Cross-Cultural Examination of Links between Parent–Adolescent Communication and Adolescent Psychological Problems in 12 Cultural Groups

Abstract

Internalizing and externalizing problems increase during adolescence. However, these problems may be mitigated by adequate parenting, including effective parent-adolescent communication. The ways in which parent-driven (i.e., parent behavior control and solicitation) and adolescent-driven (i.e., disclosure and secrecy) communication efforts are linked to adolescent psychological problems universally and cross-culturally is a question that needs more empirical investigation. The current study used a sample of 1087 adolescents (M = 13.19 years, SD = 0.90, 50% girls) from 12 cultural groups in nine countries including

The Role of the Family’s Emotional Climate in the Links between Parent-Adolescent Communication and Adolescent Psychosocial Functioning

“…Corroborating results from other studies, we found that adolescent disclosure was linked to less adolescent emotional problems (Fernandez et al 2018 ) and delinquency (Kapetanovic et al 2019a ) over time, while adolescent secrecy was linked to more emotional and conduct problems (Kapetanovic et al 2020 ), delinquency (Frijns et al 2010 ), and poorer wellbeing (Elsharnouby and Dost-Gözkan 2020 ) over time. In addition, higher levels of adolescent emotional problems predicted less disclosure over time, demonstrating the reciprocal nature of these links.…”

“…The measure frequently used in studies on parent-adolescent communication (e.g. Frijns et al 2010;Kapetanovic et al 2020) come from Stattin and Kerr (2000). Parental behavioral control assessed ways in which parents set rules and regulations to control and regulate adolescents' behavior.…”

“…In addition, adolescent secrecy seems to be related to higher levels of depression (Frijns et al 2010) and delinquency (Jäggi et al 2016) and poorer wellbeing (Elsharnouby and Dost-Gözkan 2020). Moreover, a recent cross-cultural study by Kapetanovic et al (2020) shows that adolescent secrecy, but not disclosure, is reciprocally linked to higher levels of externalizing problems over time. Given these recent findings, in this study we will treat adolescent driven communication as two separate constructs as they pertain to adolescent psychosocial functioning.…”

“…Moreover, when adolescents feel emotionally connected to their parents, they are likely to disclose information to their parents; however, when adolescents feel overly controlled by their parents, they are more likely to withhold information about their whereabouts and activities (Tilton-Weaver et al 2010 ). As a consequence of adolescent disclosure or secrecy, adolescent psychological development may be more or less promising (Kapetanovic et al 2020 ; Marshall et al 2005 ). As it seems, the emotional climate perceived by the adolescent could be an underlying structure that facilitates or impedes adolescent-driven communication with parents and its effect on adolescent psychological outcomes.…”

Discrepancies in parents’ and adolescents’ reports on parent-adolescent communication and associations to adolescents’ psychological health

“…Moreover, when adolescents feel emotionally close to their parents (Tilton-Weaver et al 2010) they tend voluntarily to share information about their everyday activities with their parents, which gives parents the possibility to give their adolescents support and guidance without being perceived as intrusive. Although studies show support for the protective role of parent-driven communication efforts in terms of adolescent psychological health (Pinquart 2017a(Pinquart , 2017b, adolescent disclosure seems to be the strongest protective predictor of adolescent psychological health, including adolescent depressive symptoms (Hamza and Willoughby 2011) and the externalizing of problems (Kapetanovic et al 2020). In other words, in order for parents to provide beneficial guidance for adolescents they need to have knowledge of adolescent whereabouts and to communicate with their adolescents.…”