Skip to main content

Does Coping Mediate the Relationship Between Adolescent-Parent Communication and Adolescent Internalizing Symptoms?

Journal of Child and Family Studies volume 28, pages 479–489 (2019)Cite this article

Abstract

The primary goal of this study was to examine the relationship between adolescent-parent communication and adolescent internalizing problems. Both gender of the adolescent and gender or the parent were considered. An additional goal was to explore whether coping skills mediated this relationship. The sample included a community sample of 980 U.S. high school students. Surveys were administered during three annual assessment waves in seven public high schools during the spring of 2007 (Time 1), 2008 (Time 2), and 2009 (Time 3). Path analysis results indicated significant direct effects only for same-sex adolescent-parent dyads. For boys, adolescent-father communication predicted depressive and anxiety symptoms. Coping did not mediate these relationships. For girls, adolescent-mother communication predicted anxiety symptoms. Further, this relationship was mediated by humor coping. Adolescent-mother communication also predicted depressive symptoms via instrumental social support for girls. These results align with social learning theory and suggest that family-based interventions with same-sex adolescent-parent dyads are warranted to prevent internalizing problems in adolescents.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

References

  • Amirkhan, J., & Auyeung, B. (2007). Coping with stress across the lifespan: Absolute vs. relative changes in strategy. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 28(4), 298–317.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barnes, H. L., & Olson, D. H. (1985). Parent- adolescent communication and the circumplex model. Child Development Child Development, 56(2), 438–447.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barnes, H. L., & Olson, D. H. (2003). Parent-adolescent communication scale. Minneapolis, Minn.: Life Innovations.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1173–1182.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Birmaher, B., Brent, D. A., Chiappetta, L., Bridge, J., Monga, S., & Baugher, M. (1999). Psychometric properties of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED): A replication study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 38(10), 1230–1236. https://doi.org/10.1097/00004583-199910000-00011.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Birmaher, B., Khetarpal, S., Brent, D., Cully, M., Balach, L., Kaufman, J., & Neer, S. M. (1997). The screen for child anxiety related emotional disorders (SCARED): Scale construction and psychometric characteristics. Journal of the American Academy of Child, 36(4), 545–553.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowen, M. (1966). The use of family theory in clinical practice. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 7(5), 345–374. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0010-440X(66)80065-2.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bussey, K., & Bandura, A. (1984). Influence of gender constancy and social power on sex-linked modeling. Journal of Personality and Social Pyschology, 47(6), 1292–1302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F., & Weintraub, J. K. (1989). Assessing coping strategies: a theoretically based approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56(2), 267–283.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chang, H. J., Wang, C. Y., Chen, H. C., & Chang, K. E. (2014). The analysis of elementary and high school students’ natural and humorous responses patterns in coping with embarrassing situations. Humor, 27(2), 325–347.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charbonneau, A. M., Mezulis, A. H., & Hyde, J. S. (2009). Stress and emotional reactivity as explanations for gender differences in adolescents depressive symptoms. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 38(8), 1050–1058.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cicognani, E. (2011). Coping strategies with minor stressors in adolescence: relationships with social support, self-efficacy, and psychological well-being. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 41(3), 559–578.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connor-Smith, J. K., Compas, B. E., Wadsworth, M. E., Thomsen, A. H., & Saltzman, H. (2000). Responses to stress in adolescence: measurement of coping and involuntary stress responses. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68(6), 976–992.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Crawford, T. N., Cohen, P., Midlarsky, E., & Brook, J. S. (2001). Internalizing symptoms in adolescents: gender differences in vulnerability to parental distress and discord. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 11(1), 95–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eschenbeck, H., Kohlmann, C.-W., & Lohaus, A. (2007). Gender differences in coping strategies in children and adolescents. Journal of Individual Differences, 28(1), 18–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eshel, N., Nelson, E. E., Blair, R. J., Pine, D. S., & Ernst, M. (2007). Neural substrates of choice selection in adults and adolescents: Development of the ventrolateral prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices. Neuropsychologia, 45(6), 1270–1279.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Flannery, K. M., Vannucci, A., & Ohannessian, C. M. (2018). Using time-varying effect modeling to examine age-varying gender differences in coping throughout adolescence and emerging adulthood. Journal of Adolescent Health, 62(3, Supplement), S27–S34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2017.09.027.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Francisco, R., Loios, S., & Pedro, M. (2016). Family functioning and adolescent psychological maladjustment: The mediating role of coping strategies. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 47(5), 759–770.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frijns, T., & Finkenauer, C. (2009). Longitudinal associations between keeping a secret and psychosocial adjustment in adolescence. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 33(2), 145–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frijns, T., Keijsers, L., Branje, S., & Meeus, W. (2010). What parents don’t know and how it may affect their children: qualifying the disclosure-adjustment link. Journal of Adolescence, 33(2), 261–270.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fuhr, M. (2002). Coping humor in early adolescence. Humor, 15, 283–304.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garcia, C. (2010). Conceptualization and measurement of coping during adolescence: a review of the literature. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 42(2), 166–185.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Garrison, C. Z., Addy, C. L., Jackson, K. L., McKeown, R. E., & Waller, J. L. (1991). The CES-D as a screen for depression and other psychiatric disorders in adolescents.Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 30(4), 636–641.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hampel, P., & Petermann, F. (2006). Perceived stress, coping, and adjustment in adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 38(4), 409–415. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2005.02.014.