided global and daily reports of IPC and threat and self‐blame appraisals.ResultsResults from multilevel models support a sensitization hypothesis for threat appraisals: Adolescents with greater histories of IPC exhibited stronger tendencies to appraise daily IPC as threatening. No support for sensitization was found for self‐blaming attributions.ConclusionFindings suggest a specific underlying process to sensitization in which accumulated exposure to IPC may lead adolescents to perceive subsequent conflicts as more threatening to them or the well‐being of the family.ImplicationsSensitization to IPC may involve the interaction of multiple timescales, including daily instances of conflict. Understanding historical exposure to IPC may guide interventionists' efforts when working with adolescents coping with IPC.

AbstractThe current study aimed to evaluate how adolescents' and parents' perceptions of daily parenting—and their discrepancies—relate to daily parent and adolescent affect. Daily parental warmth and affect were assessed using electronic diaries in 150 American adolescent–parent dyads (61.3% females, Mage = 14.6, 83.3% White; 95.3% mothers, Mage = 43.4; 89.3% White) and in 80 Dutch adolescents with 79 mothers and 72 fathers (63.8% females, Mage = 15.9, 91.3% White; Mage = 49.0, 97.4% White). Results of preregistered models indicated that individuals' affect may be more important for perceptions of parenting than discrepancies between parent–adolescent reports of parenting for affect, stressing the need to be aware of this influence of affect on parenting reports in clinical and research settings.