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Comorbid parental psychopathology interactions: associations with emerging adult psychological problems

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Abstract

Research has investigated the effects of parental psychopathology in young children, but few studies have examined the role that comorbid parental psychopathology within and between parents has on emerging adults. These effects can differ depending on the gender of the emerging adult and the parent. The current study examined how maternal and paternal psychopathology is associated with emerging adult psychopathology from the emerging adults’ perspectives by gender. To increase parsimony, the study focused on depressive, anxious, and antisocial problems. Results demonstrated that parental psychopathology strongly associated with the same psychopathology in emerging adults. Women and men reported moderate depressive problems when indicating high scores for both maternal antisocial and paternal anxiety problems, whereas being high in one parental problem and low in the other resulted in higher depressive problems. The findings indicated that comorbid psychopathology within and between parents may increase psychopathology in emerging adults, but some combinations may moderate effects.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This is an unfunded study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, United States

    Camille Fowler & Lydia Stanhope

  2. Department of Psychology, Mississippi State University, P.O. Box 6161, Mississippi State, 39762, MS, United States

    Cliff McKinney

Authors
  1. Camille Fowler
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  2. Lydia Stanhope
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  3. Cliff McKinney
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Contributions

C.F. and C.M. wrote the main manuscript, and all edits were completed by L.S. L.S. prepared document for submission. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Lydia Stanhope.

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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. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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Fowler, C., Stanhope, L. & McKinney, C. Comorbid parental psychopathology interactions: associations with emerging adult psychological problems. Curr Psychol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-024-05901-0

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