title: The Inter-relationship of Adolescent Unhappiness and Parental Mental Distress.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Substantial evidence supports the hypothesis that parental well-being impacts upon child well-being and that this relationship is bidirectional. Here we explore how, in a large, nationally representative sample, both parents' mental distress relates over time to each other's mental distress and to their adolescent child's unhappiness, and vice versa.
  
  
  METHODS
  Analyses were conducted using data from waves one to five (2009/10-2014/15) of Understanding Society, the UK Household Longitudinal Study. Understanding Society collects data on adults' mental distress (General Health Questionnaire), and on youths' (age: 10-15 years) unhappiness in relation to their school work, appearance, family, friends, school, and life as a whole. We use repeated-measures structural equation models to investigate the reciprocal relationships between both parents' distress and their child's unhappiness, using both longitudinal cross-lagged and nonrecursive contemporaneous specifications. The analytic sample is 1,883 triads (adolescent child, mother, and father) with data at two or more consecutive time points. Analyses are stratified by adolescent gender.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our results show that parental mental distress predicts unhappiness of girls but not that of boys. Reciprocal associations of maternal and paternal mental distress are evident in families with an adolescent daughter. Unhappiness of adolescents does not predict their parents' mental distress. Results are similar whether examined contemporaneously or over time.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings support the suggestion that the family should be considered as a dynamic system, for instance when planning clinical interventions. This is particularly pertinent in families with an adolescent daughter present.
authors.affiliation: ESRC International Centre for Lifecourse Studies in Society and Health (ICLS), Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: elizabeth.webb@ucl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Webb
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Demographic Studies (INED), Paris, France.
authors.forename: Lidia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Panico
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Statistics, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Laia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bécares
authors.affiliation: ESRC International Centre for Lifecourse Studies in Society and Health (ICLS), Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McMunn
authors.affiliation: ESRC International Centre for Lifecourse Studies in Society and Health (ICLS), Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Yvonne
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.affiliation: ESRC International Centre for Lifecourse Studies in Society and Health (ICLS), Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Amanda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sacker
mesh_terms: D000067697:Adolescent Health; D000328:Adult; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D054541:Family Conflict / Q000523:psychology*; D005220:Fathers / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006240:Happiness; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012737:Sex Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Adolescence; Family; Longitudinal; Mental distress; Parents; Unhappiness; Well-being