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Biomedical subjects

R D Conger

Publications and source records attributed to R D Conger.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

First onset of depressive or anxiety disorders predicted by the longitudinal course of internalizing symptoms and parent-adolescent disagreements.

BACKGROUND: Growing evidence indicates that anxiety and depressive disorder onset may involve a prodromal buildup of symptoms. Also, stressful life events may precipitate gradual symptom increase, leading to the development of full-blown disorders. This study used prospective longitudinal data to examine the theory that, over time, stressful events, such as parent-adolescent disagreements, influence the longitudinal course of adolescents' internalizing symptoms, which in turn predict first onset of a depressive or anxiety disorder. METHODS: A community sample of 303 families with an adolescent aged 12 or 13 years in year 1 provided repeated measures of parent-adolescent disagreements and adolescents' internalizing symptoms over 3 and 4 years, respectively. At age 19 or 20 years, the adolescents were assessed for anxiety and depressive disorders using structured interviews based on DSM-III-R criteria. The hypothesized associations were estimated using latent growth curve modeling procedures. RESULTS: Year 1 parent-adolescent disagreements predicted year 1 adolescents' internalizing symptoms, and changes in disagreements from year 1 to year 3 predicted changes in internalizing symptoms from year 1 to year 4. Both the year 1 level and changes in symptoms predicted internalizing disorder onset in years 4 through 7, and both the year 1 level and changes in disagreements indirectly predicted disorder onset. CONCLUSIONS: Among adolescents, persistent or escalating stressful events, such as disagreements with parents, indirectly increase the risk for internalizing disorder onset through their direct association with high or increasing symptom levels. Chronically high or increasing symptom levels directly increase risk for internalizing disorder.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Pathways of economic influence on adolescent adjustment.

An important part of a science aimed at the prevention of human dysfunction involves the development of empirically based models that identify processes of risk for or protection from emotional distress or behavioral problems over time. The present study developed and evaluated such a model that proposed two pathways through which family economic pressure was expected to influence change in adolescent internalizing symptoms (depression and anxiety) during the period from the eighth to the tenth grades. A total of 377 rural families in a midwestern state provided data for the analyses. The results were generally consistent with the conceptual model in that family economic pressure increased adolescent perceptions of family economic hardship, which, in turn, reduced the adolescent's sense of control or mastery over time. Lowered mastery was associated with increases in emotional distress. Also consistent with the model, prior levels of mastery appeared to reduce the magnitude of economic stress experienced by the adolescent, whereas prior emotional distress intensified the economic stress process. Although gender differences were found in these processes, the overall pattern of results suggests that girls and boys are both at risk for internalizing problems when families experience economic pressure. Implications of the findings for the development of effective preventive interventions with financially stressed families in rural areas are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1999

Adjustment problems and emerging personality characteristics from early to late adolescence.

This 6-year longitudinal study extended earlier findings of contextual influences on adolescent adjustment problems by examining relationships between adolescent emotional and behavioral problems and late adolescent personality among more than 400 youths who were followed from 7th grade to the last year of high school. Results suggest that psychological distress and behavioral problems experienced during the adolescent years (7th-10th grades) are significantly related to personality structure during the final year of high school (12th grade). Psychological distress in adolescence was primarily related to the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) superfactors of negative and positive emotionality, whereas delinquency and substance use problems were primarily related to the MPQ superfactor of constraint. These relationships remained significant even when personality characteristics in 9th grade were taken into account. That is, emotional and behavioral problems predicted change in personality traits during the adolescent years. Moreover, both initial level and change in distress and problem behaviors were predictive of late adolescent or early adult personality. This finding suggests that personality formation is a dynamic process, dependent on the growth or decline, as well as the magnitude of earlier developmental problems. Because earlier research has shown that these developmental problems are affected by both distal and proximal environmental contexts as well as by the formative nature of adolescence, intervention efforts aimed at the reduction of maladjustment and the enhancement of healthy personality development should target early adolescent social contexts. Other theoretical implications of the findings also are discussed.

Adjustment Disorders↗
PubMed1999

Couple resilience to economic pressure.

Over 400 married couples participated in a 3-year prospective study of economic pressure and marital relations. The research (a) empirically evaluated the family stress model of economic stress influences on marital distress and (b) extended the model to include specific interactional characteristics of spouses hypothesized to protect against economic pressure. Findings provided support for the basic mediational model, which proposes that economic pressure increases risk for emotional distress, which, in turn, increases risk for marital conflict and subsequent marital distress. Regarding resilience to economic stress, high marital support reduced the association between economic pressure and emotional distress. In addition, effective couple problem solving reduced the adverse influence of marital conflict on marital distress. Overall, the findings provided substantial support for the extended family stress model.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1999

The intergenerational transmission of health-risk behaviors: adolescent lifestyles and gender moderating effects.

