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Developmental Assets, Defiance, and Caregiver Communication among Black Adolescents with High Body Weights

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Abstract

Families facing significant stressors may be particularly vulnerable to less adaptive adolescent-caregiver communication, which can foster adolescent oppositional defiant behaviors (ODB). Black adolescents with high body weights (i.e., Body Mass Index [BMI] ≥ 95th percentile) face a myriad of intrapersonal and interpersonal stressors. However, the developmental assets model suggests that adolescent assets (i.e., positive characteristics and resources) may disrupt negative associations between risk factors and negative outcomes. The present study uses a strengths-based approach to assess whether adolescent assets strengthen or weaken the relation between adolescent ODB and adolescent-caregiver communication among Black adolescents with high body weights. Black youth aged 11–17 years and one of their primary caregivers (N = 64, 32 adolescent–caregiver dyads) were recruited from a healthy lifestyle clinic at a Midsouth pediatric hospital. Youth completed in-person interviews, while caregivers completed questionnaires assessing adolescent ODB, adolescent assets, and adolescent–caregiver communication. Two moderation models were conducted to examine associations between ODB and communication, with adolescent assets as a moderator, based on adolescent- and caregiver-report, respectively. The adolescent moderation model was significant, and the interaction between ODB and assets was significantly associated with communication. In the caregiver moderation model, the interaction effect was nonsignificant. Overall, assets were associated with adaptive adolescent–caregiver communication and acted as a buffer among Black adolescents with high body weights. Study findings highlight the potential value of strengths-based interventions among adolescent–caregiver dyads in which challenging communication or behavior exist.

Highlights

  • Adolescent assets associated with adaptive adolescent-caregiver communication

  • For Black adolescents with high body weights, assets provide buffering effect

  • Assets disrupt negative relation between oppositional defiance and communication

  • Assets-based approaches are important for work with adolescent-caregiver dyads

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the undergraduate and graduate research assistants who helped with data collection for this project including Jazmyne Burton, Kristina Decker, Robin Hardin, Caroline Kaufman, Andrew Paladino, Lauren Schaefer, and Laura Schwartz. We would also like to thank the youth and caregivers who trusted us with their stories via this research project.

Funding

This study was funded by the University of Memphis External Funding Stimulus Grant (PI: IBT). This support does not necessarily imply endorsement by the University of Memphis of the study’s research conclusions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, USA

    Jessica E. Mandell & Kathryn H. Howell

  2. Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

    Idia B. Thurston

  3. Department of Health Promotion and Community Health Sciences, Texas A&M Health, College Station, TX, USA

    Idia B. Thurston

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  1. Jessica E. Mandell
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The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

IRB and Informed Consent Statement

The study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the Institutional Review Board of The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (Protocol # 17-05276-XP UM). Informed consent was obtained from all participants involved in the study.

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Mandell, J.E., Howell, K.H. & Thurston, I.B. Developmental Assets, Defiance, and Caregiver Communication among Black Adolescents with High Body Weights. J Child Fam Stud 31, 910–922 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-021-02043-w

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