title: Associations Between Mother-Child Relationship Quality and Adolescent Adjustment: Using a Genetically Controlled Design to Determine the Direction and Magnitude of Effects.
abstract: This study used a genetically controlled design to examine the direction and the magnitude of effects in the over-time associations between perceived relationship quality with mothers and adolescent maladjustment (i.e., depressive symptoms and delinquency). A total of 163 monozygotic (MZ) twins pairs (85 female pairs, 78 male pairs) completed questionnaires at ages 13 and 14. Non-genetically controlled path analyses models (in which one member of each twin dyad was randomly selected for analyses) were compared with genetically controlled path analyses models (in which MZ-twin difference scores were included in analyses). Results from the non-genetically controlled models revealed a) child-driven effects in the longitudinal associations between adolescent perceived maternal support and depressive symptoms, and b) parent-driven and child-driven effects in the longitudinal association between perceived maternal negativity and adolescent delinquent behaviors. However, results from the genetically controlled models revealed only child-driven effect, suggesting that, purported parent-driven effects were a product of error arising from potential gene-environment correlations (rGE).
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Florida Atlantic University, United States.
authors.forename: Fanny-Alexandra
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Guimond
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Florida Atlantic University, United States.
authors.forename: Brett
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Laursen
authors.affiliation: Ste. Justine Hospital Research Centre, Montreal, Canada; School of Psycho-education, University of Montreal, Canada.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vitaro
authors.affiliation: School of Psycho-education, University of Montreal, Canada; Department of Psychology, University of Quebec at Montreal, Canada.
authors.forename: Mara
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brendgen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Laval University, Quebec City, Canada.
authors.forename: Ginette
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dionne
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Laval University, Quebec City, Canada.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boivin