Parent–Child Discrepancies in Perceived Parental Coparenting During the COVID-19 Lockdown: Associations With Chinese Adolescents' Emotional Well-Being

Abstract

Parent–child discrepancies in reports of perceived parenting behaviors are common and have been linked to adolescent mental health. However, little is known about these discrepancies for parenting behaviors involving the father–mother–child triad, such as coparenting, and their impact on adolescents' emotional well-being, especially during extraordinary circumstances such as lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study tested a mediating model to examine whether and how discrepancy patterns are associated with depression and anxiety in adolescents through emotion regulation strategies (e.g., expressive suppression, cognitive reappraisal) among Chinese families during the pandemic. The participants included 747 adolescents (48.6% male; M_age = 13.26 years, SD = 3.39) and both their mothers and fathers. Adolescents completed assessments of perceived parental coparenting behaviors, emotion regulation strategies, depression, and anxiety. Parents completed assessments of their own coparenting behaviors. Latent profile analysis with a person-centered approach was used to identify four profiles of parent–child discrepancies in negative coparenting and three profiles in positive coparenting. Adolescents who reported more negative coparenting (i.e., conflict and disparagement) or less positive coparenting (i.e., integrity and reprimand) than their parents adopted increased expressive suppression and decreased cognitive reappraisal, which were associated with higher levels of depression and anxiety during the pandemic. This study emphasizes the importance of comprehending the patterns of parent–child discrepancies in family dynamics and highlights the practical importance of improving emotion regulation strategies in adolescents from maladaptive family patterns to maintain their emotional well-being.