Bidirectional effects of behavior problems and parenting behaviors following adolescent brain injury.
Emily L Moscato, James Peugh, H Gerry Taylor and 3 others
PMID 34472926WHAT IT FOUND
Adolescents with better parent communication had fewer behavior problems later, and those behavior problems then made parent communication worse.
This cycle was the only two-way link found; warmth and negativity only affected the teen, not vice versa.
Key findings
01Higher baseline effective parent communication was associated with fewer externalizing behavior problems at six months, while higher externalizing behavior at six months was associated with reduced effective communication at twelve months.
02Parental warmth, negativity, and effective communication predicted subsequent adolescent functioning and behavior problems, but adolescent behavior problems did not significantly predict subsequent parenting behaviors in those domains.
03The bidirectional effect between effective communication and externalizing behavior was the only reciprocal relationship detected among the six models tested.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The sample was not representative of the broader TBI population, being predominantly white and with caregivers who were mostly mothers. The study had low rates of clinically significant behavior problems (3-5% in clinical range), potentially excluding families with the most severe issues. The parenting measure (IFIRS) was not sensitive to the treatment effects of the original trial. The study combined adolescents of different ages, which may have masked age-specific bidirectional effects. The sample size limited the ability to detect very small cross-lagged effects.
Declared interests
The original trial (CAPS) was an online intervention. The secondary analysis does not report specific conflicts of interest for the current authors, but the funding and design details of the primary RCT are referenced in prior publications (Wade et al., 2014, 2015a, 2015b).
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the bidirectional effect as proof that improving communication alone will stop behavior problems from worsening parenting. The effect sizes were small (standardized betas .02-.19), and the study did not test an intervention targeting communication specifically; it observed natural fluctuations in a trial where the intervention had limited emphasis on communication.