Developmental Trajectories of Early Childhood Parent-Child Relationship and Adolescent Cardiovascular Health

Introduction: According to Family Systems Theory, family can be viewed as an organized collection of relationships and behaviors. Lack of support (e.g. parent-child conflict and poor parent-child communication) has been suggested as one of the major sources of family stressors for children. With this theory, a Life-Course approach provides a framework for considering the impact of timing and dynamic aspects of stress exposure during childhood, and how it relates to cardiovascular health in adolescence. Using longitudinal data from the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, the present study explores the developmental trajectories of conflict and closeness between parents and children from preschool to junior high, and the effects on markers of cardiovascular health in early adolescence.

Methods: Between the ages of 12-15 years, 844 children had four annual measurements of average triceps skinfold thickness (ATST), as well as systolic and diastolic blood pressure (S/D-BP). Both parents reported their perceived conflict and closeness with their child six times from the child’s age of 54 months to 12 years. A semiparametric, group-based Latent Class Growth Curve Modeling approach was implemented in SAS TRAJ to identify clusters of the child’s developmental trajectories of their relationship with both parents. Multilevel models were then used to analyze the effects of different trajectories on the child’s ATST and BP adjusted for parental education level, gender, and family’s income-to-need ratio.

Results: Maternal conflicts with the child had three trajectories: Cluster 1) high starting conflict level and high maintained over time (18.6% of sample); Cluster 2) middle starting level and middle maintained over time (48.6%), and Cluster 3) low starting level and low maintained over time (32.8%). Compared with those who maintained the middle level trajectory (Cluster 2), children with lower levels of conflict (Cluster 3) were found to have significantly decreased ATST over time (b=-0.34 P=0.03). Similar trajectory patterns of paternal conflict were also identified, showing that children with lower levels of conflict over time had significantly lower DBP in adolescence (b=0.87 P=0.01). No significant effects were found on the CVD risk factors were for parental closeness.

Conclusion: Trajectory patterns of parent-child conflict and closeness experienced during childhood were similar for both parents, although only conflict was found to influence markers of cardiovascular health in later adolescence. Additionally, the extent of this impact appears to vary based on whether the conflict is with either the mother or the father. Findings of this study highlight the influences of dynamic aspects of family stress exposure on cardiovascular health in adolescents, which may guide the development of appropriate interventions.