Consistency matters: Consistency in the timing and quality of daily interactions between parents and adolescents predicts production of proinflammatory cytokines in youths

Abstract The current study examined whether consistency in day-to-day interactions between children and parents related to inflammatory cytokine production in youths. One hundred twenty-three parents recorded the daily quality of interactions and timing of leisure activities with their adolescent children for 2 weeks, and the degree of variability in those ratings was calculated. One year later, the production of proinflammatory cytokines in youths’ blood was measured in response to in vitro exposure to lipopolysaccharide (a bacterial product). The results indicate that greater variability in parent–child relationship quality related to greater stimulated proinflammatory cytokine production in youths, above and beyond overall relationship quality. Greater variability in the timing of parent–child leisure activities also predicted greater stimulated proinflammatory cytokine production in youths, regardless of the frequency of interactions. In sum, consistency in both the affective and temporal aspects of parent–child relationships may contribute to inflammatory processes in youth.