(PS13-B33) Perceived Parent-child Relationship Quality and Internalizing Behavior Among College Students: Moderation by Current Living Situation

Introduction: More than 60% of college students meet criteria for a mental disorder (Lipson et al., 2022). In college students, prevalence rates of internalizing disorders have increased by 50% in the last decade (Lipson et al., 2022) with disorders like anxiety and depression being the most common (American College Health Association, 2018). Internalizing behavior symptoms (IBs) describe harmful behaviors that are directed at oneself (e.g., social withdrawal, negative self-talk) and are associated with many adverse life outcomes. Fortunately, higher quality parent-child relationships are associated with less IBs in emerging adulthood (Steele & McKinney, 2019). This is important considering that the transition to college can be a particularly stressful period, especially for students who leave home for college relative to those who continue to live at home (Wannebo & Wichstrom, 2009). This study examined how the effects of mother- and father-child relationships on IBs may vary by students’ current living situation.  

Method: The sample consisted of 178 college students (87.1% Female, 62.9% White) recruited from a college campus in the Southeastern United States. Participants provided information about their current living situation and completed self-report measures of the Parent-Child Relationship Survey (Fine et al., 1983) and Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995). Students’ current living situation was examined as a contextual factor that may moderate the effects of mother- and father-child relationship and IBs.  

Results: Two moderation models were estimated in PROCESS (Hayes, 2022) to separately examine the effects of mother- and father-child relationship on IBs. For maternal figures, the only significant effect was the main effect of mother-child relationship quality on IBs (B = -7, p</span> < .001). For paternal figures, the main effects of father-child relationship quality and living situation on IBs were nonsignificant. However, there was a significant interaction (B = -6.52, p = .03), such that a higher quality father-child relationship was associated with a decrease in IBs among students who live in the same household as their father (B = -5.81, p = .02) relative to students who do not live in the same household as their father (B = .71, p = .68). The simple slope plots revealed that IBs were highest among students with a low-quality father-child relationship who also live at home with their father.   

Discussion: This study furthers our understanding of parent-child relationships and the context in which they are associated with IBs among emerging adults. Findings indicated that college students with higher quality relationships with their mother report fewer IBs. The effect of father-child relationship quality on college-student IBs, however, was only significant for students who lived with their father. Therapeutic support and other housing options should be considered among college-aged students who may be struggling from heightened IBs because of the combined impact of father-child relationship quality and living situation.