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Mindful Parenting and Parents’ Emotion Expression: Effects on Adolescent Risk Behaviors

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Abstract

Mindful parenting is associated with greater adjustment and fewer behavior problems in children and adolescents. However, the mechanisms by which mindful parenting functions to mitigate risk in adolescence are not well understood. This study investigated parent emotional expression as a potential mechanism in the relationship between low mindful parenting and adolescent risk behaviors. A sample of 157 12–14-year-old adolescents (49 % female) and their primary caregivers (99 % female) participated in an emotionally arousing conflict interaction. Parents reported on their mindful parenting practices, and parents’ emotion expressions during the conflict interaction were coded including negative emotion, positive emotion, and shared parent-youth positive emotion. Adolescent substance use and sex behaviors were assessed through self-report, interview, and physical toxicology screens. Results indicated that mindful parenting was associated with less parental negative emotion and greater shared positive emotion during the parent-adolescent conflict. Further, results revealed a significant indirect effect of mindful parenting on youth’s substance use through shared parent-adolescent positive emotion. Findings highlight the relevance of emotional functioning in the context of stressful parenting situations in mindful parenting.

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Acknowledgments

Support for this project was provided by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through grants K01-DA024759 (PI: Chaplin) and R01-DA033431 (PI: Chaplin) and by a grant from the ABMRF/Foundation for Alcohol Research (PI: Chaplin). The study sponsors did not have a role in study design; collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; the writing of the report; or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. The authors gratefully acknowledge the study sponsors, the participating families, and the research staff who contributed significantly to the work—particularly, Amysue Hansen, Alexandra Martelli, and Juliana Jacangelo.

Conflict of Interest

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Animal Rights

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

Compliance with Ethical Standards

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.

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  1. Department of Psychology, George Mason University, 4400 University Dr., MSN-3F5, Fairfax, VA, 22030, USA

    Caitlin C. Turpyn & Tara M. Chaplin

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  1. Caitlin C. Turpyn
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  2. Tara M. Chaplin
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Correspondence to Caitlin C. Turpyn.

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Turpyn, C.C., Chaplin, T.M. Mindful Parenting and Parents’ Emotion Expression: Effects on Adolescent Risk Behaviors. Mindfulness 7, 246–254 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-015-0440-5

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