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Manuscript_f58d656059a6d69ddd1436163cab2a79

Adolescent Coping with Academic Challenges:

The Role of Parental Socialization of Coping

Kelly M. Tu, Tianying Cai, & Xiaomei Li

Department of Human Development and Family Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-

Champaign

Author Note

Kelly M. Tu, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign; Tianying Cai, Department of Human Development and Family Studies,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Xiaomei Li, Department of Human Development
and Family Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
This research was supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture,
Hatch project (ILLU-793-344) awarded to Kelly M. Tu.
Correspondence concerning this manuscript should be addressed to Kelly M. Tu,
Department of Human Development and Family Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign, 2009 Christopher Hall, MC-018, 904 West Nevada Street, Urbana, IL 61801. Email:
[email protected].
Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank the families and teachers for their
participation in this study. We would also like to thank the school administrators for their
assistance in recruitment. Lastly, we would like to acknowledge the project staff for all of their
hard work in data collection and analysis/cleaning.
Conflict of Interest Statement: The authors have no conflict of interest to report.

© 2020 published by Elsevier. This manuscript is made available under the Elsevier user license
https://www.elsevier.com/open-access/userlicense/1.0/
SOCIALIZATION OF ACADEMIC COPING 1

Adolescent Coping with Academic Challenges:

The Role of Parental Socialization of Coping

SOCIALIZATION OF ACADEMIC COPING 2

Abstract

Introduction: How youth cope with academic challenges has important implications for their

academic outcomes. The contributions of parental involvement have been relatively well-

established; however, few, if any studies have investigated the role of parental socialization of

academic coping (i.e., coping suggestions) in shaping youth coping with academic challenges.

Methods: Using a community sample from the United States, we utilized a multi-informant,

longitudinal design to investigate the prospective association between parental socialization of

academic coping and adolescent coping with academic challenges. Adolescent gender was also

examined as a moderator of associations. Participants included 86 two-parent families (53%

boys; 38-52% ethnic minorities). At Time 1, mothers and fathers reported on their problem-

solving, help-seeking, and disengaged coping suggestions in response to three hypothetical

academic challenge scenarios (i.e., forgetting about or performing poorly on an assignment,

difficulties managing academic demands). At Times 1 and 2, adolescents reported on their

coping strategies (e.g., strategizing, help-seeking, escape) in response to academic challenges.

Results: Father-reported problem-focused suggestions were associated with youths’ more

adaptive coping (e.g., strategizing, help-seeking) over time. Interestingly, father-reported

disengaged suggestions were associated with less maladaptive coping over time. Further,

adolescent gender moderated associations linking mothers’ and fathers’ problem-focused

suggestions and fathers’ help-seeking and disengaged suggestions with adolescent coping over

time. Conclusions: Overall, fathers’ coping suggestions were associated with more adaptive

coping for girls as compared with boys. Findings highlight the role of parental socialization of

coping, particularly fathers’ role, in the academic domain.

Keywords: parenting, socialization, coping, academics, middle school

SOCIALIZATION OF ACADEMIC COPING 3

Adolescent Coping with Academic Challenges:

The Role of Parental Socialization of Academic Coping

Academic demands and expectations increase during early adolescence as greater

importance is placed on academic achievement for youths’ future success (e.g., Luthar &

Latendresse, 2005). Although youth coping with academic demands has implications for their

subsequent academic achievement (Skinner, Pitzer, & Steele, 2013; Skinner & Wellborn, 1997),

how youth are socialized to cope with academic demands is less well-understood. In general,

parents play a key socializing role in youths’ lives and can provide assistance and support in

times of stress (Bornstein, 2002; Gariépy, Honkaniemi, & Quesnel-Vallée, 2016; Valiente,

Lemery-Chalfant, & Swanson, 2009). Further, associations linking parental involvement in the

academic domain (e.g., participation at school/classroom, schoolwork assistance) with youth

academic achievement are relatively well-established (see Barger, Kim, Kuncel, & Pomerantz,

2019 for a meta-analysis). Yet, the contributions of parents’ socialization via direct suggestions

about how to cope with academic challenges (e.g., seeking help from a teacher, making a plan to

improve academic performance) has received less attention. Compared to mothers, research on

fathers’ role in socializing youth coping is particularly scarce (Kliewer, Fearnow, & Miller,

1996). Thus, the present study investigated the longitudinal associations linking mothers’ and

fathers’ socialization of academic coping with adolescents’ coping with academic challenges.

Further, with some evidence of youth gender differences in how youth cope with stress (e.g.,

Brdar & Rijavec, 2001), the type of relationships and time spent with mothers and fathers (e.g.,

Leung & He, 2010; Russell & Saebel, 1997), and some differences in the type of support

received from mothers and fathers (e.g., Crockett, Brown, Russell, & Shen, 2007; Ratelle et al.,

2017), adolescent gender was examined as a moderator of associations.

SOCIALIZATION OF ACADEMIC COPING 4

Early Adolescence and Coping with Academic Challenges

Declines in academic performance and motivation are common during early adolescence,

particularly around the transition to middle school when structural changes of the school

environment are salient. For instance, in middle school, youth may have to navigate more diverse

and demanding classes, multiple teachers with different teaching styles, and increasing academic

expectations from teachers and parents (Akos & Galassi, 2004; Cauley & Jovanovich, 2006;

Eccles & Roeser, 2011). Academic underachievement has both short- and long-term effects on

youths’ future academic success and educational and employment opportunities (e.g., Lansford,

Dodge, Pettit, & Bates, 2016). How youth cope with and manage academic challenges and

changes to their academic environment have implications for their academic adjustment and

achievement (Skinner et al., 2013; Skinner & Wellborn, 1997).

