The Moderating Effect Of Mother-adolescent Co-rumination On The Relationship Between Maternal Anxiety And Adolescent Internalizing Problems

Internalizing problems are common indicators of adolescents’ adjustment.Maternal anxiety has an important effect on adolescents internalizing problems.Thus,the exploration of the mechanism underlying the effect of maternal anxiety on adolescent internalizing problems is of great theoretical and practical significance.Co-rumination is a kind of maladaptive interpersonal interaction,which has an important influence on adolescent development.However,the relationship between maternal anxiety,Chinese mother-adolescent co-rumination and adolescent internalizing problems hasn’t been explored.The current study aims at exploring the influence of maternal anxiety on adolescent internalizing problems and the moderating effect of mother-adolescent co-rumination in early adolescence.Study one is a 1-year longitudinal study.Participants included 242 adolescents and their mothers in two middle school in Qionglai,Sichuan province.Adolescent internalizing problems,mother-adolescent co-rumination,mother-adolescent self-disclosure and maternal anxiety were measured by self-report questionnaires.The results indicated that maternal anxiety can positively predict adolescent internalizing problems.Both of co-rumination about mothers’ problems and adolescents’ problems cannot predict adolescent internalizing problems.In addition,the interaction between the types of co-rumination and gender moderates the influence of maternal anxiety on adolescent anxiety.Specifically,for girls,only co-rumination about adolescents’ problems can significantly predict their anxiety,for boys,both of co-rumination about mothers’ problems and adolescents’ problems can predict their anxiety.Finally,both of co-rumination about mothers’ problems and adolescents’ problems can exacerbate the effect of maternal anxiety on adolescent depressive symptoms.39 adolescents from study one were invited to participate in study two.The behavioral observational method was used to explore the co-rumination in the interactive process between mothers and adolescents.The specific mother-adolescent interaction has been recorded and transcribed.The co-rumination score was coded.The results indicate that co-rumination can exacerbate the influence of maternal anxiety on adolescent anxiety.In conclusion,maternal anxiety has an impact on adolescent internalizing problems.Mother-adolescent co-rumination moderates the effect of maternal anxiety on adolescent anxiety.