Daily links between school problems and youth perceptions of interactions with parents: A diary study of school‐to‐home spillover

Abstract

This study examined how academic and peer problems at school are linked to family interactions at home on the same day, using eight consecutive weeks of daily diary data collected from early adolescents (60% female; M age = 11.28, SD = 1.50), mothers and fathers in 47 families. On days when children reported more academic problems at school, they, but not their parents, reported less warmth and more conflict with mothers, and more conflict and less time spent around fathers. These effects were partially explained by same-day child reports of higher negative mood. Peer problems were less consistently associated with parent-child interactions over and above the effects of academic problems that day. A one-time measure of parent-child relationship quality moderated several daily associations, such that the same-day link between school problems and child-report of family interactions was stronger among children who were closer to their parents.

Over-time Fluctuations in Parenting and Adolescent Adaptation Within Families: A Systematic Review

“…A macro-longitudinal study, in contrast, suggested that increasing levels of maternal (but not paternal) warmth were related to simultaneous increases in sibling warmth (Shanahan et al 2008). Concerning academic functioning, both positive significant and nonsignificant concurrent associations were found between parental support and academic functioning (Bai et al 2017;Lehman and Repetti 2007). Moreover, two studies considered physical functioning, finding that parental support was not related to physical functioning at the micro timescale (Lippold et al 2016b), but increasing levels of parental support regarding physical activity were at the same time related to more physical activity at the macro timescale (Lau et al 2016).…”

“…Four of the 14 studies examined associations of parental support with measures of adolescent affective functioning within families, and three of the four studies analyzed the same daily diary dataset. These three studies indicated that the levels of parental support were higher on days when adolescents also reported a more positive mood ) and a less negative mood (Bai et al 2017;. The fourth study, which was again a daily diary study, did not find a concurrent association of parental support with adolescents' anxious mood (Lehman and Repetti 2007).…”

“…The remaining studies on parental support investigated the associations with a wide range of measures of interpersonal, academic, and physical functioning within families. With respect to interpersonal functioning, micro-longitudinal studies found no concurrent association of parental support with peer problems (Bai et al 2017;Lehman and Repetti 2007). A macro-longitudinal study, in contrast, suggested that increasing levels of maternal (but not paternal) warmth were related to simultaneous increases in sibling warmth (Shanahan et al 2008).…”

“…Similarly as with internalizing behavior, micro-longitudinal studies on negative affect suggested that on days adolescents reported more conflicts with their parents, they reported more negative affect (Bai et al 2017;Chung et al 2009;Timmons and Margolin 2015). However, father-child conflict and negative affect ) and aversive parental behavior and adolescents' anxious morning mood (Lehman and Repetti 2007) were not found to be concurrently related, and no time-lagged effects of parent-child conflict on adolescent-reported negative affect have been found (Timmons and Margolin 2015).…”

“…Several datasets were identified that were used in multiple studies: the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (Chung et al 2009;Coley et al 2009;Coley et al 2008), the Pittsburgh Youth Study (Besemer et al 2016;Farrington et al 2002;Rekker et al 2015), the Research on Adolescent Development and Relationships Rekker et al 2017), the Study of Peers, Activities and Neighborhoods (Janssen et al 2018;Janssen et al 2014;Janssen et al 2016;Janssen et al 2017;Svensson et al 2017), and The Work, Family, Health Network Study (Lippold et al 2016a, b). Moreover, based on authors and sample characteristics, two unnamed datasets were identified that were assessed in multiple studies, a daily diary dataset (Bai et al 2017;Kuhlman et al 2016;) and macro timescale study (Lam et al 2016;Lam and McHale 2015).…”