Parental and late adolescent psychopathology: mothers may provide support when needed most.

Research links negative parenting and parental psychopathology to poorer outcomes among youth. Less research examines these effects simultaneously during late adolescence. The current study examines parenting, parental psychopathology, and late adolescent psychopathology as reported by late adolescents (N = 328) with the use of structural equation modeling. Results of measurement models indicate that parental psychopathology and parenting are related to late adolescent psychopathology. However, results of structural models indicate that the effect of parenting on late adolescent psychopathology becomes non-significant in the paternal model and reverses in the maternal model. Interestingly, maternal parenting is associated with higher levels of late adolescent psychopathology, suggesting that mothers provide their late adolescents with more supportive parenting when it is needed most. Overall, results suggest the importance of examining parenting characteristics simultaneously in the context of gender and other variables.

Parenting and late adolescent emotional adjustment: mediating effects of discipline and gender.

Research suggests that parenting styles are related to the types of discipline parents utilize and that the coupling of parenting styles and discipline techniques are related to child outcomes. Although extant research examines the effects of parenting styles and discipline on child and early adolescent adjustment, less is known about adjustment in late adolescents, also described as emerging adults. Thus, the current study investigated the relationships among parenting styles (e.g., authoritative, authoritarian, permissive), discipline strategies (e.g., non-violent discipline, psychological aggression, physical assault), and emerging adult emotional adjustment (e.g., self-esteem, depression, and anxiety). The sample consisted of 526 participants ranging in age from 18 to 22 years. Results were analyzed with structural equation modeling and suggest that, although perceived parenting styles and discipline are both correlated with emerging adult emotional adjustment, perceived parenting is associated with emerging adult emotional adjustment for females but not males when examined simultaneously with perceived discipline. This finding demonstrates the importance of examining the direct and indirect relationships in the context of gender dyads.