Coping frameworks distinguish overarching dimensions of coping, such as approach or

problem-focus coping (e.g., address the cause or emotional distress stemming from the stressor)

and avoidance coping (e.g., placing distance from stressor; Compas et al., 2014; Skinner &

Wellborn, 1997; Zimmer-Gembeck & Skinner, 2011). In the literatures on academic coping

and/or academic outcomes, problem- or emotion-focused coping responses have been associated

with positive outcomes, including better achievement and a greater sense of competence, control,

and autonomy (Erath, Bub, & Tu, 2016; Luo, Wang, Zhang, Chen, & Quan, 2016; Skinner et al.,

2013; Skinner & Wellborn, 1997; Valiente et al., 2009). In contrast, avoidant coping responses

have yielded poorer achievement and competence (Arsenio & Loria, 2014; Skinner & Wellborn,

1997). Thus, it may be especially important to identify how youth develop coping strategies for

managing academic challenges, which could have implications for efforts to promote youth

academic success and achievement.

SOCIALIZATION OF ACADEMIC COPING 5

Parental Socialization of Academic Coping

One line of inquiry has focused on family influences on youth coping through the

perspective of self-determination theory (SDT; Ryan & Deci, 2000, 2002), which theorizes that

meeting youths’ needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness will enable them to overcome

challenges by promoting more active, engaged coping responses (e.g., problem-solving; Raftery-

Helmer & Grolnick, 2018; Zimmer-Gembeck & Locke, 2007). Findings from several studies

have revealed associations linking parenting behaviors with youth academic coping and

adjustment. For instance, greater parental involvement (e.g., interest, participation), structure

(e.g., rules, expectations regarding school work), and autonomy support (e.g., adolescent

contributions to rules, expectations) were concurrently associated with more active and less

avoidant academic coping among middle and high school students (Raftery-Helmer & Grolnick,

2018; Zimmer-Gembeck & Locke, 2007). Further, others have found concurrent and prospective

associations with higher academic performance and adjustment (e.g., keeping up with school

work; Doctoroff & Arnold, 2017; Grolnick, Raftery-Helmer, Flamm, Marbell, & Cardemil,

2015; Ratelle et al., 2017).

Collectively, findings from studies applying the SDT framework highlight the role of

parental involvement and autonomy support in contributing to adolescent academic coping and

adjustment. Yet, a gap in the literature remains regarding how parents may influence or socialize

adolescents’ academic coping through direct coping suggestions for how to manage academic

challenges (e.g., problem-solving, help-seeking suggestions). Explicating the role of parental

socialization of academic coping may be especially important given the salience of academic

stress during the middle school transition, including difficulties with academic performance,

learning/understanding subject material, and managing teacher expectations (Goldstein, Boxer,

SOCIALIZATION OF ACADEMIC COPING 6

& Rudolph, 2015).

The socialization of coping framework proposes that one way parents can influence the

development of youth coping responses is through direct suggestions (e.g., advice-giving), which

can provide youth guidance about specific strategies and/or skills they can use to manage stress

(Kliewer et al., 1996; Kliewer, Sandler, & Wolchik, 1994). This framework has been applied to

contexts of general stress, community violence, and social stress (e.g., Abaied & Rudolph, 2011;

Kliewer et al., 1996; Tu & Ravindran, 2020), but has yet to be examined in relation to academic

stress. In this literature, socialization of coping via advice-giving has been conceptualized as

parents’ suggestions to engage with the problem or negative emotions stemming from the

problem (e.g., problem-solving, cognitive restructuring/reappraisal, emotion-focused support)

and parents’ suggestions to disengaged with the problem (e.g., ignoring, avoiding, using

distraction; Abaied & Rudolph, 2011; Kliewer et al., 1996). In sum, these studies find some

direct associations linking parents’ active, engaged coping suggestions (e.g., problem-solving,

cognitive reframing) with youths’ more active coping in response to stress and parents’

disengaged suggestions with youths’ more disengaged (or less engaged) coping (Abaied &

Rudolph, 2011; Kliewer et al., 1996, 2006). Towards advancing the literature and extending the

socialization of coping framework to the academic domain (Kliewer et al., 1996, 1994), the

present study investigated the prospective associations linking parents’ socialization of academic

coping via direct suggestions with youth coping in response to academic challenges.

Gender Differences in Parental Socialization and Adolescent Coping

Another gap in the socialization of academic coping literature is the relatively limited

focus on the role of fathers. Evidence regarding mothers’ and fathers’ parental involvement has

been mixed with some studies finding mean-level differences in mothers’ and fathers’ overall
SOCIALIZATION OF ACADEMIC COPING 7

involvement in their children’s education, with mothers being more involved (Carter &

Wojtkiewicz, 2000; Ratelle et al., 2017; see Kim & Hill, 2015 for a meta-analysis), whereas

other studies revealed no differences in the frequency or amount of academic involvement

between mothers and fathers, particularly when differentiating type of academic involvement

(e.g., Kim & Hill, 2015; Lamb & Lewis, 2010).

Studies have also found inconsistent evidence regarding the differential effects of

mothers’ and fathers’ involvement, autonomy support, and provision of structure on youth

academic adjustment, with some studies finding associations for mothers but not fathers (Annear

& Yates, 2010; Bogenschneider & Pallock, 2008) or vice versa (see Rollè et al., 2019), whereas

others finding no differences in associations between mothers and fathers (Campbell, Povey,

Hancock, Mitrou, & Haynes, 2017; Ratelle et al., 2017). However, research on mothers’ and

fathers’ socialization of academic coping and their links with adolescents’ coping with academic

challenges has received very little, if any, attention and warrants investigation.

