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Emotional Availability of Parents and Psychological Health: What Does Mediate This Relationship?

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Abstract

The relationship and interaction between a parent and child is of an ever-changing nature. In the first years of the child, parents are more supportive of the child’s development and guide the changes that take place. When adolescence ends and child becomes an adult, parent–child relationship takes on a different pattern in which the relation is more egalitarian. Despite this changing nature, research findings demonstrate that children who continue to receive emotional support from their parents, feel attached to them and care about their contributions and support. Thus, it becomes important to evaluate how certain parental properties affect psychological health within this changing relationship structure. From this point of view, this study examines the mediator role of emotion regulation skills, interpersonal relationship styles, and perceived social support on the relationship between parental emotional availability and general psychological health of individuals aged 16–25 who still live with their parents. It has been found that difficulty in emotion regulation, interpersonal relationship style, and social support has complete mediation effect on the relationship between both maternal and paternal emotional availability and psychological health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Faculty of Letters, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey

    Gözde Gökçe

  2. Ankara, Turkey

    Banu Yılmaz

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  1. Gözde Gökçe
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  2. Banu Yılmaz
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Correspondence to Banu Yılmaz.

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This article is based on a part of Master’s Thesis of Gözde Gökçe.

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Gökçe, G., Yılmaz, B. Emotional Availability of Parents and Psychological Health: What Does Mediate This Relationship?. J Adult Dev 25, 37–47 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10804-017-9273-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10804-017-9273-x

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