Parentification and Psychological Well-being

While it is clear that parenting behaviors impact adolescent adjustment in a number of ways (Steinberg, 2001), less is known about how parenting changes over time as children develop across adolescence. The current study has two goals: first, to examine longitudinal measurement invariance of a parenting behavior measure assessing acceptance, rejection, and consistent discipline by mother and father, and second, to assess change over time in these constructs. Using four waves of data from the Parents and Youth Study, a longitudinal investigation of parenting and adolescent adjustment across adolescence and young adulthood, measurement equivalence is assessed using longitudinal factorial invariance testing and change over time is assessed using latent growth modeling, both following suggestions by Widaman, Ferrer, and Conger (2010). Implications for differences in parenting over time and differences between mother and father are discussed.