Furthermore, evidence of differences by youth gender is also evident and similarly

inconsistent. For instance, some studies found greater parental involvement or adolescent support

seeking from same-sex child or parent, respectively (Harris & Morgan, 1991; Yeung &

Leadbeater, 2010), but other studies find no such associations or the opposite (see Kim & Hill,

2015 for a meta-analysis). Additionally, some gender differences have also emerged in youths’

coping with academic challenges. Some studies found that girls adopted more approach coping

(e.g., problem-solving, social support-seeking), whereas boys used more avoidant coping (e.g.,

distancing, externalizing), when faced with school challenges and failure (e.g., Brdar & Rijavec,

2001; Eschenbeck, Kohlmann, & Lohaus, 2007). Yet, others found that girls as compared with

boys increasingly utilized more rumination and resignation strategies to manage academic stress
SOCIALIZATION OF ACADEMIC COPING 8

in adolescence (e.g., Hampel & Petermann, 2005).

Given the implications of youths’ academic coping for their academic achievement and

adjustment, identifying and understanding how adolescent girls’ and boys’ academic coping is

socialized, as well as how the socialization process may look for mothers and fathers, is critical.

Collectively, the findings from aforementioned studies highlight the need to consider parent and

adolescent gender in examining parental socialization of adolescent academic coping.

The Present Study

Extending the literatures on socialization of coping and youth coping with academic

challenges, we aimed to examine the prospective associations between parental socialization of

coping (mothers and fathers) and adolescent coping within the academic domain in a community

sample of families. Given the upcoming changes and potential challenges accompanying the

middle school transition, we were specifically interested in parents’ socialization of coping

behaviors pre-transition to examine the extent to which parents’ behaviors have an influence on

youths’ post-transition coping. In the present study, we utilized Skinner and colleagues (2013)

“adaptive” and “maladaptive” coping terms to characterize youth coping in response to academic

challenges, where adaptive coping is characterized by strategizing, help-seeking, comfort-

seeking, and self-encouragement, and maladaptive coping characterized by concealment,

avoidance, and rumination (Pitzer & Skinner, 2017; Skinner et al., 2013). Based on theoretical

frameworks and empirical findings (e.g., Abaied & Rudolph, 2011; Kliewer et al., 1996), we

anticipate that parents’ more active, engaged coping suggestions (e.g., problem-focused, help-

seeking), would be associated with youths’ more adaptive (or less maladaptive) coping with

academic challenges over time. In contrast, we anticipated that parents’ passive, disengaged

coping suggestions (e.g., avoidance), would be associated with youths’ more maladaptive (or less
SOCIALIZATION OF ACADEMIC COPING 9

adaptive) coping with academic challenges over time. With the somewhat limited and mixed

evidence of potential differences in mother and father effects (e.g., Kim & Hill, 2015), we had no

a priori hypotheses regarding different patterns of associations by parent gender. Further, as an

exploratory aim, we examined adolescent gender as a moderator of associations given some

evidence of potential gender differences in adolescent coping strategies and mother and father

behaviors in relation to youth academics (e.g., Annear & Yates, 2010; Brdar & Rijavec, 2001;

Ratelle et al., 2017); we had no a priori hypotheses.

Method

Participants

Participants included only two parent families from a larger study (masked for review).

At Time 1 (T1; 5th grade), 86 adolescents and mothers and 68 fathers (of the 86 two-parent

families) participated; 87% of parents were married. The sample of adolescents included 53%

boys (Mage = 11.06 years, SD = 0.33), 97% biological mothers (Mage = 41.21 years, SD = 5.13),

and 85% biological fathers (Mage = 42.70 years, SD = 4.80). At Time 2 (T2; 6th grade), 76

adolescents and their mothers and 57 fathers returned. No differences among study variables

emerged for families with and without father participation. Compared to the families that did not

return T2, among families that returned, mothers reported more problem-focused advice at T1

[MReturn = 2.68, SD = 0.33; MNoReturn = 2.42, SD = 0.38; t (83) = -2.24, p = .028]. No other

differences emerged.

The racial/ethnic composition of participants (across family members) included 48-65%

European Americans, 4-6% African Americans, 7-11% Asian, 15-16% Hispanic/Latino, and 1-

11% mixed race. For education and employment, 79% and 56% of mothers and fathers had a

bachelor degree or higher, respectively, and 77% and 76% of mothers and fathers were
SOCIALIZATION OF ACADEMIC COPING 10

employed, respectively. Approximately 11%, 17% and 69% of mothers reported a total annual

income of $25,000 to $50,000; $50,000 to $75,000; and > $75,000, respectively.

Procedures

The study was approved by the university’s institutional review board. Participants were

recruited from surrounding school districts across two consecutive cohorts, spaced one year apart

(data collected in 2017, 2018), via informational letters/emails sent home to parents of all fifth-

grade students in the spring at participating elementary schools and distributed in the local

community. Parents who responded to the letters/flyers were provided with information about

the study procedures and scheduled for a research visit over the phone. Adolescents and mothers

visited the research laboratory during the spring. Approximately 7.37 months later (SD = 0.86),

after adolescents transitioned to middle school (fall of sixth grade), families visited the lab a

second time. At both lab visits, consent and assent were obtained separately from mothers and

adolescents, respectively. Mothers and adolescents completed a series of questionnaires

separately. Fathers completed surveys online before or soon after their family’s lab visit.

