First of Its Kind Study Examines Mental Health Strategies for Emerging Adults

This cross-sectional study examined a large, racially and ethnically diverse population sample of emerging adults (ages 18–25) currently enrolled in two- and four-year colleges. Participants completed online surveys assessing mental health challenges such as depression and anxiety, as well as signs of positive psychological well-being, including engagement, perseverance, optimism, connectedness and happiness. The surveys also contained an inventory of dyadic coping types adapted for the parent-child relationship.

Parents can provide several different types of dyadic coping types.

In negative dyadic coping, parents dismiss the issue their child is facing. Positive dyadic coping, by contrast, includes various parental approaches to addressing their child’s concern, including:

• Problem-focused support, in which parents help emerging adults develop problem-solving strategies;
• Emotion-focused support, in which parents help emerging adults manage their emotions relating to the problem;
• Delegated, in which parents handle their child’s problem themselves; and
• Common/joint, in which parents and emerging adults share responsibility for the problem and its resolution.

When Lippold and her team analyzed associations between these dyadic coping types and mental health indicators, they found only one was associated with poor mental health: negative dyadic coping. All other dyadic coping styles were linked to signs of positive mental health, including lower levels of depression and anxiety and higher levels of psychological well-being.

Two dyadic coping strategies associated with positive mental health and well-being were common/joint dyadic coping and problem-solving supportive dyadic coping. Both involve using interactive strategies to help emerging adults develop their own skills. This can help emerging adults grow their confidence as well as their competence, rendering them better equipped to handle similar problems independently going forward.

In addition, despite doubts raised about their effectiveness in the existing literature, this study also found both emotion-focused and delegated dyadic coping to be linked to positive mental health. Other researchers had posited that emotion-focused supportive dyadic coping could adversely impact mental health by causing an excessive focus on negative emotions, but Lippold’s study yielded no evidence of this. Similarly, the study found delegated dyadic coping — in which parents handle challenges for their children — to be associated with positive mental health, countering concerns raised in other studies about the potentially harmful impacts of parental overinvolvement.

Lippold and her team recognized the significance of these results.

“We are really excited about these findings because they suggest that parents matter for emerging adult mental health and that there are specific strategies parents can use to help emerging adults navigate the transition to adulthood,” she said. “This study has important, concrete implications for interventions.”

New area of research

As the first study to examine the relationship between parents and their emerging adult offspring through the lens of dyadic coping, this investigation lays the foundation for a promising new area of research in both parent-child relationships and emerging adult mental health.

Lippold notes that follow-up research should include longitudinal studies to determine the precise nature of the association between dyadic coping type and mental health outcomes, as well as studies conducted on more diverse population samples to evaluate the broader applicability of the initial findings.

“This was the first study on this topic, and it left us with a lot of additional questions,” Lippold said. “One that we are really interested in is how dyadic coping and the effects of dyadic coping may vary by cultural values that a family may hold, such as familism (prioritizing family over self) and autonomy. This would enable us to tailor future interventions for specific cultural groups.”

Further research solidifying the connection between parent-child dyadic coping and positive mental health outcomes for emerging adults could pave the way for important new parenting interventions. Existing evidence-based programs designed to help couples effectively implement dyadic coping could serve as templates for similar offerings tailored to parents and their emerging adult children.

This would address an important and often-overlooked need. While interventions teaching parenting strategies for use with younger children abound, programs for parents of emerging adults are lacking. Given the mental health risks associated with this transitional life stage, ensuring that emerging adults receive effective parental support is crucial for helping them successfully navigate their growing independence.

“Parents are often unsure of how to best help their children transition to adulthood,” she said. “We hope this study and others can pave the way for family-based interventions that can have a positive impact on emerging adult mental health.”