Predicting the Deterioration of the Parent–Adolescent Relationship Among Non-Offending Mothers: Inquiry into Childhood Physical and Sexual Abuse and Depressive Symptoms

Childhood sexual and physical abuse is prevalent around the world and impacts many major developmental tasks of childhood, resulting in an increased risk of reporting depressive symptoms in adolescence. Despite research documenting that the parent–adolescent relationship is influenced by adolescent depression, there has been far less attention on change over time. The current study examined associations between childhood sexual and physical abuse, depression in early adolescence, and changes in adolescent perceptions of relationship quality with non-offending mothers. Bootstrapped indirect effects from childhood physical and sexual abuse to the intercept and slope of relationship quality through depressive symptoms were all significant. Findings suggest depressive symptoms in early adolescence indirectly connect physical and sexual abuse to both the cross-sectional association (e.g., intercept) and the changes in relationship quality from early to mid-adolescence. As our findings suggest depressive symptoms may be a significant risk factor for accelerating the decline in the parent–adolescent relationship, clinical implications are discussed.