Families were compensated for their time.

Measures

Parental socialization of academic coping (T1). A measure was created by the first

author to assess parents’ reports of socialization of academic coping, and was modeled after the

first author’s development of similar measures to assess parental socialization in response to peer

stress, which has been used in other papers (see masked for review). Mothers and fathers rated

the extent to which they provided problem-solving (8 items; e.g., encourage my child to make a

plan to improve), help-seeking (3 items; i.e., encourage my child to get help from others–

teachers, friends), and disengaged (3 items; i.e., encourage my child not to think about it) coping
SOCIALIZATION OF ACADEMIC COPING 11

suggestions in response to three hypothetical academic challenge scenarios, including forgetting

about or performing poorly on as assignment and having difficulties managing academic

demands. Items were rated on a 4-point scale (0 = not at all to 3 = very much). The subscales of

socialization of coping were adequately to moderately reliable for mothers and fathers (αs range

from .66-.89). As validation of parents’ responses, across the scenarios, approximately 85-94%

of parents reported previously giving similar types of advice (somewhat to very much) and that

73-93% of adolescents had prior experience with these types of academic challenges (once to

several times).

Adolescent coping with academic challenges (T1 and T2). Adolescents completed the

Multidimensional Measure of Coping designed to measure coping with academic failure

(Skinner et al., 2013). The Adaptive Coping scale consists of Strategizing (e.g., “I try to figure

out what I did wrong so that it won’t happen again”), Help-seeking (e.g., “I ask for some help

with understanding the material”), Comfort-Seeking (e.g., “I talk about it with someone who will

make me feel better”), and Self-Encouragement (e.g., “I think about the times that I did it right”).

Subscales within the Adaptive scale were significantly and positively correlated with each other

at both waves (rs ranging from .27 to .54, ps < .01); subscales were composited into a single

score at each wave. The Maladaptive Coping scale comprised of Escape (e.g., “I tell myself it’s

not such a big deal”), Concealment (e.g., “I try to hide it”), and Rumination (e.g., “I keep

thinking about it over and over”), with stronger correlations among subscales at T2 (rs ranging

from -.25 to .38; ps < .05). The negative correlation between Escape and Rumination is

consistent with findings from Skinner et al. (2013); the Maladaptive Coping scale was created

based on theoretical conceptualizations. All items were rated on a 4-point scale (1 = not at all

true to 4 = very true). The two scales were reliable at both T1 and T2 (αs range from .74-.92). Of
SOCIALIZATION OF ACADEMIC COPING 12

note, because the present study examined the prediction of T2 coping, while controlling for T1

coping, the composite of mean-level responses for adaptive and maladaptive coping scales were

used, instead of an allocation score (proportion of adaptive/maladaptive coping relative to all

coping responses; for a more detailed explanation, see Skinner, Pitzer, & Steele, 2016).

Covariates. Covariates included adolescent gender (0 = female, 1 = male), study cohort

(0 = Cohort 1, 1 = Cohort 2), family income (1 = less than $15 000 to 5 = > $75 000), and

mother and father age and education (0 = earned < bachelor’s, 1 = earned > bachelor’s).

Plan of Analysis

Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations among study variables were examined.

Missing data ranged from 1-22%, with the latter for father non-participation. Little’s Missing

Completely at Random (MCAR) test indicated that the data were likely missing at random [χ2

(30) = 24.27, p = .76]. Next, a series of multiple regression analyses were conducted in AMOS

(Arbuckle, 2017) to examine the independent and interactive associations linking T1 indices of

parental socialization of coping and gender with adolescents’ academic coping at T2. Full

information maximum likelihood estimation was used to handle missing data (Acock, 2005). To

test study aims, covariates were included in the model if they were significantly correlated one of

the primary study variables. T1 adolescent coping responses were also included in the models

predicting T2 adolescent coping. Next, to address our primary aim, main effects of parental

socialization of coping were entered into the model. One socialization of coping strategy (i.e.,

problem-solving, help-seeking, disengaged) was entered at one time with mother and father

reports entered simultaneously to test unique effects. To address adolescent gender as a

moderator, interactions between each parental socialization of coping strategy and adolescent

gender were entered and tested one at a time. Significant interactions were probed using tests of
SOCIALIZATION OF ACADEMIC COPING 13

simple slopes (Aiken & West, 1991; Preacher, Curran, & Bauer, 2006), yielding intercepts and

slopes representing the relationship between parental academic socialization and adolescents’

academic coping over time for girls and boys (Figures 1-3).

Results

Preliminary Analyses

Descriptive statistics and correlations among all study variables are presented in Table 1.

Among parental socialization of academic coping suggestions, both mothers and fathers reported

higher frequency of endorsing problem-focused and help-seeking suggestions as compared to

disengaged suggestions. For correlations among primary study variables, among parental

socialization of academic coping suggestions, T1 mother-reported problem-focused and help-

seeking suggestions were positively correlated, and similar associations were found with T1

father-reported problem-focused and help-seeking suggestions. Fathers’ help-seeking

suggestions were also positively correlated with their disengaged suggestions, whereas mothers’

problem-focused coping was negatively correlated with fathers’ disengaged coping. Associations

between parental socialization of academic coping and adolescent academic coping revealed that

mothers’ help-seeking suggestions were positively correlated with T1 adolescent adaptive coping

and fathers’ problem-focused suggestions were positively correlated with T2 adolescent adaptive

coping. Additionally, T1 and T2 adaptive coping were positively correlated.

Parental Socialization and Adolescents’ Academic Coping Over Time

Results of regression analyses are reported in Table 2. Covariate effects are reported in

the note of the table.

