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About this paper symposium
| Panel information |
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| Panel 9. Family Context & Processes |
| Paper #1 | |
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| Maternal and paternal financial stress, marital behaviors, and parent-child conflict: A daily diary study | |
| Author information | Role |
| Jingyi Xu, University of Texas at Dallas, United States | Presenting author |
| Jackie A. Nelson, University of Texas at Dallas, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Abstract | |
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The family stress model suggests that families’ financial hardship may lead to more child maladjustment through intensifying marital problems and compromised parenting (Masarik & Conger, 2017). Empirical evidence has documented such associations through studies spanning across months or years (White et al., 2015; Zietz et al., 2022). Nonetheless, family members’ experiences and family dynamics change day-to-day. Little is known about how parents’ financial stress on a specific day (e.g., when bills are due) impacts their interactions with other family members, or how associations between financial stress, marital dynamics, and parenting quality may differ for mothers versus fathers when accounting for dyadic interdependence. In this study, we examined the daily association between maternal and paternal reported financial stress, negative marital behaviors, and parent-child destructive conflict using the family stress model as a framework for multilevel mediational pathways. Mothers and fathers of 144 U.S. 5- to 8-year-olds (M = 84.10 months; 52% female; 59% white, 20% Hispanic; 44% low-income families) answered a series of online questionnaires every evening for 7 consecutive days. Parents answered questions about their perception of daily financial stress (e.g., “I worried about our living expenses.” 1 = not at all, 4 = extremely), negative marital behaviors (e.g., “show anger or impatience to my spouse,” 1 = yes, 0 = no), and destructive qualities of a conflict interaction with their child (e.g., “When my child became upset/frustrated during the conflict, I punished him/her for getting too worked up.” 1 = false, 2 = somewhat false, 3 = somewhat true, 4 = true). Multilevel reliabilities (measured by ω) were calculated following Geldhof et al. (2014), and most of the measures had acceptable reliability values (i.e., larger than .70), see Table 1 for descriptive and reliability information across levels. Multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) was constructed through Mplus 8.4 with random intercepts and fixed slopes. On the daily level, maternal perceived financial stress positively predicted negative marital behaviors (ß = .18, p < .001), and negative marital behaviors were positively related to mother-child destructive conflict (ß = .13, p = .004). No direct relation was found between maternal financial stress and mother-child destructive conflict (ß = .02, p = .36), but the indirect pathway from maternal financial stress to mother perceived negative marital behaviors to mother-child destructive conflict was significant (.58, p = .004). On the daily level, fathers who reported having more financial stress also reported more negative marital behaviors (ß = .25, p < .001); although, there were no significant associations with father-child conflict. At the between level, only mother-reported negative marital behaviors were positively related to mother-child destructive conflict (ß = .54, p < .001; Figure 1). As one of the first studies to include both parents in family stress model research on daily family dynamics, our findings contribute novel information on how mothers’ and fathers’ daily experiences within and beyond the family context may uniquely predict their interactions with other family members on the daily level. |
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| Paper #2 | |
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| Daily maternal involvement in children’s homework and children’s engagement: A process examination from social-cognitive perspectives | |
| Author information | Role |
| Dr. Zeyi Shi, Ph.D., East China Normal University, China | Presenting author |
| Qian Wang, Chinese University of Hong Kong, China | Non-presenting author |
| Yang Qu, Northwestern University, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Abstract | |
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As doing homework can be daunting to children, parents often get involved to foster their learning (e.g., Shi et al., 2024). Research increasingly highlights that the quality of such parental involvement, particularly in terms of autonomy support versus control, plays a crucial role in children’s behavioral engagement in homework (Pomerantz et al., 2007). For instance, parental autonomy support has been linked to higher rates of children’s homework completion and reduced procrastination (Dumont et al., 2014; Xu et al., 2017). However, the mechanisms through which parental autonomy support or control impacts children’s homework engagement from both emotional and behavioral aspects, especially at the within-person level, remain unclear. This study adopts a social-cognitive perspective, emphasizing the role of children’s appraisals