2025 Theses Doctoral

Regulatory Flexibility in Adolescents and Parent-Adolescent Dyads: A Three-Study Investigation

Bagrodia, Rohini

This dissertation examines expressive flexibility (EF) as a core regulatory mechanism for psychological adjustment across adolescence and diverse family contexts, including veteran and non-veteran families, through three empirical studies.

Study 1 provides the first empirical test of EF as a protective factor during the COVID-19 pandemic by assessing its moderating role in the associations among pandemic stress, peer relationship quality, and adolescent mental health.

Study 2 extends this work into the family system by examining how the degree of convergence or divergence in parents’ and adolescents’ perceptions of family functioning inform regulatory capacities.

Study 3 then examines EF within the parent-adolescent dyad itself to evaluate how each dyad member’s EF relates to their own, and each other’s, depressive symptoms.

Results from these studies highlight EF as a robust regulatory capacity that supports well-being and adaptation in adolescents and their parents. Specifically, higher EF predicted lower pandemic-related distress and fewer emotional–behavioral problems, especially when adolescents faced high COVID-19 exposure or weak peer relationships (Study 1), was highest when parents and adolescents shared similar views of family functioning and declined as their perceptions diverged (Study 2), and primarily functioned as an intrapersonal protective factor, with exploratory patterns suggesting subtle, context-dependent cross-dyadic benefits of parental EF on adolescent depression (Study 3). Implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.