Parental problem-solving suggestions. As shown in Table 2, T1 fathers’ problem-

focused suggestions, but not T1 mothers’ problem-focused suggestions, predicted higher levels
SOCIALIZATION OF ACADEMIC COPING 14

of T2 adaptive academic coping among adolescents, controlling for mothers’ problem-focused

suggestions. This model explaining 4.8% of the unique variance. Adolescent gender also

moderated the association between T1 mothers’ problem-focused suggestions and T2 youth

adaptive coping, explaining 5.8% of the unique variance. Tests of simple slope revealed that

mothers’ problem-focused suggestions predicted less adaptive coping among girls (B = -.39, SE

= .13, p < .01) but not boys (B = -.03, SE = .22, p = .90; Figure 1a).

The association between T1 fathers’ problem-focused suggestions and T2 youth adaptive

coping was also moderated by adolescent gender, explaining 5.6% of the unique variance.

Simple slopes tests revealed that fathers’ problem-focused suggestions predicted more T2

adaptive coping among boys (B = .44, SE = .21, p < .05) but not girls (B = -.08, SE = .13, p = .54;

Figure 1b).

A significant interaction between T1 fathers’ problem-focused suggestions and

adolescent gender also emerged in the prediction of T2 youth maladaptive coping. However,

tests of simple slope revealed non-significant slopes for boys and girls.

Parental help-seeking suggestions. Neither mothers’ nor fathers’ help-seeking

suggestions at T1 predicted T2 adolescents’ academic coping, controlling for the other.

However, adolescent gender moderated the association between T1 fathers’ help-seeking

suggestions and T2 youth adaptive coping, explaining 7.3% of the unique variance. Tests of

simple slope revealed that fathers’ help-seeking suggestions predicted more T2 adaptive coping

among girls (B = .21, SE = .08, p < .01) but not boys (B = -.02, SE = .14, p = .91; Figure 2).

Parental disengaged suggestions. Contrary to expectations, T1 fathers’ disengaged

suggestions predicted less T2 adolescent maladaptive coping, controlling for T1 mothers’

disengaged suggestions and covariates. This model explained 10.7% of the unique variance in T2
SOCIALIZATION OF ACADEMIC COPING 15

adolescent maladaptive coping.

Adolescent gender also emerged as a moderator of the association between T1 fathers’

disengaged suggestions and T2 adolescent adaptive coping, explaining 19.4% of the unique

variance. Tests of simple slope revealed that that father disengaged suggestions predicted more

adaptive coping among girls (B = .27, SE = .06, p < .001) but not boys (B = -.08, SE = .10, p =

.43; Figure 3).

Discussion

Utilizing a multi-informant, longitudinal design, findings from the present study revealed

that parents’ socialization of academic coping approaches predicted adolescents’ coping with

academic challenges over time. Consistent with hypotheses, fathers’ problem-focused

suggestions, above and beyond mothers’ suggestions, were associated with adolescents’

reporting more adaptive coping (e.g., strategizing, help-seeking) over time. Interestingly, fathers’

more passive, disengaged suggestions also predicted less maladaptive coping (e.g., escape,

concealment) over time. Collectively, findings highlight the positive contribution of father’s

advice-giving behaviors more broadly. Further, different patterns of associations also emerged

by adolescent gender. For girls, whereas fathers’ active, engaged (i.e., help-seeking) and

disengaged coping suggestions were associated with more adaptive coping over time, mothers’

active, engaged suggestions (i.e., problem-focused) were associated with less adaptive coping

over time. For boys, fathers’ active, engaged coping suggestions (i.e., problem-focused) were

also linked with more adaptive coping over time. These findings, discussed further below,

underscore the different patterns of associations between parental suggestions and adolescent

coping that may be specific to parent and adolescent gender.

SOCIALIZATION OF ACADEMIC COPING 16

Mothers’ Socialization of Academic Coping and Youth Coping with Academic Challenges

Findings revealed only one association linking mothers’ coping suggestions with

adolescent coping responses, after accounting for fathers’ coping suggestions. Specifically,

mothers’ problem-focused suggestions were associated with less adaptive coping for girls across

the middle school transition, which was somewhat unexpected. However, around the transition to

middle school, adolescents are faced with a number of changes and academic challenges that

may be more difficult for them to manage. In the broader literature, there is some evidence to

suggest that girls as compared with boys perceive higher levels of stress and experience more

negative outcomes as a result of perceived stress (e.g., Giota & Gustafsson, 2017). Thus, we

speculate that perhaps for girls, the changes and challenges of the middle school transition may

be particularly overwhelming, and even more so if mothers are encouraging them to engage with

academic challenges, yielding a negative effect on girls’ adaptive academic coping. This may

especially be the case in the present study because youths’ academic coping was examined

within the first few months of the middle school transition. Thus, the association between

mothers’ active, engaged coping suggestions and lower levels of adolescents’ adaptive coping

over time may be distinct to this transition period.

Overall, few effects emerged with mothers’ coping suggestions, which was somewhat

unexpected. A possible explanation for the limited findings with mothers’ coping suggestions

may be due in part to the inclusion of fathers’ coping suggestions. Specifically, there is some

evidence to suggest that despite higher levels of mothers’ involvement in general, and even after

accounting for mothers’ involvement, fathers’ involvement was a unique predictor of youths’

academic outcomes (for a systematic review see Rollè et al., 2019; and see next section). Thus, it

is possible that although father involvement may be more limited, when fathers are involved,
SOCIALIZATION OF ACADEMIC COPING 17

such as providing coping suggestions, the effects are stronger. Additional research is needed to

jointly examine parental involvement and coping suggestions, as well as other factors (e.g.,

changes in coping suggestions over time), to better understand and explain these patterns of

findings for mothers’ coping suggestions. Replication is also needed before drawing conclusions

about these non-significant findings.

