Molly Miller

The consistency of positive parent-child interactions has been associated with better psychological adjustment for adolescents. Specifically greater parental warmth and support predict lower risky behaviors, less depressive symptoms, and fewer physical health problems in youth (Bornstein, 2006). However, Lerner (2013) suggests these outcomes are likely based on bidirectional effects as adolescents play an active role in interactions with their parent. Adolescents reference their history of interactions with their parent as they anticipate future social and emotional behaviors (Lerner, 2013). Youth who are more engaged with their parents perceive their parents as sources of emotional support and utilize their support in times of intense emotional distress (Helsen et al., 2000). When analyzing the quality of parent-child interactions, research generally focuses on a single facet of the interaction such as the overall quality of the parent-child relationship or a score for parental supportiveness (Abar et al., 2014; Van Petegem et al., 2017). Scant research has examined an adolescent’s unique contribution to this interaction. The present study sought to determine whether a latent variable of teen engagement when conversing with a parent could be ascertained. Structural equation modeling was used to test this confirmatory factor analysis model. The model determined excellent fit. Findings highlight the importance of examining multiple dimensions of an adolescent’s engagement with their parents during a discussion of salient and current friendship events.

Molly Miller is a second-year M.S. candidate in the Psychological Sciences Department at William & Mary. She is currently working on her Master's Thesis which looks at predictors of adolescent internalizing symptoms through the analysis of parent emotion socialization, adolescent adaptive emotion regulation, and adolescent friendship quality. She plans to continue on to a Clinical Psychology Ph.D. where she hopes to study predictors of psychopathology through examination of relationships.