The Influence of Mother-Child Relationship on Children’s Emotional Symptoms and Adaptive Skills
Yea Seul Pyun, B.A., Sarah K. Sifers, Ph.D.
Abstract
Investigated the mother-child relationship and
adolescents’ emotional symptoms and adaptive skills
reported by youth. Negative mother-child
relationship was related to higher emotional
symptoms and lower adaptive skills. Gender was not
associated with emotional symptoms or adaptive
skills. No interaction between gender and motherchild relationship was found.
Introduction
Parent-child relationships are associated with
children’s externalizing problems (Garnefski &
Diekstra, 1996; Sandler, Miles, Cookston, & Braver,
2008; Yahav, 2007), internalizing problems (Yahav,
2007), depression (Meadows, Brown, & Elder, 2006;
Schraedley, Gotlib, & Hayward, 1999), emotional
problems (Garnefski & Diekstra, 1996), social skills
(Feldman, Bamberger, & Kanat-Maymon, 2013), and
sexual behaviors (Deptula, Henry, & Schoeny, 2010).
Positive relationships with both parents are
important in children’s lives, but relationships with
mothers specifically warrant attention because
children often report closer relationships with
mothers (Levin & Currie, 2010). Moreover, children’s
relationships with fathers and mothers may have
different impacts on children because their parenting
styles are different. For example, mothers had higher
positive parenting and supervision skills than fathers
did (Gryczkowski Jordan, & Mercer, 2010). In this
sense, mothers’ warmth was related to internalizing
problems, but fathers’ warmth was not related
(Sandler et al., 2008). Positive mother-child
relationships also are more responsible for reducing
problem behaviors than father-child relationships
(Furstenberg, Morgan, & Allison, 1987). In addition,
boys and girls may perceive different levels of
relationships with their fathers and mothers
(Johnson, 1987), such that girls report less support
from parents than boys (Graziano Bonino, &
Cattelino, 2009). Therefore, it is important to look at
how mothers’ relationships with youth and gender
influence youths’ mental health.
Most research has used information from parents and
teachers and failed to focus on how children perceive
the effects of the mother-child relationships on their
mental health. Parents have self-reported less conflict
and more family involvement compared to their
children’s report (Stevens, De Bourdeaudhuij, & Van
Oost, 2002). The current study investigates the
association between children’s perception of motherchild relationship and emotional problems and
adaptive skills.
Minnesota State University, Mankato
Method
Youth were invited to participate in the project through Youth Voice, a program providing marginalized youth
the opportunity to speak about their needs in a small Midwestern metropolitan area. A total of 48 adolescents
completed the Child and Adolescent Social and Adaptive Functioning Scale, Family, Friends, and Self Form
(CASAFS) and the Behavioral Assessment System for Children, Second Edition, Self-Report (BASC). In this study,
adolescents’ perception of the relationship with their mother was measured with one item, “I have a good
relationship with my mother.” The score 5 (not applicable) was interpreted as to be the most negative
relationship with mother for the current study and scores from 1 to 4 were reversely recoded. Therefore, higher
scores indicate worse relationships. BASC composite scores of emotional symptoms and personal adjustment
were used in the current study to measure adolescents’ mental health. Higher scores on emotion symptoms
indicate the presence of mental health concerns and lower scores on personal adjustment indicate less adaptive
skills. It was hypothesized that hierarchical multiple regression analyses would indicate that negative motherchild relationships would be associated with higher emotional symptoms and lower adaptive skills and that girls
would be more influenced by mother-child relationship than boys.
Variable
Gender
Female
Male
n
48
38
10
%
100%
79%
21%
Variable
Age
Relationship with Mother
Emotional Symptoms
Personal Adjustment
M
15.08
2.04
53.03
47.64
SD
2.54
1.18
13.16
10.03
Range
12-22
1-5
30-84
28-65
Adolescents’ Mental Health
Emotional symptoms Personal adjustment
Predictor
Model 1
ΔR2
β
.38*
ΔR2
β
.43*
Mother-child relationship
.60*
-.64*
Gender
-.05
.06
Model 2
.00*
.01*
Mother-child relationship
.42
-.26
Gender
-.15
.25
Mother-child relationship ×
gender
.19
-.39
n
40
39
Results
Although 48 youth participated in the study, only participants who had valid scores for all measures for the
study’s purposes were included in the analyses. Multiple linear regression was used to explore the relationships
between mother-child relationship and emotional symptoms and personal adjustment in youth. Firstly, the
emotional symptoms were predicted by the main effect model with mother-child relationship and gender (F(2,
37) = 11.48, p < .001). However, mother-child relationship was the only significant predictor of the emotional
symptoms. The interaction model of mother-child relationship and gender was significant (F(3, 36) = 7.52, p <
.001), but there was not a significant interaction effect between mother-child relationship and age on
emotional symptoms.
The main effect model for mother-child relationship and age was a significant (F(2, 36) = 13.68, p < .001).
However, personal adjustment was only explained by mother-child relationship, not adolescents’ ages. The
interaction model of mother-child relationship and age was also found to be significant (F(3, 35) = 9.20, p <
.001), but there was not a significant interaction effect between mother-child relationship and age on personal
adjustment.
Discussion
Children who had negative relationship with their mothers
reported higher emotional symptoms and lower adaptive
skills. However, gender did not predict emotional
symptoms or adaptive skills. There was no interaction
between gender and mother-child relationship. Positive
mother-child relationships are associated with lower rates
of emotional difficulties and better adaptive skills,
suggesting that fostering positive mother-child
relationships is an important goal for improving youths’
well-being. However, the mother-child relationship was
only measured by one item. Other methods should be
used to measure the relationship between mother and
child. The non-significance of gender differences could be
due to mother-child relationship being equally important
across genders or males being underrepresented in the
sample. Future research should include more male
participants to find how gender might play a role with
mother-child relationship on emotional symptoms and
adaptive skills.
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