Fathers’ Socialization of Academic Coping and Youth Coping with Academic Challenges

Consistent with some prior evidence regarding the unique contributions of fathers’

involvement for youths’ academic outcomes (see Rollè et al., 2019), our results with fathers

revealed that, after accounting for mothers’ socialization, fathers’ problem-focused and help-

seeking suggestions were distinctly associated with more adaptive coping among adolescents

over time, with patterns differing by adolescent gender. Specifically, fathers’ problem-focused

and help-seeking suggestions were positively associated with boys’ and girls’ more adaptive

coping over time, respectively. Our findings are consistent with prior studies that have found

father-son (Dumka, Gonzales, Bonds, & Millsap, 2009; Lamb & Lewis, 2010) or father-daughter

(C. B. Lam, McHale, & Crouter, 2012; Morgan, Wilcoxon, & Satcher, 2003) associations. Yet,

these prior studies found effects for only sons and not daughters, or vice versa, and were focused

on general father involvement. In contrast, findings from our study revealed associations for both

sons and daughters—with different coping suggestions yielding more adaptive coping with

academic challenges.

There is some evidence to suggest that compared with girls, boys tend to exhibit lower

school engagement (S. F. Lam et al., 2012) and use more maladaptive coping strategies in

response to academic stress (e.g., avoidance, Brdar & Rijavec, 2001; Eschenbeck et al., 2007).

Thus, when faced with academic challenges, boys may need more encouragement and support to
SOCIALIZATION OF ACADEMIC COPING 18

cope adaptively with such challenges. Indeed, we found that fathers’ encouragement of problem-

solving was associated with boys’ more adaptive academic coping over time. This finding could

be explained in part by boys’ receptivity to fathers’ advice, such that youth may be more open or

receptive to certain parenting approaches than others (e.g., Darling & Steinberg, 1993).

Alternatively, fathers’ problem-solving suggestions may help to promote more adaptive coping

for boys because problem-focused advice provides more specific and concrete actions for how to

manage challenges.

For girls, whereas mothers’ encouragement of problem-focused coping was associated

with less adaptive coping, fathers’ encouragement of help-seeking coping predicted more

adaptive coping. In line with our earlier interpretation, girls may be more overwhelmed with the

academic changes and challenges accompanying the middle school transition (Giota &

Gustafsson, 2017). Thus, whereas encouragement to face the problem head-on could add to girls’

distress stemming from academic challenges, encouragement from fathers to seek help may

facilitate more adaptive coping by helping girls to identify other avenues and additional

resources or support to manage their academic challenges. Given the different effects of the two

types of father coping suggestions for boys and girls, additional work is needed to further

disentangle the complexity of father-son and father-daughter relationships and identify potential

mechanisms that could explain the effect of different socialization strategies on adolescents’

academic coping.

Further, some unexpected associations also emerged such that fathers’ more disengaged

suggestions were associated with more adaptive (for girls) and less maladaptive (for all youth)

coping with academic challenges over time. We speculate that the pattern of associations found

with fathers’ disengaged suggestions may highlight a more general positive effect of father
SOCIALIZATION OF ACADEMIC COPING 19

involvement (not examined in the present study), a related construct that has demonstrated a

unique influence on youth outcomes (C. B. Lam et al., 2012; Rollè et al., 2019). Further, the

interpretation that fathers’ disengagement suggestions could be reflective of father involvement

more generally (yielding positive effects) could help to explain the discrepancy with (and

distinction from) youths’ disengagement coping responses as less adaptive for youth outcomes

(e.g., Compas et al., 2014). Yet, given the unexpected pattern of findings, we are cautious about

drawing strong conclusions. Future work is needed to take a more holistic and comprehensive

approach to examine and better understand the positive effects of fathers’ disengagement

suggestions found in the present study (as well as for parental coping suggestions more

generally)—such as considering fathers’ disengagement suggestions in the context of parenting

style or father-youth emotional climate (e.g., warmth) or potential co-occurring behaviors that

may accompany fathers’ disengagement suggestions (e.g., offering an opportunity for distraction

to improve youths’ mood).

Limitations and Future Directions

Several limitations of our study merit consideration. Because the current study used

community sample of youth who, on average, reported relatively higher levels of adaptive

compared to maladaptive coping, our results may not be generalized to youth who experience

more severe academic difficulties and/or who may be less well-equipped to cope with academic

challenges. Similarly, we focused on a smaller sample of two-parent families, who were

relatively well-educated. Addressing these questions with a larger and more diverse sample with

regards to family structure, education, and income are needed to determine whether similar

patterns of associations are evident.

Although our use of hypothetical academic challenge scenarios to assess parental

SOCIALIZATION OF ACADEMIC COPING 20

socialization responses provide standardization across families, future work investigating real-

time parental socialization of coping in response to adolescents’ actual academic challenge

experiences would enable assessments of parents’ actual behaviors as well as more

comprehensively capture the nuances of parental socialization of coping, providing stronger tests

of the parental socialization-adolescent coping link. Additionally, the effects of the interplay

between mothers and fathers coping suggestions and capturing family-level socialization

processes and style (i.e., emotional climate) would further extend the literature on parental

socialization of coping. Moreover, investigations of potential mediating and other moderating

factors to explain the link between parental academic socialization and adolescents’ academic

coping are needed to better explicate these associations (e.g., parent-youth relationship quality,

youth receptivity to parental socialization, changes in parents’ socialization practices). Further,

the use of a larger, more diverse sample would allow for more complex modeling of multiple

socialization practices across multiple family members to address these future directions.

