The prospective associations between parent and adolescent emotional reactivity and adolescent psychopathology

Abstract This study examined how adolescent and parent emotional reactivity to daily parent–adolescent conflict is associated with adolescent psychopathology over time. A community sample of 237 Taiwanese parent–adolescent dyads (adolescents: M age = 14.80, SD age = 2.08; 58% female; parents: M age = 42.36, SD age = 8.57; 68% female) completed 10 days of daily reports on parent–adolescent conflict and emotions, and adolescents reported depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and externalizing problems at baseline and six-month follow-up. The results showed that greater adolescent negative emotional (NE) reactivity predicted higher depressive ( β = .17) and anxiety symptoms ( β = .21), and adolescent positive emotional (PE) reactivity predicted higher depressive symptoms ( β = .13), anxiety symptoms ( β = .19), and externalizing problems ( β = .17). Parent NE reactivity predicted higher adolescent depressive symptoms ( β = .29) and externalizing problems ( β = .15). Age moderated the associations between parent reactivity and anxiety symptoms, such that higher parent NE and PE reactivity were associated with greater anxiety only among younger adolescents. Findings highlight that daily emotional reactivity to parent–adolescent conflict is associated with adolescent psychopathology and underscore that parent reactivity represents a distinct risk process, especially consequential for anxiety in early adolescence.