Journal of youth and adolescence
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Research documents that lability in parent-child relationships-fluctuations up and down in parent-child relationships-is normative during adolescence and is associated with increased risk for negative outcomes for youth. Yet little is known about factors that predict lability in parenting. This study evaluated whether children's behaviors predicted lability in parent-child relationships. ⋯ Among parents with high levels of internalizing problems, higher levels of youth maladjustment were associated with greater lability in parents' warmth. Among parents with low in internalizing problems, higher levels of youth maladjustment were associated with less lability in parents' warmth. The discussion focuses on how and why parent internalizing problems may affect parental reactivity to youth problem behavior and intervention implications.