Additionally, the examination of subsequent academic outcomes in relation to

adolescents’ academic coping would be an important next step to identify the extent to which

adaptive and maladaptive coping responses shaped by parents are indeed adaptive or

maladaptive, respectively, for adolescents’ academic adjustment. Further, work beyond the

immediate middle school transition and/or at other developmental periods (i.e., transition to high

school, college) as well as the inclusion of academic outcomes would be informative about the

potential lasting or changing influence of parental socialization—both on adolescent coping and

adjustment outcomes.

Conclusions

Despite limitations, the multi-informant, longitudinal study advances the literatures on

SOCIALIZATION OF ACADEMIC COPING 21

parental socialization of coping and youth coping with stress, extending findings to the academic

domain. Specifically, the present study found that fathers’ and, to a lesser extent, mother’s

socialization of academic coping were associated with youths’ prospective academic coping,

with more support emerging for the prediction of girls’ academic coping. Findings extend the

work using the SDT framework examining parental involvement and autonomy support in

relation to youths’ education (Zimmer-Gembeck & Skinner, 2011) by highlighting the role of

parents’ direct suggestions for how to cope with academic challenges in the development of

youths’ academic coping. The more robust findings for fathers’ as compared to mothers’

socialization, as well as findings for girls as compared with boys, are noteworthy and highlight

the potential importance of fathers’ socialization of academic coping, specifically active,

engaged coping suggestions, in the development of youths’ adaptive academic coping during

school transitions. However, before strong conclusions can be drawn, further work is needed to

replicate our results and identify mechanisms to better understand the different findings by

parent and adolescent gender. Yet, this study is a first step towards identifying other ways in

which parents can promote adolescents’ adaptive coping with academic challenges, especially

during a unique developmental period when adolescents are experiencing a number of

developmental and ecological changes and challenges around the middle school transition.
SOCIALIZATION OF ACADEMIC COPING 22

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Table 1

Descriptive Statistics and Correlations among Study Variables

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1. T1 Mother problem-focused suggestions -

2. T1 Mother help-seeking suggestions .44*** -

3. T1 Mother disengaged suggestions .04 .17 -

4. T1 Father problem-focused suggestions .06 .12 .05 -

5. T1 Father help-seeking suggestions -.15 .09 -.14 .51*** -

6. T1 Father disengaged suggestions -.25* -.16 .10 .05 .26* -

7. T1 Adolescent adaptive coping .08 .42*** -.06 .18 .22 -.09 -

8. T1 Adolescent maladaptive coping -.09 .10 -.05 .00 -.02 .08 .08 -

9. T2 Adolescent adaptive coping .00 .22 .10 .32* .22 -.01 .52*** -.09 -

10. T2 Adolescent maladaptive coping .08 .05 -.13 .05 .03 -.12 .06 .18 .02 -

Note. T1 = data collected at Time 1. T2 = data collected at Time 2. Adolescent gender coded 0 = female, 1 = male. Cohort coded 0 =
cohort 1, 1 = cohort 2. Mother and father education coded 0 = < bachelor’s, 1 > bachelor’s.
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.
SOCIALIZATION OF ACADEMIC COPING 31

Table 1 continued
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11. Adolescent gender -.09 -.08 .02 -.31* -.25* .25* -.19 .12 -.25* .04

12. Cohort .21 .23* .13 .07 .16 -.10 .21 -.06 .12 .21

13. T1 Family income .03 -.05 .08 -.10 .12 -.05 .04 .24* .08 .16

14. T1 Mother age -.22* -.07 -.10 .12 .05 .03 -.07 .08 -.13 .09

15. T1 Mother education -.08 -.10 -.34** -.27* -.16 -.11 .04 .06 -.05 .09

16. T1 Father age -.11 .06 -.01 .06 .07 .22 -.06 .19 -.06 .32*

17. T1 Father education .12 -.22 .00 -.11 -.08 -.05 -.24* -.17 .00 -.09

Mean 2.65 2.33 0.62 2.56 2.15 0.66 3.20 2.23 3.08 2.33

(SD) (.34) (.63) (.72) (.40) (.62) (.73) (.51) (.51) (.49) (.49)

Note. T1 = data collected at Time 1. T2 = data collected at Time 2. Adolescent gender coded 0 = female, 1 = male. Cohort coded 0 =
cohort 1, 1 = cohort 2. Mother and father education coded 0 = < bachelor’s, 1 > bachelor’s.
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.
SOCIALIZATION OF ACADEMIC COPING 32

Table 1 continued

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

11. Adolescent gender

12. Cohort -.11 -

13. T1 Family income .07 .11 -

14. T1 Mother age -.07 -.03 -.24* -

15. T1 Mother education .04 .05 .36*** -.09 -

16. T1 Father age .12 .13 -.05 .58*** -.06 -

17. T1 Father education .14 -.03 .34** -.20 .26* -.22 -

Mean/% 53% 44% 4.60 41.21 79% 42.70 69%

(SD) (.68) (5.13) (4.80)

Note. T1 = data collected at Time 1. T2 = data collected at Time 2. Adolescent gender coded 0 =
female, 1 = male. Cohort coded 0 = cohort 1, 1 = cohort 2. Mother and father education coded 0
= < bachelor’s, 1 > bachelor’s. Percentages reported for dichotomous variables are for the coded
value of 1.
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.
SOCIALIZATION OF ACADEMIC COPING 33

Table 2.

