Parent-child relationships and parental distress as moderators between chronic illness and psychological problems in emerging adults.

The current study aimed to better understand how parental functioning and parent-child relationships might moderate the effects of chronic illness on psychological problems in emerging adulthood. Three hypotheses were made: (1) the presence and severity of chronic illness would associate positively with emerging adult psychological problems, (2) parental distress would moderate the effects between chronic illness presence/severity and emerging adulthood psychological problems, and (3) parent-child relationship quality would moderate the effects between chronic illness presence/severity and emerging adult psychological problems. Data analysis consisted of testing interaction effects, pairwise parameter comparisons, and multiple group analysis. The three-way interaction between endorsing a health condition, physical quality of life, and maternal psychological distress significantly predicted psychological problems in both emerging adult men and women. Additionally, the three-way interaction between endorsing a health condition, physical quality of life, and maternal parent-child relationship quality significantly predicted psychological problems in both emerging adult men and women