Mindful parenting and closeness in Chinese mother–adolescent dyads: The mediating role of adolescent self‐disclosure

Abstract

AbstractAlthough having strong influences on adolescents' optimal development, mother‐adolescent closeness is greatly challenged in early adolescence. Mindful parenting may be a protective factor for relational adjustment to early adolescence, but its connection with closeness within the mother‐adolescent dyad has not been adequately examined in the literature. This study aimed to investigate the effects of how mindful parenting on the day‐to‐day mother‐adolescent relationship dynamics, evaluating the relations between mindful parenting and mother‐adolescent closeness and the mediating role of adolescent self‐disclosure. A total of 76 Chinese mother–adolescent dyads completed a baseline measure of mindful parenting and 14‐day measures of adolescent‐report self‐disclosure, mother‐perceived closeness, and adolescent‐perceived closeness. Mindful parenting significantly predicted both mother‐perceived and adolescent‐perceived closeness, with adolescent self‐disclosure serving as a mediator. Adolescent self‐disclosure predicted higher mother‐adolescent closeness on the same day, but such effects did not carry over to the next day. Our findings provided evidence supporting mindful parenting as a resource for facilitating mother‐adolescent closeness in early adolescence. This investigation also encouraged future studies to employ more intensive ambulatory assessments to clarify the daily process of how mindful parenting shapes mother‐adolescent relationship dynamics.