The present longitudinal study of 330 adolescents used structural equation models to investigate whether (1) health-risk lifestyles exist among adults and adolescents, (2) parents' health-risk behaviors influence adolescents' health-risk behaviors, and (3) intergenerational transmission occurs by way of a health-risk lifestyle, by direct transmission of specific behaviors, or through both mechanisms. To address these questions, we estimated several models. The findings were generally supportive of the expectations. Results of single factor measurement models provided modest evidence for the existence of an underlying health-risk lifestyle factor among parents and adolescents. Results of structural equation models also demonstrated that parents' health-risk behaviors were transmitted to adolescents both at the lifestyle factor level and the unique component level. These associations prevailed even after controlling for family social status. However, parents' health-risk lifestyles mediated the effect of family social status on adolescents' lifestyles, net of the direct effect of family social status on adolescents' lifestyle. In these two-parent families, the effects of parents' health-risk lifestyles on adolescents seems to have gender symmetry. The findings of the separate models for boys and girls demonstrated that (1) fathers' health-risk lifestyle affected only boys' health-risk lifestyle, whereas (2) mother's health-risk lifestyle affected only girls' health-risk lifestyle. A similar gender moderating effect was not found for specific health-risk behaviors. Implications of these findings for future research and theoretical development are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Predicting risk for pregnancy by late adolescence: a social contextual perspective.

To evaluate a model of social contextual influences on risk for adolescent pregnancy, 368 target adolescents (52% female, 48% male) and their mothers, fathers, and closest age siblings were assessed 6 times over a 7-year period beginning when the target adolescents were in 7th grade. Two pathways were found to increase risk for involvement in a pregnancy by late adolescence. Middle adolescent risk-taking behavior mediated the influence of early adolescent parental warmth-involvement and deviant-peer affiliations on involvement in a pregnancy by 12th grade. Also, early adolescent academic competence mediated the relationship between parental warmth-involvement and involvement in a pregnancy by 12th grade. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Reciprocal influences between parenting and adolescent problem-solving behavior.

This investigation evaluated the hypothesis that the development of either effective or disruptive adolescent problem-solving behavior is reciprocally associated with the child-rearing strategies of parents. Longitudinal data collected over 3 time points from a large sample of families were analyzed at 1-year and 2-year measurement intervals by using structural equation modeling. Parent and adolescent behavior was assessed by independent observers. Reciprocal parent--adolescent interactions occurred primarily in the presence of disruptive adolescent behavior. Analyses involving positive adolescent behavior produced unidirectional effects from parent behavior to adolescent behavior. Also, reciprocal associations were most evident when the 2-year measurement interval was used.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

The long arm of the farm: how an occupation structures exposure and vulnerability to stressors across role domains.

We examine how the occupation of farming structures the stress experiences of individuals through the timing and placement of actions. Further, we show how occupations have effects that spillover into family and friendship relationships. We find that farming affects both exposure and vulnerability to stressors. Specifically, farm men are more exposed to financial and job-related stressors, while less prone to marital conflict, than non-farmers. Given the importance of cohesion in farm family operations, farm men are more vulnerable to such conflict when it occurs. However, farm men are unaffected, if not consoled, by knowledge of undesirable events in the lives of their friends. We explore this finding and conclude that farm men use downward social comparisons to cope with the high levels of uncertainty characteristic of farming in the aftermath of the 1980s farm crisis.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Psychological distress and help seeking in rural America.

The implications of exposure to acute and chronic stressors, and seeking mental health care, for increased psychological distress are examined. Research on economic stress, psychological distress, and rural agrarian values each point to increasing variability within rural areas. Using data from a panel study of 1,487 adults, a model predicting changes in depressive symptoms was specified and tested. Results show effects by size of place for men but not for women. Men living in rural villages of under 2,500 or in small towns of 2,500 to 9,999 people had significantly greater increases in depressive symptoms than men living in the country or in larger towns or cities. Size of place was also related to level of stigma toward mental health care. Persons living in the most rural environments were more likely to hold stigmatized attitudes toward mental health care and these views were strongly predictive of willingness to seek care. The combination of increased risk and less willingness to seek assistance places men living in small towns and villages in particular jeopardy for continuing problems involving depressed mood.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Mom and dad are at it again: adolescent perceptions of marital conflict and adolescent psychological distress.

In these two studies, the authors used children's perceptions of family relationships to examine simultaneously direct and indirect links between marital conflict and child adjustment. With data pertaining to 146 sixth and seventh graders, Study 1 supported direct and indirect effects of perceptions of marital conflict on internalizing behaviors, and indirect effects for externalizing behaviors. In Study 2, data analyzed from 451 families showed indirect effects of marital conflict and parent-to-child hostility, through adolescent perceptions of such behavior, on both current distress and distress 12 months later in 3 of 4 models estimated. Direct and indirect effects were found for boys' concurrent internalizing behavior. Implications and limitations of both studies are discussed to address the need for a more sophisticated theoretical approach to examine why an association exists between marital conflict and child adjustment.

Child↗
PubMed1997

Marital conflict and adolescent distress: the role of adolescent awareness.

