Family alliance as a developmental antecedent of depressive and anxiety symptoms in early adolescence: Friendship quality as a mediating factor

Family interactions constitute a critical context in which children can learn the basic relational skills that they need to make friends. In turn, friendship quality is a robust predictor of child socioemotional functioning. Therefore, friendship is likely to act as a bridge in a socioemotional developmental cascade linking early family interactions to child subsequent socioemotional adjustment. This study aimed to examine a mediation model linking family alliance (the degree of mother-father-child engagement and coordination in joint activities) in kindergarten to anxiety and depressive symptoms in early adolescence through the mediating role of friendship quality in middle childhood. The family alliance of 87 mother-father-child triads was assessed when children were aged 6 years based on a 15-min videotaped interaction. Children reported on the quality of their relationship with their best friend at age 10 and on their anxiety and depressive symptoms at both 12 and 13 years (averaged). Results showed that children who experienced better family alliance at 6 years had higher relationship quality with their best friend at 10 years which in turn, predicted less anxiety (but not depressive) symptoms in early adolescence. There was a significant indirect effect of family alliance on anxiety through friendship quality. Findings suggest that family alliance may play a central role in shaping children's capacity to develop high-quality friendships, with implications for their subsequent socioemotional functioning. Further longitudinal studies are needed to examine the reciprocal influences unfolding over time that are likely to characterize developmental cascades among family systems, children's developing friendships, and their socioemotional functioning.