Dyadic Variability in Mother-Adolescent Interactions: Developmental Trajectories and Associations with Psychosocial Functioning

Abstract

Dyadic variability is considered to be a key mechanism in the development of mother-adolescent relationships, and low levels of dyadic flexibility are thought to be associated with behavior and relationship problems. The present observational study examined heterogeneity in the development of dyadic variability in mother-adolescent interactions and associations with psychosocial functioning. Dyadic variability refers to the range of emotional states during interactions of mother-adolescent dyads. During five annual home visits, 92 mother-adolescent dyads (M age T1 = 13; 65.2 % boys) were videotaped while discussing a conflict, and they completed several questionnaires on adolescents’ aggressive behavior and adolescents’ and mothers’ perceived relationship quality. Two types of dyads were distinguished: low variability dyads (52 %) and high decreasing variability dyads (48 %). Over time, high decreasing variability dyads were characterized by a broader emotional repertoire than low variability dyads. Moreover, these two dyad types had distinct developmental patterns of psychosocial adjustment. Over time, high decreasing variability dyads showed lower levels of adolescents’ aggressive behavior, and higher levels of perceived relationship quality than low variability dyads. These findings suggest that over time more dyadic variability is associated with less adjustment problems and a more constructive development of the mother-adolescent relationship. Adaptive interactions seem to be characterized by a wider range of emotional states and mothers should guide adolescents during interactions to express both positive and negative affect. Observing the dyadic variability during mother-adolescent interactions can help clinicians to distinguish adaptive from maladaptive mother-adolescent dyads.

Mother–Adolescent Conflict Interaction Sequences: The Role of Maternal Internalizing Problems

“…This can be defined as the ability to flexibly switch among a broad range of expressed emotional states during interactions (Van der Giessen et al., ). More emotional variability is related to adolescents showing less aggressive behavior, higher perceived relationship quality (Van der Giessen, Branje, Frijns, & Meeus, ), and less internalizing problems over time (Van der Giessen et al., ). This flexibility is more important than the emotional valence of conflict interactions (Lunkenheimer, Hollenstein, Wang, & Shields, ), suggesting that mothers and adolescents who express solely positive emotions during conflicts do not act in consonance with the situational demands of a conflict (Lougheed & Hollenstein, ).…”

Déficits en La Intervención Socioeducativa Con Familias De Adolescentes en Riesgo De Exclusión

“…Junto a ellos, se destacan también los resultados de una serie de recientes trabajos sobre la mejora de la comunicación intrafamiliar a partir del apego en la adolescencia y la flexibilidad en las relaciones entre padres e hijos adolescentes, como son los de García Ruiz, Rodrigo, Hernández-Cabrera, Maíquez y Dekovic (2013), y los de Van der Giessen, Branje, Frijns, y Meeus (2013). Los resultados de estos últimos, como ya se indicó, muestran la relación entre la variabilidad en las interacciones diádicas madre-adolescente y sus asociaciones con el funcionamiento psicosocial, especialmente en situaciones de conflicto, encontrando que la mayor variabilidad diádica -gama de estados emocionales durante las interacciones de parejas madre-adolescente-se asocia con menores problemas de ajuste, niveles más bajos de comportamiento agresivo de los adolescentes y niveles más altos de calidad de la relación percibida madre-adolescente.…”

Dyadic Affective Flexibility and Emotional Inertia in Relation to Youth Psychopathology: An Integrated Model at Two Timescales

“…Fourth, a dyad's tendency to stay in one affective state, also known as average mean duration, is operationalized in terms of time, usually seconds, and graphically represented by increasingly larger dots within a cell (Hollenstein 2007, p. 388). Other metrics may be obtained from state space grids (e.g., return time, entropy; and Hollenstein 2003; Van der Giessen et al 2013), but the studies which have examined dyadic affective flexibility to date have primarily utilized the four metrics described above. Hollenstein's (2013) book State space grids: Depicting dynamics across development provides a comprehensive explanation of state space grids and GridWare software, as well as helpful example state space grid analyses.…”

“…Additional work is in agreement with these findings, specifically reporting that low levels of parent-child dyadic affective flexibility are related to and predict later externalizing symptoms for children ( et al 2012). Specific to aggressive behaviors, youth in low variability dyads show increased aggressive behaviors over time ( Van der Giessen et al 2013).…”

“…That is, researchers should determine a priori to measure emotion at the broad (e.g., positive affect, negative affect; Lunkenheimer et al 2011) or discrete level (e.g., happy, angry, dysphoria; Kuppens et al 2012;contempt, anger, humor, joy;Hollenstein and Lewis 2006). Early work recommends utilizing a four-byfour state space grid analysis to examine broad affective flexibility (e.g., Hollenstein et al 2004); however, more recent published work suggests that larger state space grids provide important variation for detecting relations between flexibility and psychopathology (e.g., Van der Giessen et al 2013). Of the studies examined in the current review, 50 % utilize a broad analysis and 50 % study discrete emotions (Table 1).…”