The present longitudinal study (1989-1991) of seventh-grade adolescents (173 boys, 197 girls; M age = 12.7 in 1989) living in the rural Midwest examined the influence of children's awareness of marital conflict and reported level of parental hostility on symptoms of adolescent distress. The theoretical model guiding the research indirectly linked marital conflict to adolescent perceptions of parents' hostility through the mediating effects of parents' and observers' report of hostility toward the adolescent and through adolescent awareness of the frequency of interparental conflict. Controlling for earlier levels of psychological distress, we hypothesized a direct path between adolescent report of parent hostility and adolescent maladjustment. Maximum likelihood estimation of the proposed model showed that marital conflict was significantly related to parents' and observers' reports of parent hostility toward the adolescent and to adolescent awareness of conflict frequency. Both parent hostility and adolescent awareness of the frequency of marital conflicts were significantly related to adolescent perceptions of parent hostility. When controlled for earlier distress, adolescent report of parent hostility significantly predicted the later internalizing and externalizing symptoms of these teenagers. The model predicted externalizing problems for boys but not girls. Otherwise, there were no gender differences in the postulated causal processes.

Acting Out↗
PubMed1997

Parental support and adolescent physical health status: a latent growth-curve analysis.

Applying latent growth curve analysis to a sample of 310 adolescents, this study demonstrates that level of and changes in observed parental behavior are liked to the level of and changes in adolescent physical health status, respectively, through adolescent perception of parental support. In addition, the level of observed parental behavior had a significant direct effect on subsequent changes in adolescent health status. The results provide evidence for the influence of parental support on adolescent physical health, both directly and indirectly through the adolescent's perception of that support. Confidence in the findings is strengthened by (1) employing a prospective, longitudinal research design, (2) analyzing intraindividual changes in support and health, and (3) reducing potential method variance confounds by using multi-informant reports of parental behavior.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Linking occupational conditions to physical health through marital, social, and intrapersonal processes.

In the present longitudinal study of 330 married men and 300 married women, we use a comprehensive structural equation model to investigate how occupation is linked to physical health. Results show that occupational quality influences health-risk behavior (measured by composite indices) for both men and women through a series of mediating variables: social integration, marital integration, and psychological control. Health-risk behavior is related to adverse change in physical health status over a two-year period. Occupational quality influences social and marital integration and psychological control for both husbands and wives. Social integration and marital integration also enhance husbands' psychological control, but marital integration is the only factor contributing to wives' psychological control. In turn, psychological control is associated with health-risk behaviors for both husbands and wives. In addition, both social and marital integration directly deter husbands' health-risk behaviors, while social integration is the only variable to directly influence wives' health-risk behaviors.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Parents and peer group as mediators of the effect of community structure on adolescent problem behavior.

Used a sample of 207 single-parent families residing in 104 small, Midwestern communities to test hypotheses regarding the link between community context and adolescent conduct problems and psychological distress. For boys, community disadvantage had a direct affect on psychological distress, while it indirectly boosted the probability of conduct problems by disrupting parenting and increasing affiliation with deviant peers. Community disadvantage was unrelated to the deviant behavior or emotional well-being of girls. Proportion of single-parent households in the community had a direct effect on girls' conduct problems. It also contributed indirectly to girls' conduct problems by increasing the probability of involvement with deviant peers. Possible explanations for these gender differences are provided.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Adolescent paid labor and relationships with parents: early work-family linkages.

Earnings represent an important mechanism by which changes occur in the adolescent-parent relationship. The present study examines adolescent earnings and multiple dimensions of relationships with parents by drawing on 4 waves of data from the Iowa Youth and Families project. Dynamic models based on the multiple perspectives of adolescent and parent are estimated with hierarchical equations. Between the seventh and tenth grades, rural adolescent earnings and nonleisure spending are related to time spent with the family, less parental monitoring, and more sharing of advice within the family. Earnings and nonleisure spending have positive associations with the affective quality of the adolescent-parent relationship. These results are discussed in terms of the multifaceted dimensions of adolescent work experiences and their implications for the life course.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Coming of age too early: pubertal influences on girls' vulnerability to psychological distress.

This 4-year longitudinal study investigates 3 hypothesized effects of the pubertal transition on the psychological distress of adolescent girls (N = ca. 200): early maturation, the impact of heterosexual versus same-sex friends, and prepubertal vulnerabilities, such as early emotional distress and father hostility. Building on Caspi and Moffitt's study of girls' delinquency, this study found that early maturing girls experienced significantly higher levels of psychological distress compared to their on-time and late maturing age-mates. In line with prior studies of girls' delinquency (Caspi, Lynam, Moffitt, & Silva, 1993; Magnusson, 1988), early maturing girls also experienced higher levels of distress at the tenth grade as reported by fathers, mothers, and adolescents when they were associated with mixed- rather than same-sex friends during the seventh through ninth grades. Finally, early maturing girls were more vulnerable to prior psychological problems, deviant peer pressures, and fathers' hostile feelings when compared to on-time and late maturing peers.

Adolescent↗