in the process of parenting (e.g., Cheah et al., 2019; Helwig et al., 2014). We hypothesized that children’s appraisals of parental homework involvement mediate the relations between parenting practices and children’s homework engagement. According to Self-Determination Theory, parental autonomy support satisfies children’s needs for relatedness, autonomy, and competence, while parental control undermines these needs (Ryan & Deci, 2017). We therefore expected parental autonomy support during homework involvement to induce children’s positive appraisals (e.g., feeling cared for regarding parental involvement) and parental control to engender negative appraisals (e.g., feeling pressured about parental involvement). Children’s positive appraisals of parental involvement were further hypothesized to increase homework engagement (i.e., decreased negative homework emotions and helplessness), while negative appraisals were expected to reduce their engagement. To test these hypotheses, we employed a daily diary design to capture day-to-day fluctuations in parental homework involvement, children’s appraisals, and homework engagement. This design offers high ecological validity, reliable data, and provide valuable insights into daily family processes. The study involved 261 dyads of Chinese fourth-graders (Mage = 9.90, SD = 0.32, 52.3% girls) and their mothers (Mage = 40.87, SD = 2.74). Both mothers and children completed daily diaries for 14 consecutive days. Children reported their daily appraisals of maternal homework involvement, negative emotions and helplessness while doing homework. Mothers reported their daily autonomy support and control during homework involvement. Covariates included daily time spent on homework by both mothers and children, child sibling status and sex, and maternal educational attainment. As shown in Figure 1 and 2, Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling (MSEM) revealed that daily maternal autonomy support predicted children’s positive appraisals, which further predicted increments in children’s homework engagement (i.e., decreased negative homework emotions and helplessness). Whereas daily maternal control during homework involvement predicted children’s negative appraisals, which in turn predicted decrements in children’s homework engagement. All four pathways—linking maternal homework involvement to children’s appraisals and subsequently to their homework engagement—were significant. These findings were robust, controlling for children’s appraisals, homework engagement on the previous day, as well as other covariates. By adopting a social-cognitive perspective, this study highlights children’s appraisals as mechanisms through which parental involvement influences their homework engagement. The findings also offer valuable insights into daily child experiences with parental homework involvement, enhancing our understanding of daily family processes in academic contexts. |
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| Paper #3 | |
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| Daily Fluctuations in Adolescent Emotion Control and Mood: Timing Positive Parenting | |
| Author information | Role |
| Lan Chen, Pennsylvania State University, United States | Presenting author |
| Gregory M. Fosco, Pennsylvania State University, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Abstract | |
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Although adolescents are increasingly oriented toward peer relationships, they continue to value their parents' perceptions of them (Steinberg & Morris, 2001). Parental positive reinforcement (PPR) refers to the act of acknowledging and encouraging desirable behaviors by providing positive feedback, such as praise or compliments, to reinforce the behavior (Fosco & LoBraico, 2019; Lunkenheimer et al., 2008). PPR plays a crucial role in enhancing positive emotions and reducing negative emotions (e.g., Jiang et al., 2024). Recent studies have revealed that PPR fluctuates on a daily basis (Pomerantz & Kempner, 2013), highlighting the importance of exploring how these daily variations in PPR correspond to adolescent mood. For Hypothesis #1, we predict that on days when parents provide increased positive reinforcement, adolescents will experience a decrease in negative mood and an increase in positive mood. In addition to PPR, adolescent emotion control emerges as another protective factor for well-being (Verzeletti et al., 2016). Traditionally viewed as a stable trait, emotion control has recently been found to fluctuate daily (Lennarz et al., 2019). For Hypothesis #2, we propose that on days when adolescents exhibit higher levels of emotion control, they will report more positive moods and fewer negative moods. Moreover, adolescent emotion control may act as a moderator in the relations between PPR and mood. On days when adolescents struggle with emotion control, they may require increased support and emotional validation from their parents (Chen et al., 2024). Thus, for Hypothesis #3, we predict that PPR will be particularly beneficial for adolescent mood when emotion control is low. This study uses data collected from 135 pairs of adolescents (Mage = 15.58, SDage = 1.17) and adult caregivers (Mage = 47.64, SDage = 6.18) participating in the Penn State Everyday Relationships in Adolescence (E.R.A.) study. Adolescents