Background

Connectedness with caregivers is a key component to adolescents’ ability to flourish  (Fosco et al., 2012; Ma & Huebner, 2008). Relationships with caregivers are highly dynamic during adolescence, yet little work directly examines the implications of daily fluctuation and change in this relationship for long-term adolescent positive well-being (PWB; i.e., flourishing and psychological well-being). In this study, we focused on adolescent fragile connectedness with caregivers, a dynamic characteristic of the family in which, adolescents’ feelings of closeness and connection are highly reliant on the day-to-day experiences with caregivers, rather than experiencing a consistent sense of connection with caregivers.

Adolescents who have a strong correspondence between caregivers’ daily positive parenting and adolescents’ sense of connectedness with caregivers predicts long-term behavior problems (Fosco & LoBraico, 2019). However, fragile connectedness with caregivers may also undermine developing positive well-being.

Aims

To evaluate whether fragile connectedness was a risk factor for diminished adolescent PWB one year later.

Method

We used data from 150 9th and 10th grade adolescents (61.3% girls) in 9th and 10th grade (M_age = 14.61) living in two-caregiver families. Adolescents and caregivers completed a baseline assessment, 21-day daily diary burst, and 1-year follow-up assessment. Fragile connectedness was measured as individual differences in the within-person relations between daily variation in positive parenting and adolescents’ connectedness with caregivers.

Results

We computed two longitudinal regression models to evaluate whether fragile connectedness was associated with adolescent flourishing and PWB at one-year follow-up, controlling for average levels of connectedness with caregivers. Adolescents who were higher in fragile connectedness with caregivers exhibited decreases in their psychological well-being ( = -.156, p < .05) and flourishing ( = -.164, p < .05) over the one-year period.

Conclusion

These findings underscore adolescent fragile connectedness as a risk factor for diminished psychological well-being and flourishing a year later. Future work further exploring daily processes in families in needed.