Interparental conflict and risk behaviors among Mexican American adolescents: a cognitive-emotional model.
This study used a cognitive-emotional model to examine the relations between multiple dimensions of interparental conflict and health risk behaviors among young adolescents. Participants were 151 Mexican American adolescents and their parents. At initial individual interviews, parents reported on conflict with their spouses, and adolescents reported on their parents' conflict, their appraisals of the conflict, their emotional distress, and their acculturation level. At 6-month follow-ups, adolescents reported on their risk behaviors, including substance use and sexual activity. In general, adolescents' acculturation level was not related to their risk behaviors. More frequent conflict, more conflict about the adolescent, more adolescent involvement in the conflict, and poor conflict resolution were related to greater emotional distress. More conflict about the adolescent, mothers being more demanding/dominating during conflict, and more adolescent involvement in the conflict were related to greater risk behaviors. Adolescents' cognitions mediated the link between two dimensions of parental conflict, frequency and resolution, and emotional distress. Adolescents' emotional distress mediated the association between adolescent involvement in parental conflict and adolescents' risk behaviors.
Department of Psychiatry, University of California at San Francisco, 94143-0848, USA. jmt@itsa.ucsf.edu
Jeanne M
JM
Tschann
Elena
E
Flores
Barbara VanOss
BV
Marin
Lauri A
LA
Pasch
E Marco
EM
Baisch
Charles J
CJ
Wibbelsman
D000069:Acculturation; D000293:Adolescent; D000786:Anger; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D002140:California; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D004291:Dominance-Subordination; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage / Q000523:psychology*; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D013179:Spouse Abuse / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*