Longitudinal associations between Mexican-origin youth’s relationships with parents, siblings, and friends and individual adjustment

Across adolescence and into young adulthood, as youth experience both normative developmental and stressful life changes, close and supportive relationships are essential for healthy adjustment. Supportive relationships may be especially important for protecting Mexican-origin youth from developing depressive symptoms and engaging in risky behaviors given the emphasis within Mexican culture on close relationships, especially in families. With longitudinal data, we examined the associations between Mexican-origin youth’s relationships with mothers, fathers, siblings, and best friends and their adjustment across adolescence and into young adulthood. Participants were 246 Mexican-origin families with a 7th grader (younger sibling) and at least one older sibling, a mother, and a father at Time 1 (T1). Youth participated in home interviews at T1 and again five (T2) and eight (T3) years later. At T1, younger siblings were 12.55 (SD = .60) and older siblings were 15.48 (SD = 1.57) years old. Findings indicated that, with sibling and friend characteristics in the models, mother and father acceptance and conflict were significantly linked to youth positive and negative adjustment, respectively. Both sibling conflict and, consistent with a “partners in crime” process (Slomkowski et al., 2001; p. 273), sibling intimacy (of younger adolescents only), were linked to risky behavior. Same-gender friend conflict also was linked to risky behavior, but neither sibling nor friend relationships were linked to depressive symptoms. Some relationship effects were moderated by gender and age. Together, our findings have implications for programs aimed at preventing adjustment problems.