Parents might contribute to their children’s anxiety through intrusive parenting practices that undermine autonomy, competence, and independence, making adolescents less confident in coping with stress and uncertainty.
Conversely, autonomy-supportive parenting can help mitigate anxiety by fostering resilience and adaptive coping skills in adolescents.
Šutić, L., Yıldız, E., Yavuz Şala, F. C., Duzen, A., Keijsers, L., & Boele, S. Parenting and adolescent anxiety within families: A biweekly longitudinal study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.14161
Key Points
- Higher parental intrusiveness and lower autonomy support correlate with increased generalized anxiety symptoms among adolescents at both family and individual levels.
- Within individual families, periods of reduced parental autonomy support and increased intrusiveness coincide with heightened anxiety symptoms.
- Adolescent anxiety symptoms significantly influence subsequent parenting behaviors, leading to increased parental intrusiveness and decreased autonomy support, but the reverse effect is minimal.
- The association between adolescent anxiety symptoms and subsequent parenting behaviors is more pronounced on parental autonomy support compared to intrusiveness.
- Adolescent-driven effects on parenting behaviors highlight the significant impact adolescent anxiety can have on family dynamics.
Rationale
Adolescent anxiety has been increasing globally, prompting research into modifiable family-based risk and protective factors.
Parenting practices, notably autonomy support and intrusiveness, are key elements influencing adolescents’ psychological wellbeing.
Autonomy-supportive parenting fosters adolescents’ independence and coping skills, potentially reducing anxiety, while intrusive parenting may exacerbate anxiety by undermining adolescents’ self-confidence and autonomy.
However, past research predominantly employed between-family designs, limiting understanding of the nuanced dynamics within individual families over time.
Thus, this study utilized a biweekly longitudinal design to clarify the within-family temporal dynamics between parenting practices and adolescent anxiety symptoms, informing targeted interventions and providing clearer insights into these reciprocal processes.
Method
The study employed a biweekly longitudinal design, using Dynamic Structural Equation Modeling (DSEM) to analyze the reciprocal associations between parental autonomy support, intrusiveness, and adolescents’ generalized anxiety symptoms.
Procedure
- Adolescents and their parents participated in biweekly online surveys for one year.
- Participants reported their experiences regarding anxiety symptoms, parental autonomy support, and intrusiveness every two weeks, resulting in 26 measurement points.
Sample
- Included 256 Dutch adolescents aged 12–17 (mean age 14.4, 71.5% female).
- Involved 176 parents, predominantly mothers (82%), with an average age of 46.8 years.
- Participants primarily identified as Dutch nationals (97% adolescents, 90% parents), and varied in educational and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Measures
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder subscale (SCARED): Measured the severity and frequency of adolescents’ anxiety symptoms over the past two weeks.
- Intrusiveness Subscale (LEE): Evaluated the extent of parental intrusiveness based on parents’ interference and excessive involvement in adolescents’ affairs.
- Autonomy Support Scale (POPS): Assessed the degree to which parents encouraged and supported adolescents’ autonomy, allowing them choices and independence.
Statistical measures
Dynamic Structural Equation Modeling (DSEM) analyzed relationships at two levels: between-family (differences across families) and within-family (individual family fluctuations over time).
Results
- Higher parental intrusiveness and lower autonomy support at the family level were associated with higher generalized anxiety symptoms in adolescents.
- Within families, adolescents exhibited more anxiety symptoms during weeks when their parents were less autonomy supportive and more intrusive.
- Increased adolescent anxiety symptoms consistently predicted subsequent decreases in parental autonomy support and increases in intrusiveness two weeks later.
- Parental behaviors (intrusiveness and autonomy support) did not significantly predict subsequent changes in adolescents’ generalized anxiety symptoms.
- Parental autonomy support was more strongly influenced by adolescent anxiety symptoms than parental intrusiveness.
Insight
The study provides significant evidence that adolescent anxiety notably shapes parental behavior, highlighting the critical role adolescents’ mental health plays within the family environment.
This contrasts traditional views which primarily focus on parental influence on adolescents.
These insights suggest that interventions should aim to strengthen parents’ responses to adolescent anxiety, potentially improving overall family well-being.
Future research could investigate these dynamics at smaller timescales, examine paternal roles more closely, and explore implications for related emotional problems such as depression.
Implications
Practitioners should develop and implement interventions that help parents remain supportive and non-intrusive when faced with adolescent anxiety.
Educational programs should inform parents about recognizing and managing their responses to adolescent anxiety.
Policymakers could support family-based mental health initiatives, ensuring resources are available to manage adolescent mental health and its impact on family dynamics.
However, practical challenges include ensuring parental emotional resilience, resource availability, and accessibility of such interventions.
Strengths
This study had several methodological strengths, including:
- Longitudinal within-family approach providing insight into dynamic family interactions.
- Multiple informants (adolescents and parents) enhancing data reliability.
- Robust statistical methodology (DSEM) capturing complex, time-sensitive family dynamics.
- Frequent data collection allowing for detailed observation of temporal processes.
Limitations
This study also had several limitations, including:
- Predominantly maternal sample limiting generalizability to paternal behaviors.
- Relatively homogeneous Dutch demographic restricts cross-cultural applicability.
- Reliance on self-reporting could introduce biases and discrepancies.
- Insufficient exploration of individual and family variability in responses.
Socratic Questions
- How might these family dynamics differ if paternal parenting behaviors were more prominently studied?
- What might explain the stronger influence of adolescent anxiety symptoms on autonomy-supportive parenting compared to intrusive parenting?
- Could interventions focused on enhancing parental emotional resilience affect these identified patterns differently?
- How might similar dynamics play out in families from culturally diverse backgrounds?
- What could be the long-term implications for adolescents if parental reactions to anxiety remain consistently intrusive or unsupportive?