completed up to 21 daily reports on emotion control and mood, while parents reported on daily PPR. Multilevel results (Table 1) did not support Hypothesis #1: daily PPR was not associated with daily adolescent moods. However, they fully supported Hypothesis #2: on days when adolescent emotion control was higher than usual, adolescents exhibited more positive moods and fewer negative moods. Additionally, for Hypothesis #3, as expected, adolescent emotion control moderated the effect of daily PPR on daily mood. A simple slope analysis (Table 2) showed that on days when PPR was higher than usual, adolescents experienced increased positive mood and reduced negative mood, but this effect was only significant on days when emotion control was low. Findings suggest that the impact of daily PPR on adolescent mood is conditional, depending on the adolescent's daily ability to control emotion. Interventions aimed at helping parents understand when to provide reinforcement may be more effective if they consider their adolescent’s emotional control abilities. |
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| Paper #4 | |
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| Adolescents' daily interactions with family, friends, and at school: Profiles of emotional reactivity | |
| Author information | Role |
| Carlie Sloan, Arizona State University, United States | Presenting author |
| Joanna J. Kim, Arizona State University, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Andrew J. Fuligni, University of California, Los Angeles, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Abstract | |
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Daily relationship dynamics can contribute greatly to adolescents’ emotional experiences. Heightened emotional reactivity to negative experiences may represent a dysfunctional response pattern, placing adolescents at risk for mental health challenges (Schneiders et al., 2006; Chiang et al., 2024). However, little is known about positive emotional reactivity and the role of positive experiences. It remains unclear whether adolescents’ heightened emotional reactivity generalizes across both positive and negative events and different salient domains (e.g., family, friend, and school experiences), or whether different adolescents may experience different domain- or event-specific response patterns in their emotional reactivity. This study aimed to determine whether there were distinct profiles of adolescent emotional reactivity to daily positive and negative interactions. Participants were 313 adolescent high schoolers (Mage = 16.39; 41.5% Latino/a, 23.0% Asian, 29.4% European). Adolescents completed daily surveys each evening for 15 consecutive days and reported on daily positive and negative interactions as well as their daily positive and negative emotions. Positive interactions in each domain (family, friends, school) consisted of items like getting along and spending leisure time together. Negative interactions consisted of items such as conflict, discipline, and experiencing demands from someone. Adolescents reported the degree to which they felt several positive emotions (e.g., cheerful, enthusiastic, happy) and negative emotions (e.g., discouraged, frightened, sad) on scales from 1 (Not at All) to 5 (Extremely). We created average positive and negative interactions and emotions scores for each study day. To obtain estimates of positive and negative emotional reactivity, we conducted multilevel models, extracting random slope estimates that represented the daily, within-person linkages between positive or negative interactions in each domain and positive or negative emotions (e.g., positive reactivity to negative family interactions, positive reactivity to positive family interactions, and so on). These 12 reactivity estimates were used as indicators in a latent profile analysis. We identified three profiles of adolescent mood reactivity to daily interactions. The first profile represented 86.6% of the sample and was characterized by average positive mood reactivity and generally low negative mood reactivity, representing typical reactivity. The second profile represented 6.7% of the sample and was characterized by generalized heightened reactivity. That is, negative mood increased more than average on days of negative school and friend interactions and decreased more than average on days of positive interactions, while positive mood increased on days of positive interactions and decreased on days of negative interactions to a greater degree than average, in most cases. The third profile, also 6.7% of the sample, exhibited selective heightened reactivity to only certain types of interactions and in certain domains. Different adolescents may be more or less likely to be characterized by these nuanced patterns of emotional responses to daily experiences. Additional analyses will examine associations between family contexts and adolescent mental health and adolescent emotional reactivity patterns. |
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Daily Family Stressors and Supports: Implications for Mood, Behaviors, and Relationships Across Childhood and Adolescence
Submission Type
Paper Symposium
Description
| Session Title | Daily Family Stressors and Supports: Implications for Mood, Behaviors, and Relationships Across Childhood and Adolescence |