Causal Relations Between Behavior Problems and Caregiver and Peer Relationships Among Adolescents in Child Welfare

Background: The mother and child relationship has been found to be important to child development. At the same time, adolescents increasingly interact with others outside the family as they mature. In particular, adolescence is a period during which peer groups are likely to have an increasing influence on youths' emotional, behavioral, and social functioning (Wulczyn et al., 2005). The reciprocal nature of these relationships is observed in that adolescents' peer relationships have been reported to attenuate the negative effects of family adversity (Criss et al., 2002). Conversely, youth who have insecure attachment styles are frequently less popular with peers (Bohlin et al., 2000). In addition, another set of contributing factors to these relationships includes youth behavior problems, particularly externalizing behavior problems, which may obstruct building close relationships with caregivers and peers. This study aimed to examine how youths' relationships with caregivers and peers, along with the presence of behavior problems, affect and interact with each other over time. The present study examined the temporal causal relations among caregiver relationships, peer relationships, and behavior problems of adolescents in child welfare.

Methods: The study used baseline, 18-month, and 36-month follow-ups from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being (NSCAW). The final sample included 950 youth aged 11 to 15. CBCL Youth Self Report Internalizing and Externalizing behavior raw scores were used to measure youth behavior problems. Relatedness to the caregiver was measured using a shortened version of the Relatedness scale from the Rochester Assessment Package for Schools. Peer relationship was measured by the Loneliness and Social Dissatisfaction Questionnaire. Autoregressive cross-lagged design (ARCL) was conducted using M-Plus 5.1.

Results: The results indicated that youths' behavior problems (both internalizing and externalizing) and relationships with caregivers and peers were considerably stable over time. In particular, the stability was most significant in youths' externalizing behavior problems (â=0.63, p<.001). Cross-lagged paths among the variables were also found above and beyond the autoregressive effects. Regarding externalizing problems, it is notable that youths' externalizing behavior problems at time 2 significantly predicted their relationships with caregivers (â=-0.15, p<.05) and peers (â=0.14, p<.05) at time 3. Time 1 internalizing behavior problems significantly predicted time 2 caregiver relationships (â=-0.17, p<.05). Time 2 caregiver relationships, in turn, were predictive of time 3 peer relationships (â=-0.13, p<.05). Time 1 peer relationships were related to time 2 internalizing behavior problems (â=0.14, p<.05).

Conclusions: The results demonstrate that adolescents show highly stable problem behaviors over time. It is also suggested that youths' externalizing behavior problems, such as aggression and delinquency, may cause them difficulties in building close relationships with caregivers or peers in school. The results indicate that youths' behavioral problems and relationships qualities contribute to each other interactively and reciprocally over time. The finding suggests that integrated service provision—focusing on both behavior problems and relationships deficits- to children and families could be more effective in promoting positive adaption for child welfare youth.