Custom-Fit Parenting: How Low- and Well-Accepted Young Adolescents Benefit from Peer-Related Parenting

SYNOPSIS Objective. The present study investigated whether longitudinal associations between peer-related parenting behaviors (facilitation of peer interactions, social coaching about peer problems) and peer adjustment were moderated by young adolescents’ peer status. Design. Participants included 123 young adolescents (mean age = 12.03 years; 50% boys; 58.5% European American) at Time 1. At Time 1 (summer before the middle school transition), parents reported on their facilitation of peer interaction opportunities and coaching strategies to a hypothetical peer exclusion situation; teachers reported on youth peer acceptance. At Times 1 and 2 (spring after the middle school transition), youth reported on peer adjustment (friendship quality, loneliness, peer victimization). Results. Peer acceptance (pre-middle school transition) moderated prospective associations between peer-related parenting and peer adjustment, yielding two patterns of associations. Parental facilitation predicted better friendship quality and lower levels of loneliness over time among youth with high peer acceptance, but not among youth with low peer acceptance. In contrast, parental social coaching predicted better friendship quality among youth with low peer acceptance, but lower friendship quality among youth with high peer acceptance. Conclusions. Not all forms of positive peer-related parenting are equally beneficial for all youth. Well-accepted youth may have the social opportunities to take advantage of parental facilitation, whereas low-accepted youth may have greater social needs and benefit from support in the form of social coaching. Implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the literatures on peer-related parenting and peer adjustment.

[1]  J. Eccles,et al.  School Transitions in Early Adolescence: What Are We Doing to Our Young People? , 2018, Transitions Through Adolescence.

[2]  G. S. Pettit,et al.  Are They Listening? Parental Social Coaching and Parenting Emotional Climate Predict Adolescent Receptivity. , 2016, Journal of research on adolescence : the official journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence.

[3]  R. Cohen,et al.  Parent emotion coaching buffers the psychological effects of poor peer relations in the classroom , 2016 .

[4]  K. Bub,et al.  Responses to Peer Stress Predict Academic Outcomes Across the Transition to Middle School , 2016 .

[5]  Kenneth H. Rubin,et al.  Peer Relationships, Child Development, and Adjustment: A Developmental Psychopathology Perspective , 2015 .

[6]  Stephen A. Erath,et al.  Peer Stress in Preadolescence: Linking Physiological and Coping Responses With Social Competence , 2014 .

[7]  G. S. Pettit,et al.  Physiological reactivity moderates the association between parental directing and young adolescent friendship adjustment. , 2014, Developmental psychology.

[8]  Wesley Sanders,et al.  Parent socialization of coping in emerging adulthood: Moderation by respiratory sinus arrhythmia , 2014 .

[9]  Kathleen King,et al.  Parental Emotion Coaching: Associations With Self-Regulation in Aggressive/Rejected and Low Aggressive/Popular Children , 2014, Child & family behavior therapy.

[10]  Jana Kemp,et al.  Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2012. NCES 2013-036/NCJ 241446. , 2013 .

[11]  B. Wold,et al.  Peer Acceptance Protects Global Self-esteem from Negative Effects of Low Closeness to Parents During Adolescence and Early Adulthood , 2013, Journal of youth and adolescence.

[12]  J. Juvonen,et al.  Physical Aggression, Spreading of Rumors, and Social Prominence in Early Adolescence: Reciprocal Effects Supporting Gender Similarities? , 2012, Journal of Youth and Adolescence.

[13]  F. Poulin,et al.  The Role of Parents in Young Adolescents’ Competence With Peers: An Observational Study of Advice Giving and Intrusiveness , 2012 .

[14]  S. Duchesne,et al.  Worries About Middle School Transition and Subsequent Adjustment , 2012 .

[15]  D. Espelage,et al.  A review of research on bullying and peer victimization in school: An ecological system analysis☆ , 2012 .

[16]  Amie A Hane,et al.  Mother and child interpretations of threat in ambiguous situations: relations with child anxiety and autonomic responding. , 2011, Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association.

[17]  P. Boelen,et al.  Prospective linkages between peer victimization and externalizing problems in children: a meta-analysis. , 2011, Aggressive behavior.

[18]  Cara J. Kiff,et al.  Nature and Nurturing: Parenting in the Context of Child Temperament , 2011, Clinical child and family psychology review.

[19]  D. Schwartz,et al.  Is Peer Victimization Associated with Academic Achievement? A Meta‐analytic Review , 2010 .

[20]  J. H. Kamphuis,et al.  Peer victimization and internalizing problems in children: a meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. , 2010, Child abuse & neglect.

[21]  H. F. Stephens,et al.  Parental Influence on Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: I. Relationships Between Parent Behaviors and Child Peer Status , 2010, Journal of abnormal child psychology.

[22]  A. Mikami,et al.  Parental Influence on Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: II. Results of a Pilot Intervention Training Parents as Friendship Coaches for Children , 2010, Journal of abnormal child psychology.

