The Role of Parent-Adolescent Relationship Quality in the Functioning of Anxious Adolescents

There is growing recognition that the reciprocal relationships between adolescents and\ua0their parents play an important role in the development and maintenance of mental health\ua0problems for young people. However, the unique contributions of the different aspects of parent-adolescent\ua0relationship quality to adolescent functioning remain unclear. This thesis aimed to test\ua0a theoretical model of how parent-adolescent relationship quality (i.e., connectedness and\ua0hostility) mediated the relationship between adolescent anxiety and adolescent functioning (i.e.,\ua0positive development and oppositional defiant behaviour), and to evaluate the effectiveness of a\ua0brief parenting intervention in improving adolescents’ relationships with parents and adolescent\ua0outcomes.Three studies were conducted with parents and their adolescents aged 11 to 17 years\ua0living in Australia. Study I was a single time-point community survey completed by 723 parents\ua0and 72 adolescents designed to investigate the links between demographics, adolescent anxiety,\ua0parental wellbeing, parenting practices, parent-adolescent relationship quality and adolescent\ua0functioning. Multivariate correlational analyses demonstrated that parent-adolescent\ua0connectedness and hostility were significant correlates of adolescent functioning. Other\ua0significant predictors of adolescent functioning included sociodemographic variables (parent age,\ua0parent cultural and educational backgrounds, adolescent gender and age and household financial\ua0stress), level of adolescent anxiety, as well as parental psychological distress, parental\ua0psychological flexibility (cognitive defusion, committed action and acceptance) and parenting\ua0practices (positive parenting, inconsistent discipline and poor supervision). Moreover,\ua0hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that parent-adolescent connectedness and\ua0hostility were unique predictors of adolescent functioning after accounting for demographics,\ua0adolescent anxiety and parental factors. Parent-adolescent connectedness was not identified as a\ua0potential mediator on the link between adolescent anxiety and adolescent functioning. However,\ua0mediation analyses indicated that parent-adolescent hostility had an impact on reducing the\ua0influence of adolescent anxiety on positive development as well as on oppositional defiant\ua0behaviour. This provided some support for the role of parent-adolescent relationship quality in\ua0increasing positive outcomes and reducing the risk of developing disruptive and oppositional\ua0behaviour for adolescents with higher levels of anxiety.Study II was an observational study conducted with 15 parent-adolescent dyads that\ua0investigated the utility and psychometric properties of a parent-adolescent observation task and\ua0coding scheme in measuring the quality of parent-adolescent interactions. The observational\ua0measure was found to have good internal consistency and discriminant validity. However, results\ua0for construct validity were mixed. Significant correlations were revealed between two of the\ua0eleven items evaluated on the Connectedness/Hostility subscale of the observational measure\ua0(i.e., adolescent’s response and adolescent’s focus) and corresponding subscales measuring the\ua0constructs of connectedness and hostility on an existing self-report measure of parent-adolescent\ua0relationships, the Parent-Adolescent Relationship Scale (PARS). Participants were assigned to an\ua0Anxiety Disorder group or a No Disorder group based on DSM-5 criteria for anxiety disorders.\ua0Statistically significant differences were found between groups on the PARS Hostility subscale,\ua0as well as three items on the observational measure’s Connectedness/Hostility subscale (i.e.,\ua0General Mood, Adolescent’s Response and Adolescent’s Focus).\ua0Study III was a pre-post evaluation of the effectiveness a 2-hour Triple P Discussion\ua0Group on promoting parent-adolescent relationships and adolescent functioning with 12 parentadolescent\ua0dyads. No significant differences were revealed when comparing scores on the\ua0questionnaires measuring adolescent anxiety, parental psychological distress, parental\ua0psychological flexibility, parenting practices, parent-adolescent relationship quality and\ua0adolescent functioning across the two time points, with the exception of a significant decrease in\ua0PARS Connectedness reported by parents. Three of the eleven items evaluated on the\ua0observational measure’s Connectedness/Hostility subscale (i.e., general mood, adolescent’s\ua0response and adolescent’s focus) showed statistically significant differences from pre- to postintervention,\ua0but did not meet criteria for reliable change, which suggested the changes observed\ua0were not clinically significant.Overall, these findings supported the notion that parent-adolescent relationship quality is\ua0a critical factor impacting adolescent functioning and should be addressed when determining\ua0ways to improve behavioural outcomes for anxious adolescents. The present study also\ua0highlighted the value of including both parent and adolescent perspectives and multiple\ua0assessment modalities in adolescent developmental research. Further modification and\ua0development of the observational tool as a valid measure of parent-adolescent relationship\ua0quality is recommended. Although results from the intervention study were not found to be\ua0clinically significant, it was unclear if this was due to the small sample size and relatively\ua0homogenous profile of participants recruited to Studies II and III or the effectiveness of the\ua0intervention. Suggestions are made for investigating a modified version of the observational\ua0measure that could be sensitive to intervention effects with a larger and more diverse sample