Different Families, Diverse Strengths: Long-Term Implications of Early Childhood Family Processes on Adolescent Positive Functioning

With studies primarily focusing on family risk factors on adolescent maladjustment, less is known about positive family processes that facilitate adolescent positive development. This study aimed to identify different configurations of parental involvement and interparental affection during early childhood from a person-centered approach and examine their long-term implications on adolescent positive functioning at age 15. In a sample of 495 2-parent families (53.3% boys; mothers: 42.0% White, 24.7% Black, 27.4% Hispanic, 5.9% other; family income: Median = $42,500), both parents reported interparental affection and their involvement with the child at the child's age 1 and 5, respectively. Adolescents reported their engagement, perseverance, optimism, connectedness, and happiness at age 15. Six profiles of early family processes were identified via the latent profile analysis, including Child-Centered (13.3%; average to high parental involvement and low interparental affection), Distressed Mother (14.5%; low mother involvement and mothers perceiving less affection from fathers), Collaborative (9.9%; relatively more mother involvement with the child and relatively more fathers' affection toward mothers), Cohesive (36.0%; high parental involvement and high interparental affection), Couple-Centered (19.6%; low parental involvement and high interparental affection), and Disengaged (6.7%; low parental involvement and low interparental affection) families. At age 15 (after controlling for family demographics), adolescents in Child-Centered families reported more engagement, adolescents in Cohesive families reported more happiness, adolescents in Cohesive and Collaborative families reported more perseverance and connectedness, and adolescents in Disengaged families reported the lowest optimism. Results highlight that different family configurations during early childhood have differentiated implications on adolescent positive functioning.