The Link Between Negative Mother-Adolescent Relationship Quality and Internalizing Problems: Exploring the Mediating Role of Frustration of Basic Psychological Needs With Dyadic Analysis Method

Abstract

Research has aimed to understand how the psychological well-being of both mothers and their adolescents is influenced by the quality of their relationship, yet few studies have examined possible mediating mechanisms. Drawing from the basic psychological need theory, this study aims to examine the mediating role of the frustration of basic psychological needs in this relation by using a dyadic analysis method. The sample consisted of 230 mother (Mage = 45.47, SD = 5.31) and adolescent (Mage = 15.79, SD = 1.84; 56.1% of them were female) dyads. The Negative Quality of Mother-Adolescent Psychological Needs Satisfaction and Frustration Scale, and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale were used for data collection. The results of the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model Extended to Mediation (APIMeM) reveled that when mothers reported negative relationship quality, it was positively associated with frustration of both their own and their adolescent's needs. However, when adolescents reported negative relationship quality, it was only positively linked to their own needs frustration, which, in turn, positively associated with both their own and their mother's internalizing problems. On the other hand, mother's needs frustration was only positively linked to her own internalizing problems. This suggests that adolescent's needs frustration played a significant mediating role in the link between negative relationship quality and internalizing problems for almost all pathways (except for the link between mother's report of negative motproblems. Research findings were discussed in the light of the basic psychological need theory.