Child Effects on Lability in Parental Warmth and Hostility: Moderating Effects of Parent Depression and Inter-Parental Conflict

Introduction: Greater fluctuations in parenting – parenting lability— is a risk factor for later youth substance use and delinquency. However, little is known about child effects-- how youth risky behavior may relate to subsequent lability in parenting- or how youth risky behavior may interact with other factors to affect parenting lability. We test whether parental depression and inter-parental conflict moderate the linkages between youth risky behaviors in Grade 6 and lability in mothers’ and fathers’ warmth and hostility towards their children across Grades 6-8.

Method: Youth and their parents involved in at least three waves of a large scale effectiveness trial of substance use preventive interventions (N=702) comprised the sample. First, we used growth models to derive person-specific scores for three components of change in warmth and hostility (average youth/parent report; Grade 6-8): initial level, linear trend, and lability (intra-individual standard deviation of residuals). Second, we used regression models to examine child risky behaviors (delinquency, alcohol use, tobacco use, substance/ polysubstance use initiation) as predictors of our derived lability scores for parental warmth and hostility. Third, we tested whether parent depression or inter-parental conflict moderated these associations by adding an interaction term (parent depression x risky behavior; inter-parental conflict x risky behavior). Control variables included demographics (dual biological marital status, intervention condition, parent education) and the other components of change in parenting (levels, linear trends in warmth and hostility). Separate models were run for each predictor, moderator, and for mother and father warmth and hostility. Follow up tests of the simple slopes (+/- 1 SD) were conducted if the interaction term was significant.

Result: Parental depression moderated the linkages between youth behaviors and lability in mothers’ and fathers’ warmth. Youth risky behavior (delinquency, polysubstance initiation) was associated with higher lability (greater fluctuations) in fathers’ warmth when fathers’ depression was high - but lower lability when fathers’ depression was low. Greater youth substance use (tobacco, substance/ polysubstance initiation) predicted lower lability in mothers’ warmth when mothers’ depression was low. Inter-parental conflict moderated the linkages between youth behaviors and lability in hostility for fathers but not mothers: Youth substance use (initiation, tobacco use) was associated with more lability in fathers’ hostility when inter-parental conflict is high, but not when inter-parental conflict was low.

Conclusions: Parent depression and inter-parental conflict may make it more difficult for parents to maintain consistency in parenting when youth engage in problem behavior. We will discuss intervention implications.