title: The effects of positive and negative parenting practices on adolescent mental health outcomes in a multicultural sample of rural youth.
abstract: The quality of parent-child relationships has a significant impact on adolescent developmental outcomes, especially mental health. Given the lack of research on rural adolescent mental health in general and rural parent-child relationships in particular, the current longitudinal study explores how rural adolescents' (N = 2,617) perceptions of parenting practices effect their mental health (i.e., anxiety, depression, aggression, self-esteem, future optimism, and school satisfaction) over a 1 year period. Regression models showed that current parenting practices (i.e., in Year 2) were strongly associated with current adolescent mental health outcomes. Negative current parenting, manifesting in parent-adolescent conflict, was related to higher adolescent anxiety, depression, and aggression and lower self-esteem, and school satisfaction. Past parent-adolescent conflict (i.e., in Year 1) also positively predicted adolescent aggression in the present. Current positive parenting (i.e., parent support, parent-child future orientation, and parent education support) was significantly associated with less depression and higher self-esteem, future optimism, and school satisfaction. Past parent education support was also related to current adolescent future optimism. Implications for practice and limitations were discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Work, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA, smokowsk@email.unc.edu.
authors.forename: Paul R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Smokowski
authors.forename: Martica L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Bacallao
authors.forename: Katie L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Cotter
authors.forename: Caroline B R
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Evans
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D003863:Depression / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009657:North Carolina / Q000208:ethnology; D010287:Parent-Child Relations / Q000208:ethnology; D016487:Parenting / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D012424:Rural Population; D012649:Self Concept