Author: Treenut Pummanee

Publisher:

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 181

ISBN-13:

Research shows increasing rates of externalizing and internalizing problems among adolescents in Thailand. Studies in Western countries indicate that parent-child communication and youth pubertal timing are associated with youth behavioral problems. No studies to date have explored relationships among pubertal timing, parent-youth communication and youth mental health in Thailand. This study, guided by the Mediated Effect Model and the Circumplex Model, explored the association between, off-time pubertal timing (early and late) and Thai youth externalizing and internalizing problems and whether the quality of youth-mother communication mediated this association. A cross-sectional and correlational design was used. A total of 306 mother-youth dyads were enrolled from two high schools in Southern Thailand. Thai versions of the pubertal development scale and parent-adolescent communication scale were used to measure pubertal timing and youth-mother communication, respectively. The youth self-report checklist and the child behavioral checklist Thai versions were used to measure youth externalizing and internalizing problems. A path analysis with bootstrapping was used to analyze the data. Significant negative association was found between late pubertal timing and youth self-ratings of externalizing and internalizing problems among female (p