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hankin, B. L. (2009). Development of sex differences in depressive and co-occurring anxious symptoms during adolescence: Descriptive trajectories and potential explanations in a multiwave prospective study. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 38(4), 460–472.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Hankin, B. L., Mermelstein, R., & Roesch, L. (2007). Sex differences in adolescent depression: stress exposure and reactivity models. Child Development, 78(1), 279–295.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heller, S. R., Robinson, L. C., Henry, C. S., & Plunkett, S. W. (2006). Gender differences in adolescent perceptions of parent-adolescent openness in communication and adolescent empathy. Marriage & Family Review, 40(4), 103–122. https://doi.org/10.1300/J002v40n04_06.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herres, J. (2015). Adolescent coping profiles differentiate reports of depression and anxiety symptoms. Journal of Affective Disorders, 186, 312–319.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, S., Bijstra, J., Oostra, L., & Bosma, H. (1998). Adolescents’ perceptions of communication with parents relative to specific aspects of relationships with parents and personal development. Journal of Adolescence, 21(3), 305–322.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kenny, R., Dooley, B., & Fitzgerald, A. (2013). Interpersonal relationships and emotional distress in adolescence. Journal of Adolescence, 36(2), 351–360.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McLean, K., Pasupathi, M., & Pals, J. (2007). Selves creating stories creating selves: a process model of self-development. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 11(3), 262–278.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Muris, P., Merckelbach, H., Ollendick, T., King, N., & Bogie, N. (2002). Three traditional and three new childhood anxiety questionnaires: Their reliability and validity in a normal adolescent sample. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 40(7), 753–772.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ohannessian, C. M. (2009). Does technology use moderate the relationship between parental alcoholism and adolescent alcohol and cigarette use? Addictive Behaviors, 34(6-7), 606–609.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Ohannessian, C. M. (2012). Parental problem drinking and adolescent psychosocial adjustment: the mediating role of adolescent-parent communication. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 22(3), 498–511.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ohannessian, C. M., Lerner, R. M., Lerner, J. V., & von Eye, A. (1999). Does self-competence predict gender differences in adolescent depression and anxiety?. Journal of Adolescence, 22(3), 397–411.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Phelps, S. B., & Jarvis, P. A. (1994). Coping in adolescence: empirical evidence for a theoretically based approach to assessing coping. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 23(3), 359–371.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rudolph, K. D. (2002). Gender differences in emotional responses to interpersonal stress during adolescence. Journal of Adolescent Health, 30(4), 3–13.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Steinberg, L. (2001). We know some things: parent-adolescent relationships in retrospect and prospect. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 11(1), 1–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stolz, H. E., Barber, B. K., & Olsen, J. A. (2005). Toward disentangling fathering and mothering: an assessment of relative importance. Journal of Marriage and Family, 67(4), 1076–1092.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Telzer, E. H., & Fuligni, A. J. (2013). Positive daily family interactions eliminate gender differences in internalizing symptoms among adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 42(10), 1498–1511.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Van Dijk, M. P. A., Branje, S., Keijsers, L., Hawk, S. T., Hale, W. W., & Meeus, W. (2014). Self-concept clarity across adolescence: longitudinal associations with open communication with parents and internalizing symptoms. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 43(11), 1861–1876.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vandenberg, R. J., & Lance, C. E. (2000). A review and synthesis of the measurement invariance literature: Suggestions, practices, and recommendations for organizational research. Organizational Research Methods, 3(1), 4–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weissman, M. M., Orvaschel, H., & Padian, N. (1980). Children’s symptom and social functioning self-report scales. Comparison of mothers’ and children’s reports. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorders, 168(12), 736–740.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson, P. O., Croudace, T. J., & Goodyer, I. M. (2013). Rumination, anxiety, depressive symptoms and subsequent depression in adolescents at risk for psychopathology: A longitudinal cohort study. BMC Psychiatry, 13(1), 1–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xiao, Z., Li, X., & Stanton, B. (2011). Perceptions of parent-adolescent communication within families: It is a matter of perspective. Psychology, Health, & Medicine, 16(1), 53–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/13548506.2010.521563.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J., & Skinner, E. A. (2011). The development of coping across childhood and adolescence: an integrative review and critique of research. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 35(1), 1–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the school and students who participated in the study. We are grateful go to members of the AAP staff, especially Jessica Schulz, Kelly Cheeseman, Lisa Fong, Alyson Cavanaugh, Sara Bergamo, Ashley Malooly, and Ashley Ings.

Author Contributions

A.P. conducted the data analyses and wrote the paper. C.M.O. designed the initial dataset used in the analyses and collaborated in the writing of this paper.

Funding

This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (grant number K01-AA015059).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Family Science, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Ashley Pantaleao

  2. Center for Behavioral Health, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Hartford, CT, USA

    Christine McCauley Ohannessian

  3. Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, CT, USA

    Christine McCauley Ohannessian

Authors
  1. Ashley Pantaleao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Christine McCauley Ohannessian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ashley Pantaleao.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee at the University of Delaware and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee at the University of Delaware and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pantaleao, A., Ohannessian, C.M. Does Coping Mediate the Relationship Between Adolescent-Parent Communication and Adolescent Internalizing Symptoms?. J Child Fam Stud 28, 479–489 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-018-1289-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-018-1289-8

Keywords

  • Family communication
  • Coping
  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Adolescents