Quantity and quality of maternal consulting: Associations with adolescents' loneliness and peer victimization

Author ORCID Identifier

Natalie Low: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6418-537X

Nina S. Mounts: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7435-6187

Publication Title

Journal of Adolescence

ISSN

01401971

E-ISSN

10959254

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Introduction: The goal of this investigation was to understand the way in which the quantity and quality of maternal consulting are related to adolescents' peer victimization and loneliness and to examine whether these associations were moderated by adolescents' social competence. Method: An ethnically diverse sample of 70 early adolescents (Mage = 12.39 years; 51.4% girls) and their mothers, living in the United States, completed questionnaires and were video recorded discussing hypothetical peer-related issues. Quantity of maternal consulting was assessed using adolescents' reports and observers' assessments. Observers' assessments of the quality (e.g., benign interpretation, threatening interpretations, and prosocial strategies) of maternal consulting were also examined. Results: Analyses revealed that adolescents' reports of higher quantity of consulting predicted lower levels of peer victimization. Observers' assessments of higher quantity of maternal consulting were related to higher levels of peer victimization. More frequent threatening interpretations by mothers were related to higher levels of peer victimization. More frequent benign interpretations by mothers were related to higher levels of loneliness. However, higher use of prosocial strategies by mothers were related to lower levels of loneliness. Social competence moderated the direct associations such that contrasting patterns of results emerged for the adolescents' reports of consulting versus the observers' reports of consulting. Conclusion: Findings shed light on the way in which quantity and quality of maternal consulting differentially predicts adolescents' peer victimization and loneliness.

First Page

305

Last Page

317

Publication Date

4-1-2022

DOI

10.1002/jad.12020

PubMed ID

35390192

Keywords

adolescence, loneliness, maternal consulting, peer victimization

Department

Department of Psychology

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