The Relation between Parenting Transitions and Adjustment in Young Adolescents

Abstract
For three independent samples (mean age = 12.33 years, n = 711; mean age = 10.89 years, n = 225; and mean age = 12.05 years, n = 534, respectively), young adolescents who had experienced 0, 1, 2, and multiple parenting transitions were compared on adjustment scores that were derived from self-reports of grades, health, drug abstinence, self-esteem, and self-mastery (Sample 1); peer reports of peer acceptance (Sample 2); and parent reports of well-being (Sample 3). Overall, there was qualified evidence of a negative linear relation between the number of parenting transitions experienced and adjustment. With controls for parenting transition effects, parenting practices regarding involvement and supervision accounted for unique variability in adjustment in each sample.