Parental Depression and Economic Disadvantage: The Role of Parenting in Associations with Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms in Children and Adolescents

The development of a measure of coping and involuntary stress responses in adolescence is described. The Responses to Stress Questionnaire (RSQ) reflects a conceptual model that includes volitional coping efforts and involuntary responses to specific stressful events or specified domains of stress. The psychometric characteristics of the RSQ were examined across 4 domains of stress in 3 samples of adolescents and parent reports obtained in 2 samples. The factor structure of the RSQ was tested and replicated with an adequate degree of fit using confirmatory factor analysis across 3 stressors in 2 samples. Internal consistency and retest reliability for the 5 factors were adequate to excellent. Concurrent validity was established through correlations with another measure of coping, heart rate reactivity, and correlations of self- and parent-reports. Significant correlations with both adolescents' and parents' reports of internalizing and externalizing symptoms were consistent with hypotheses.

In the first half of this review, the authors critically evaluate existing research on the association between stressors and symptoms of psychopathology in children and adolescents. This analysis reveals (a) problems with conceptualizations of stress, (b) variability in measurement of stressors, and (c) lack of theory-driven research. To address these problems, the authors propose a general conceptual model of the relation between stressors and child and adolescent psychopathology. The authors examine basic tenets of this general model in the second half of this article by testing a specific model in which negative parenting mediates the relation between economic stressors and psychological symptoms in young people. Results generally provide support for the specific model as well as for the broader model.