The relationship between parental differentiation of self and internalizing and externalizing problems in Turkish adolescents: The mediator roles of family functioning and adolescents' differentiation of self

The aim of the current study was to investigate the relationship between parental differentiation of self and adolescents' internalizing and externalizing problems through the mediating roles of family functioning and adolescents' own self-differentiation level using two models. The proposed models hypothesized that high levels of maternal and paternal self-differentiation would lead to improved family functioning, which would in turn predict higher levels of self-differentiation in adolescents and subsequently lower levels of internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescents. The participants were 201 adolescents between the ages of 14-18 and their parents. Data was collected from high schools with the permission of Ministry of National Education. While parents completed Revised Version of Differentiation of Self Inventory (DSI-R) and Family Assessment Device(FAD) measures, adolescents completed Revised Version of Differentiation of Self Inventory (DSI-R) and Family Assessment Device(FAD) and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire(SDQ). The data was analyzed with Serial Multiple Mediation Analysis in SPSS. The results indicated that family functioning and adolescents' self-differentiation level mediated the relationship between maternal and paternal self- differentiation; and adolescents' internalizing and externalizing problems. The proposed mediation models were approved by the results of the study. When the differences between female and male adolescents were analyzed, the results indicated the relationship between maternal and female adolescents' differentiation of self and the relationship between family functioning and female adolescents' internalizing and externalizing problems were among the significant findings. These findings demonstrate the significance of parental differentiation of self, family functions and to what extent adolescents are differentiated in terms of psychological difficulties observed during adolescence.