Advisor(s)
Caroline Richter
Committee Member(s)
Christopher Henrich
Jacqueline Chen
School
College of Arts and Sciences
Document Type
Thesis
Department (new version)
Psychology
Date of Award
9-11-2025
Abstract
Parenting practices and caregiver well-being are widely recognized as key determinants of adolescent mental health. However, few studies have examined how these factors operate in the context of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), particularly through a risk and resilience framework. This study investigated how positive and negative parenting practices, caregiver well-being, and parenting stress relate to adolescents’ emotional well-being and internalizing problems. It also explored whether these variables differed between adolescents with and without NDDs. Participants included 105 adolescents aged 11–14 years (61.9% female; 52.4% diagnosed with an NDD) and their caregivers, drawn from a larger study on adolescent socio-emotional competencies. Caregivers completed measures of parenting practices, parenting stress, and caregiver well-being, while adolescents reported on emotional well-being and internalizing symptoms and completed standardized cognitive and academic assessments. Key demographic variables such as child IQ, maternal education, and household income were included. Contrary to expectations, hierarchical regression models revealed no significant predictive effects of parenting practices or parental well-being on adolescent mental health outcomes, and no significant group differences were found. However, bivariate correlations revealed several meaningful associations. Emotional well-being and internalizing problems were strongly and negatively correlated, suggesting potential measurement overlap between related dimensions of mental well-being. Positive parenting was associated with lower parenting stress and higher caregiver well-being, while negative parenting was linked to greater parenting stress. Demographic factors also played a role: higher household income was associated with better caregiver well-being and lower parenting stress; caregivers of girls reported lower well-being; and older adolescents reported more internalizing symptoms. The lack of significant regression findings may be partly due to informant mismatch—caregiver-reported predictors were used to model adolescent-reported outcomes. This difference likely introduced variability and attenuated associations, consistent with prior research showing modest agreement between parent and adolescent reports of parenting and internalizing symptoms. These findings underscore the complexity of modeling adolescent well-being and highlight the importance of using multi-informant, longitudinal designs to better understand resilience processes in youth with and without NDDs.
ProQuest ID
Recommended Citation
Yu, Wanqin, "Parenting And Parental Well-Being As Risk And Resilience Factors For Mental Well-Being In Adolescents With And Without Neurodevelopmental Disorders" (2025). All ETDs from UAB. 7444.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/7444