Regression Coefficients for Associations among T1 Parental Socialization of Coping, Adolescent Gender, and T2 Adolescent Coping

Adolescent-reported coping with academic challenges

T2 Adaptive coping T2 Maladaptive coping

Models B (SE) β B (SE) β

T1 Problem-focused suggestions

Mother -.18 (.13) -.13 .14 (.15) .10

Father .26 (.13)* .21 .09 (.15) .08

R2 36.5% 15.0%

Interactions

Mother x Gender .36 (.17)* .18 .02 (.20) .01

R2 42.3% 14.9%

Father x Gender .52 (.16)** .31 .50 (.19)** .29

R2 42.1% 24.3%

Note. T1 = data collected at Time 1. T2 = data collected at Time 2. In models predicting T2 coping, T1 coping was included as a
covariate. In the prediction of T2 coping, among covariates, T1 adaptive academic coping and father age were positively associated
with T2 adaptive academic coping (T1 coping: Bs ranged .45-.47, SEs = .09, βs ranged .48-.50, ps < .001; father age: Bs ranged .02-
.03, SEs = .01, βs ranged .24-.31, ps < .05). When main effects of parental socialization were examined simultaneously and in models
controlling for the other coping outcome at T1, the results were nearly identical to those presented in the table (e.g., maintained
significant main and interaction effects).
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.
SOCIALIZATION OF ACADEMIC COPING 34

Table 2 continued
Adolescent-reported coping with academic challenges

T2 Adaptive coping T2 Maladaptive coping

Models B (SE) β B (SE) β

T1 Help-seeking suggestions

Mother .00 (.07) .01 -.00 (.08) -.01

Father .07 (.09) .09 -.05 (.10) -.06

R2 29.6% 13.6%

Interactions

Mother x Gender -.19 (.11) -.17 .14 (.12) .13

R2 34.5% 16.4%

Father x Gender -.23 (.11)* -.21 .11 (.13) .11

R2 36.9% 16.0%

Note. T1 = data collected at Time 1. T2 = data collected at Time 2. In models predicting T2 coping, T1 coping was included as a
covariate. In the prediction of T2 coping, among covariates, T1 adaptive academic coping and father age were positively associated
with T2 adaptive academic coping (T1 coping: Bs ranged .45-.47, SEs = .09, βs ranged .48-.50, ps < .001; father age: Bs ranged .02-
.03, SEs = .01, βs ranged .24-.31, ps < .05). When main effects of parental socialization were examined simultaneously and in models
controlling for the other coping outcome at T1, the results were nearly identical to those presented in the table (e.g., maintained
significant main and interaction effects).
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.
SOCIALIZATION OF ACADEMIC COPING 35

Table 2 continued
Adolescent-reported coping with academic challenges

T2 Adaptive coping T2 Maladaptive coping

Models B (SE) β B (SE) β

T1 Disengaged suggestions

Mother .06 (.07) .09 -.08 (.08) -.12

Father .05 (.07) .08 -.16 (.08)* -.23

R2 32.9% 23.0%

Interactions

Mother x Gender -.04 (.09) -.04 .10 (.10) .11

R2 33.3% 25.7%

Father x Gender -.35 (.08)*** -.38 .02 (.10) .03

R2 52.3% 23.9%

Note. T1 = data collected at Time 1. T2 = data collected at Time 2. In models predicting T2 coping, T1 coping was included as a
covariate. In the prediction of T2 coping, among covariates, T1 adaptive academic coping and father age were positively associated
with T2 adaptive academic coping (T1 coping: Bs ranged .45-.47, SEs = .09, βs ranged .48-.50, ps < .001; father age: Bs ranged .02-
.03, SEs = .01, βs ranged .24-.31, ps < .05). When main effects of parental socialization were examined simultaneously and in models
controlling for the other coping outcome at T1, the results were nearly identical to those presented in the table (e.g., maintained
significant main and interaction effects).
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.
SOCIALIZATION OF ACADEMIC COPING 36

3.9
T2 Adolescent-reported adaptive coping

3.4 B = -.39 (.13)**

Girls

2.9 B = -.03 (.22)

Boys

2.4

1.9
-1 SD +1 SD
T1 Mother-reported problem-focused suggestions

Figure 1a. The association between T1 mothers’ problem-focused suggestions and T2 adolescent
adaptive coping among boys and girls.

3.9
T2 Adolescent-reported adaptive coping

3.4 B = -.08 (.13)

Girls

2.9
Boys
B = .44 (.21)*

2.4

1.9
-1 SD +1 SD
T1 Father-reported problem-focused suggestions

Figure 1b. The association between T1 fathers’ problem-focused suggestions and T2 adolescent
adaptive coping among boys and girls.
SOCIALIZATION OF ACADEMIC COPING 37

3.9
T2 Adolescent-reported adaptive coping

3.4
B = .21 (.08)* Girls

2.9
Boys
B = -.02 (.14)

2.4

1.9
-1 SD +1 SD
T1 Father-reported help-seeking suggestions

Figure 2. The association between T1 fathers’ help-seeking suggestions and T2 adolescent

adaptive coping among boys and girls.

3.9
T2 Adolescent-reported adaptive coping

B = .27 (.06)***
3.4
Girls

2.9
B = -.08 (.10) Boys

2.4

1.9
-1 SD +1 SD
T1 Father-reported disengaged suggestions

Figure 3. The association between T1 fathers’ disengaged suggestions and T2 adolescent

adaptive coping among boys and girls.