Parent-Child Relationships and Adjustment in Adolescence: Findings from the HBSC Cycle 3 and NLSCY Cycle 2 Studies Technical Report to Division of Childhood and Adolescence, Public Health Agency of Canada Anna Beth Doyle, Ph.D., Concordia University Marlene M. Moretti, Ph.D., Simon Fraser University Mara Brendgen, Ph.D., Université du Québec à Montréal William Bukowski, Ph.D., Concordia University Executive Summary The primary focus of this project was to examine developmental changes in parent-child relationships, and their associations with child adjustment between late childhood and mid- adolescence. These questions were addressed using data from two large, nationally representative samples of Canadian children and adolescents. Recommendations for healthy parenting practices and government initiatives are summarized. Background Research has shown that secure attachment to parents facilitates children's adaptive adjustment. Securely attached children experience their parents as available and responsive to their needs. This security fosters adaptive exploration and buffers children from stress. In contrast, children who experience their parents as unavailable, unresponsive or rejecting become insecurely attached, and avoid relying on their parents for support. These avoidantly attached children derive little protection or guidance within their relationships with their parents. Children who experience their parents as inconsistent in their availability and responsiveness also become insecurely attached, specifically anxious or preoccupied. These anxiously attached or preoccupied children are never certain of attracting the support of their parents and tend to be dependent and clingy. In a recent review of the published literature, Doyle and Moretti (2000) identified considerable evidence that secure attachment continues to contribute to adjustment in adolescence. For example, more positive attachment to parents among 15-year-olds has been found to be associated with fewer mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, inattention and conduct problems (Nada-Raja, McGee & Stanton, 1992). Though attachment was not specifically assessed, adolescents who report a positive relationship with their parents, and who feel comfortable turning to them for support, have been found to have a greater sense of mastery of their worlds (Paterson, Pryor & Field, 1995) and to experience less loneliness (Kerns & Stevens, 1996). Just as parental sensitivity and responsiveness contribute to secure attachment in infancy, parental warmth/involvement, encouragement of increasing self-control and decision making, appropriate limit setting and monitoring appear to foster secure attachment and adjustment in late childhood and early adolescence (Baumrind, 1991; Steinberg, Dornbusch & Brown, 1992; Karavasilis, Doyle & Margolese, 1999). Low warmth and low control may be particularly associated with dismissing/avoidant attachment, and low psychological autonomy granting with preoccupied attachment. Similarly, hostile punishment and coercive interactions between parents and children combined with poor parental monitoring have been found to contribute to conduct problems in preadolescence and antisocial behaviour in adolescence (Dishion, Patterson, Stoolmiller & Skinner, 1991; Conger, Patterson & Ge, 1995). Very few of the reviewed studies, however, involved families in Canada and many were based on only small samples. Moreover,