Parental Expressed Emotion Criticism Relates to Everyday Perceptions of Social Threat in Adolescents with Varying Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors

TL;DR

This study shows that parental criticism is linked to adolescents perceiving more social threat in daily interactions, which could increase their risk of suicidal thoughts.

Contribution

The study connects parental expressed emotion criticism to real-time social threat perceptions in adolescents, especially those at risk for suicide.

Findings

Adolescents with critical parents reported higher social threat during peer interactions.

No significant difference in social reward perceptions was found between groups.

Results highlight the role of parental criticism in shaping adolescents' social experiences.

Abstract

Negative parenting behaviors, such as parental criticism, may shape how youth perceive and respond to their day-to-day social experiences, with potential ramifications for social connectedness – a key protective factor for suicidal thoughts and behaviors. The goal of this study was therefore to examine relations between parental expressed emotion criticism and adolescents’ perceptions of social threat and reward during day-to-day peer interactions. Informed by emotion socialization, stress sensitization, and information processing frameworks, we predicted that adolescents with a critical parent would report (i) greater perceptions of social threat and (ii) lower perceptions of social reward during day-to-day peer interactions than adolescents without a critical parent. Participants were 99 adolescents aged 12–17 and their parents recruited from the community. Adolescents were assigned female at birth and 68.3% were at heightened risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Parents completed the Five Minute Speech Sample to assess levels of parental expressed emotion criticism. Adolescents completed baseline questionnaires and a 10-day ecological momentary assessment protocol. Multilevel models tested associations between levels of parental expressed emotion criticism and adolescents’ perceptions of their day-to-day peer interactions. Adolescents with parents high in expressed emotion criticism perceived higher levels of social threat, but not lower social reward, during their real-world peer interactions. Results suggest that adolescents exposed to parental expressed emotion criticism perceive more rejection, exclusion, and peer judgment during their daily interactions with peers, which may have important implications for future suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10802-025-01416-9.

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