[23]  R. Iannotti,et al.  School bullying among adolescents in the United States: physical, verbal, relational, and cyber. , 2009, The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine.

[24]  K. Bierman,et al.  Early Adolescent School Adjustment: Associations with Friendship and Peer Victimization , 2008 .

[25]  K. Bierman,et al.  Unique Associations Between Peer Relations and Social Anxiety in Early Adolescence , 2008, Journal of clinical child and adolescent psychology : the official journal for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division 53.

[26]  Peter K. Smith.  Book Review: Karen L. Bierman, Peer Rejection: Developmental Processes and Intervention Strategies. New York & London: Guilford Press, 2004. 299 pp. ISBN 572309237 (hbk), £26.95; ISBN 1593852436 (pbk), £17.95 , 2008 .

[27]  N. Mounts,et al.  Linkages between Parenting and Peer Relationships: A Model for Parental Management of Adolescents' Peer Relationships , 2008 .

[28]  N. King,et al.  Social evaluation fear in childhood and adolescence: Normative developmental course and continuity of individual differences , 2007 .

[29]  N. Mounts,et al.  Adolescents' and Their Mothers' Perceptions of Parental Management of Peer Relationships , 2007 .

[30]  A. Greenhoot,et al.  Intercommunity relocation and adolescent friendships: who struggles and why? , 2006, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[31]  A. Acock.  Working With Missing Values , 2005 .

[32]  N. Crick,et al.  Understanding the Effects of Physical and Relational Victimization: The Utility of Multiple Perspectives in Predicting Social-Emotional Adjustment , 2005 .

[33]  J. Parker,et al.  Navigating the Transition to Junior High School: The Influence of Pre-Transition Friendship and Self-System Characteristics , 2005 .

[34]  N. Galambos,et al.  Adolescents' Characteristics and Parents' Beliefs as Predictors of Parentsapos; Peer Management Behaviors , 2003 .

[35]  R. Parke,et al.  Differences Between Mothers' and Fathers' Advice-Giving Style and Content: Relations With Social Competence and Psychological Functioning Behavior in Middle Childhood , 2003 .

[36]  Lei Chang,et al.  Victimization in South Korean Children's Peer Groups , 2002, Journal of abnormal child psychology.

[37]  N. Mounts,et al.  Parental management of adolescent peer relationships in context: the role of parenting style. , 2002, Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association.

[38]  D. Schwartz,et al.  Correlates of victimization in Chinese children's peer groups. , 2001, Developmental Psychology.

[39]  G. S. Pettit,et al.  Mothers' social coaching, mother-child relationship style, and children's peer competence: is the medium the message? , 1997, Child development.

[40]  G. Kochanska.  Multiple pathways to conscience for children with different temperaments: from toddlerhood to age 5. , 1997, Developmental psychology.

[41]  N. Crick,et al.  Children's treatment by peers: Victims of relational and overt aggression , 1996, Development and Psychopathology.

[42]  G. Kochanska.  Children's Temperament, Mothers' Discipline, and Security of Attachment: Multiple Pathways to Emerging Internalization , 1995 .

[43]  Steven R. Asher,et al.  Friendship and Friendship Quality in Middle Childhood: Links with Peer Group Acceptance and Feelings of Loneliness and Social Dissatisfaction. , 1993 .

[44]  G. S. Pettit,et al.  Mechanisms in the cycle of violence. , 1990, Science.

[45]  V. Finnie,et al.  Preschool children's social status and their mothers' behavior and knowledge in the supervisory role. , 1988 .

[46]  Cleborne D. Maddux,et al.  Peer Relations , 1983 .

[47]  Ibrahim N Orgun,et al.  TEMPERAMENT AND DEVELOPMENT , 1978 .

[48]  R. Parke,et al.  Parental correlates of children's peer relations: an empirical test of a tripartite model. , 2009, Developmental psychology.

[49]  H AndresMartinM.D.M.P.,et al.  Peer Rejection: Developmental Processes and Intervention Strategies , 2005 .

[50]  G. S. Pettit,et al.  Parenting and the development of children's peer relationships. , 2002 .

[51]  B. Compas,et al.  Coping with stress during childhood and adolescence: problems, progress, and potential in theory and research. , 2001, Psychological bulletin.

[52]  W. Bukowski,et al.  The power of friendship: protection against an escalating cycle of peer victimization. , 1999, Developmental psychology.

[53]  S. McDevitt,et al.  Prevention And Early Intervention , 1994 .

[54]  E. Vernberg,et al.  Parents' use of friendship facilitation strategies and the formation of friendships in early adolescence: a prospective study , 1993 .

[55]  Larry E. Toothaker,et al.  Multiple Regression: Testing and Interpreting Interactions , 1991 .

[56]  D. A. Kenny,et al.  The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. , 1986, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[57]  John Killinger,et al.  The loneliness of children , 1980 .