Parenting, Coparenting, and Adolescent Adjustment in African American Single-Mother Families: An Actor-Partner Interdependence Mediation Model

This study examined family processes on the adjustment of adolescents from single-mother households using a dyadic approach. Participants included 107 noncohabiting Black parental dyads of adolescents aged 12 to 18 years. Each parent completed measures of positive parenting. parent-child relationship quality, parental depressive symptoms, coparenting relationship quality, and adolescent adjustment. Data were analyzed using the actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) and extended mediational model (APIMeM) within a structural equation modeling framework. APIM demonstrated significant actor effects from parent-child relationship quality and parental depressive symptoms to both adolescent externalizing and internalizing problems as well as significant partner effects from parent-child relationship quality to adolescent externalizing problems for both mothers and fathers. Additionally, APIMeM revealed significant indirect actor and partner effects from parent-child relationship quality to externalizing behavior through one's own and one's coparent's coparenting relationship quality for both parents. Indirect actor effects were also observed from positive parenting to externalizing behavior through one's own perception of coparenting relationship quality for both parents. Both APIM and APIMeM models found a significant gender difference for the direct effect from positive parenting to externalizing problems. Specifically. the association was negative for mothers in both models; whereas it was nonsignificant (APIM) and positive (APIMeM) for fathers. This study highlights the unique contributions of mother's and father's parent and coparent factors on one's own, and one's coparent's, perception of adolescent adjustment.