Relationships between parenting and adolescent adjustment over time: Genetic and environmental contributions.

Abstract

The predictive association between parenting and adolescent adjustment has been assumed to be environmental; however, genetic and environmental contributions have not been examined. This article represents one effort to examine these associations in which a genetically informative design was used. Participants were 395 families with adolescent siblings who participated in the Nonshared Environment in Adolescent Development (D. Reiss et al., 1994) project at 2 times of assessment, 3 years apart. There were 5 sibling types in 2 types of families: 63 identical twins, 75 fraternal twins, and 58 full siblings in nondivorced families and 95 full, 60 half, and 44 genetically unrelated siblings in stepfamilies. Results indicate that the cross-lagged associations between parental conflict-negativity and adolescent antisocial behavior and depressive symptoms can be explained primarily by genetic factors. These findings emphasize the need to recognize and examine the impact that adolescents have on parenting and the contribution of genetic factors to developmental change.