Abstract
Discrepancies in multi-informant reports of parenting practices represent a meaningful clinical construct that can be harnessed to predict adolescent mental health outcomes and shed light on the nature of parent-adolescent relationships. To date, however, no research has sought to examine discrepancies in perceptions of parenting practices among adolescents with histories of substance use disorders, a population for whom supportive parenting is a critical protective factor during the recovery process. This study examined parent-adolescent informant discrepancies of parenting practices and their associations with externalizing and internalizing symptomology among a sample of adolescents with substance use disorder histories. Data were analyzed from 294 adolescents (M adolescent age = 16 years; 45% female, 72% white) and their parents (87% female, 83% white) from a larger longitudinal study. Parenting practices of interest were positive parenting, inconsistent discipline, and poor monitoring. Polynomial regression analyses were used to test the discrepancy hypotheses. The results generally suggested null associations between single informant reports and internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Discrepancies were noted, however, in multi-informant reports of positive parenting, such that higher levels of adolescent-reported positive parenting were associated with higher levels of internalizing symptoms at high (but not low) levels of parent-reported positive parenting. Similarly, discrepancies were noted in multi-informant reports of poor monitoring, such that lower levels of adolescent-poor monitoring were associated with higher externalizing symptoms at low levels of parent-reported poor monitoring. The findings are discussed in terms of research and clinical implications of collecting and utilizing multi-informant data among clinical samples of adolescents with unique risk profiles.
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Notes
There was a significant difference between the proportion of singleton parents vs. parents in dyads who reported a mental health history, χ2 = 34.86, p < 0.01, were white, χ2 = 18.27, p < 0.01, and Hispanic, χ2 = 28.7, p < 0.01. There was also significant difference in means of internalizing symptoms at 12 months in adolescents in the analytic sample compared to the observed sample at 12-month follow-up, t(157) = 15.22, p < 0.01, as well as baseline internalizing symptoms, t(392) = 8.85, p < 0.01. Finally, the means of adolescent internalizing symptoms at 12 months were also significantly different between the analytic adolescent sample and the observed sample, t(394) = -21.24, p < 0.01, as well as baseline levels of externalizing symptoms, t(500) = −6.64, p < 0.01.
There was one exception regarding polynomial regression model fit. The cubic model testing parent-adolescent reports of positive parenting on internalizing symptoms was a better fit (AIC = 1533.83). An ANOVA was subsequently conducted to provide an additional test of model fit, F(2, 282) = 3.44, p = 0.03. The results from the cubic model were nearly identical to that of the quadratic model, with no change in interpretation of the interaction term. For consistency and ease of interpretability, the quadratic model was retained for all analyses. The AIC for each model is reported in Tables 3–6, as well as another indicator of model fit, R2.
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Acknowledgements
Thanks to our many colleagues participating in this research including Andria Botzet, Christine Dittel, Barbara Dwyer, Tamara Fahnhorst, Emily Hennessy, Barbara Hill, Holly Karakos, Stephanie Lindsley, Mark Lipsey, Patrick McIlvaine, Katarzyna Steinka-Fry, Luis Torres, and Ken Winters.
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This manuscript conducts secondary analysis of data that were originally collected with support by the National Institute on Drug Abuse [R01DA029785]. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute on Drug Abuse or the National Institutes of Health.
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L.M.N. conceived of the study, wrote the original draft, and conducted statistical analyses; E.T.S. conceived of the study, acquired study funding, provided supervision, and reviewed and edited the manuscript. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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All procedures were in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000, and approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of Minnesota and all secondary data analysis procedures were approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of Oregon. Parental informed consent and adolescent assent was obtained from all participants included in the study.
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Nichols, L.M., Tanner-Smith, E.E. Discrepant Parent-Adolescent Reports of Parenting Practices: Associations with Adolescent Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms. J Youth Adolescence 51, 1153–1168 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-022-01601-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-022-01601-9