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Day-to-day Consistency in Positive Parent–Child Interactions and Youth Well-Being

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Abstract

The frequency of positive parent–child interactions is associated with youth adjustment. Yet, little is known about daily parent–child interactions and how day-to-day consistency in positive parent–child interactions may be linked to youth well-being. Using a daily diary approach, this study added to this literature to investigate whether and how day-to-day consistency in positive parent–child interactions was linked to youth depressive symptoms, risky behavior, and physical health. Participants were youth whose parents were employed in the IT division of a Fortune 500 company (N = 129, youth’s mean age = 13.39, 55 % female), who participated in an 8 day daily diary study. Analyses revealed that, controlling for cross-day mean levels of positive parent–child interactions, older (but not younger) adolescents who experienced more consistency in positive interactions with parents had fewer depressive and physical health symptoms (e.g., colds, flu). The discussion focuses on the utility of daily diary methods for assessing the correlates of consistency in parenting, possible processes underlying these associations, and intervention implications.

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Acknowledgments

This research was conducted as part of the Work, Family and Health Network (www.WorkFamilyHealthNetwork.org), which is funded by a cooperative agreement through the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (Grant # U01HD051217, U01HD051218, U01HD051256, U01HD051276), National Institute on Aging (Grant # U01AG027669), Office of Behavioral and Science Sciences Research, and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Grant # U01OH008788, U01HD059773). Grants from the William T. Grant Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Administration for Children and Families have provided additional funding. Additional funding was provided by The National Institute of Drug Abuse (R03 DA038685). The contents of this publication are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of these institutes and offices. Special acknowledgment goes to Extramural Staff Science Collaborator, Rosalind Berkowitz King, Ph.D. and Lynne Casper, Ph.D. for the design of the original Workplace, Family, Health and Well-Being Network Initiative. We also wish express our gratitude to the worksites, employers, and employees who participated in this research. We thank Lauren Camuso for her assistance in the preparation of this manuscript. Full acknowledgments: http://www.kpchr.org/wfhn.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The School of Social Work, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building, 325 Pittsboro St CB#3550, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-3550, USA

    Melissa A. Lippold

  2. College of Public Health and Human Sciences, Oregon State University, 418 Waldo Hall, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA

    Kelly D. Davis

  3. Ball State University, Ball State University, 113 North Quad Building, Muncie, IN, 47306, USA

    Katie M. Lawson

  4. The Pennsylvania State University, 114 Henderson (North), University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Susan M. McHale

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  1. Melissa A. Lippold
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  4. Susan M. McHale
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Correspondence to Melissa A. Lippold.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Lippold, M.A., Davis, K.D., Lawson, K.M. et al. Day-to-day Consistency in Positive Parent–Child Interactions and Youth Well-Being. J Child Fam Stud 25, 3584–3592 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-016-0502-x

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