Longitudinal Associations Between Aspects of the Parent-Child Relationship, Expressive Suppression, and Outcomes in Parentally Bereaved Youth

Relations between two aspects of the parent-child relationship, parent warmth and modeling of emotion expression, and youth internalizing and externalizing problems and maladaptive grief were examined in a longitudinal sample of parentally bereaved youth. Youth expressive suppression was tested as a mediator of these relations and youth age was examined as a moderator. Parentally bereaved youth (N=244) aged 8 to 16 and their parents were assessed at three timepoints. Across 14 months, parent modeling of maladaptive emotion expression was significantly associated with increased parent report of both internalizing and externalizing problems, and youth report of parental warmth was significantly associated with decreased youth report of externalizing problems. There was no support for youth expressive suppression mediating these relations and the pattern of relations did not differ significantly by youth age. Implications for intervention programs targeting parents and youth are discussed.