Predictions from Maternal Supportive Behavior to Adolescent Social Behavior

1. Predictions from Maternal Supportive Behavior to Adolescent Social Behavior L. Wrenn Thompson University of Virginia Acknowledgements: We would like to thank the National Institute of Mental Health for funding awarded to Joseph P. Allen, Principal Investigator, (Grants #R01-MH44934, and R01-MH58066) to conduct and write-up this project.

2. ABSTRACT Parental behavior may affect the adolescent not only in terms of his or her relationship with parents, but with peers as well. At this time, there is no research that investigates whether and which of parents’ specific supportive behaviors may influence positive adolescent development with peers. This study looks at specific parental activities during supportive interactions and the behaviors’ relationships with adolescent socialization. Results showed that high levels of maternal supportive behavior (in the form of adolescent autonomy and relational warmth) were related to decreasing levels of adolescent aggression and delinquency and improvements to the adolescent's conflict resolution skills over a one-year period.

3. INTRODUCTION • Adolescents who can express ideas to parents without fear of criticism or rejection feel confident in the decisions they make. • Maternal dominance and punitive parenting can be harmful when the adolescent is trying to establish a sense of autonomy. Adolescents may become involved in delinquency to establish control in some aspect of their lives and/or because they are angry and frustrated regarding their lack of autonomy. • Adolescents who are supported are more likely to have positive peer relationships in which they are competent and less conflictual (Black & McCartney, 1997). • The amount of empathy adolescents possess is directly related to maternal support (Adams et al.,1982). Alternatively, when the mother-adolescent relationship is conflicted and disagreements are not resolved, adolescents respond similarly with peers (Reese-Weber, 2000).

4. HYPOTHESES • Adolescents lacking autonomy (i.e. when the mother dominates the interaction) are likely to become more delinquent over time; even after accounting for the degree of relatedness or warmth in the interaction. • When mothers dominate support-seeking interactions, adolescents will become more socially aggressive over time; even after accounting for the warmth or relatedness in the interaction. • Adolescents experiencing high levels of warmth or relatedness with mothers will exhibit enhanced conflict resolution skills over time; adolescent autonomy (i.e., dominance) during the interaction will not contribute to the variance explained.

5. METHOD Data were collected as part of a multi-method, multi reporter longitudinal study of a socio-economically diverse sample of adolescents (N=174). Age Wave 1 M = 13.36 SD =. 66 Wave 2 M = 14.26 SD = .78 Ethnicity (self-identified, Wave 1) Caucasian 105 Minority or Mixed Ethnicity 49 Other/Unspecified 20 Income (parent reported, Wave 1) M= $40,000 - $59,9999

6. MEASURES • Supportive Behavior Task.(Allen et al.,1999) Adolescents and their mothers participated in a videotaped interaction in Wave 1. Adolescents talked about a topic from that was currently a problem with their mother for 8 minutes. Mothers were instructed to listen, engage in a conversation, and offer support and help. Coded variables were Teen Dominance and Overall Warmth of the interaction. • An abbreviated version of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) (Achenbach & Edelbrock,1981;Achenbach,1991) was used to assess close friend-reports of adolescents’ behavior in Waves 1 & 2. Only aggression and delinquency scales were used. • The Interpersonal Competence Questionnaire (ICQ) (Buhrmester et al.,1988; Buhrmester,1990) assessed close friend-reports of how well target adolescents resolved conflicts in Waves 1 and 2. Situations and behaviors included resolving disagreements to make things better and temper control.

7. RESULTS • Tables 1& 2 provide the means and standard deviations for all variables in this study and simple correlations between independent and dependent variables. • Hypothesis 1:Adolescents who were less autonomous (i.e., less dominant) during the Supportive Behavior Task with mothers were reported by their friends to become more delinquent one year later ( = -.25**)Overall Warmth with mom did not account for any additional variance (see Table 3). • Hypothesis 2: Adolescents who were less autonomous during the Supportive Behavior Task with mothers were reported by their friends to become more aggressive over time ( = -.18*)). Overall Warmth with mom did not account for any additional variance (see Table 4) • Hypothesis 3: Adolescents with high levels of warmth with their mother became better at resolving conflicts with peers one year later ( = .20*). Adolescent autonomy did not account for any additional variance (see Tables 5).

8. DISCUSSION & CONCLUSIONS • Overall, results showed that maternal support (i.e. promoting adolescent autonomy and relational warmth) were related to decreasing levels of adolescent aggression and delinquencyand improvements to the adolescent's conflict resolution skills over a one-year period. • Delinquency: Adolescents given more autonomy become less delinquent. Possibly, these are increasing adolescents’ problem solving skills by encouraging them to talk about their problems. Promoting autonomy while providing measured guidance may maximize the ability for the adolescent to avoid delinquent activities when with peers. • Aggression: When adolescents control the supportive-seeking interaction, adolescents are likely to become less aggressive with peers. Autonomous adolescents may not feel a great deal of frustration regarding control over their lives and thus decrease aggressive behaviors. • Conflict Resolution:Mothers who demonstrate warmth when helping their adolescents solve a problem may be modeling behaviorsadolescents demonstrate in peer relationships. When resolving conflicts, the adolescent may be able to take into account the feelings and needs of others, improving how they resolve conflicts with peers.

9. Limitations and Future Directions • Where this study observed interpersonal behaviors, it did not assess how adolescent dominance and overall warmth affected the adolescent’s changing view of him or herself. Future study should address how the independent variables affected how the adolescent thought about others (i.e. starting fights and destroying others’ property) as well as changes to how the adolescent felt about him or herself over time. • It is possible that maturity is a confounding variable to autonomy and overall warmth, partially accounting for the changing levels of delinquency, aggression, and conflict resolution skills. It is also possible that the adolescent requires a certain level of maturity in order for autonomy and relatedness to have an effect on the outcome variables. Future research should address these issues. • Obtaining information from additional peers not as close as the adolescent’s best friend would help achieve a more global assessment of the adolescent. Along these same lines, siblings and the adolescent’s father could also be surveyed. Ratings from siblings and other parents could assess how the adolescent behaves in different kinds of relationships.

10. Table 1. Means and Standard Deviations

11. Table 2. Intercorrelation Matrix of Variables N ranges from 138-185

12. Table 3 Hierarchical regression of demographic variables and Teen Dominance during the Supportive Behavior Task in Wave 1 predicting adolescent Delinquency during Wave 2. Predicting Teens’ Delinquent Behavior at Age 14 Note: ’s are from entry into model. N= 136 +p  .10, *p  .05, **p  .01, ***p  .001

13. Table 4 Hierarchical regression of demographic variables and Teen Dominance during the Supportive Behavior Task in Wave 1 predicting adolescent Aggression during Wave 2. Predicting Teens’ Aggressive Behavior at Age 14 Note: ’s are from entry into model. N= 138 +p  .10, *p  .05, **p  .01, ***p  .001

14. Table 5 Hierarchical regression of demographic variables and Teen Dominance during the Supportive Behavior Task in Wave 1 predicting adolescent Conflict Resolution Skills during Wave 2. Predicting Teens’ Aggressive Behavior at Age 14 Note: ’s are from entry into model. N= 138 +p  .10, *p  .05, **p  .01, ***p  .001

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