Parentadolescent conflict, conflict resolution, and adolescent adjustment

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Parent-adolescent conflict, conflict resolution,
and adolescent adjustment

• Susan Branje, Wim Meeus, Muriel van Doorn, Inge
  Vandervalk
• Utrecht University
• The Netherlands

2
Introduction

• Parent-adolescent conflicts
• promoting adolescent development of autonomy and
  individuation
• a risk for psychosocial adjustment and well-being
  
• Important for adolescents to learn to adequately
  handle and resolve their conflicts

3
Previous studies

• Association of conflict and conflict resolution
  with adolescents psychosocial adjustment
• Conflict with both externalizing and
  internalizing problems
• Engagement with externalizing and internalizing
  problems
• Withdrawal with internalizing problems

4
Research question and hypotheses

• How are conflict and conflict resolution related
  to behavioral and emotional adjustment problems?
• Contemporary and over time
• Sex and age effects
• Which types of conflict resolution style can be
  distinguished?
• Does the link between parent-adolescent conflict
  and adolescent behavioral and emotional problems
  depend on adolescents conflict resolution style?

5
Method

• CONAMORE (CONflict And Management Of
• RElationships) 2001-2006 longitudinal study,
• Wave 1 and 2
• 1313 Dutch adolescent children
• 49 boys, 51 girls
• 921 early adolescents (age 12-13), 390 middle
  adolescents (age 16-17)
• 86 of Dutch origin

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Measures

• Number of conflicts with father and mother
• Interpersonal Conflict Questionnaire (Laursen,
  1993)
• Conflict resolution with father and mother
• Conflict Resolution Style Inventory (Kurdek,
  1994)
• positive problem solving
• conflict engagement
• withdrawal
• compliance
• Exit
• Emotional behavioral adjustment
• depression (CDI Kovacs, 1981)
• anxiety (SCARED-R, Muris et al., 1998)
• aggression (Bjorqvist, 1992)
• delinquency (Rispens et al., 1996)

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Resultsrelation of conflict and conflict
resolution to problems

• Wave 1
• Stepwise regression analyses
• Age, sex
• Conflict father mother
• Conflict resolution
• Conflict conflict resolution
• Wave 3
• Stepwise regressions as in wave 1, with w1
  problem behavior as additional predictor in step
  1

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Cluster analyses 5 types of conflict resolution
styles
b b d a c
c c c d c
a a b a a
b b b b a
c c a c b
Medium Positive Engage Withdraw Low
 
 
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Clusters and problem behavior
bbaaaa
aaaaaa
bbaaaa
aaaaaa
ccabbb
Medium Positive Engage Withdraw Low
 
 
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Clusters and problem behavior
Conflict mother
Conflict father
aggression
.27/.30/.10/.32/.18
.25/.24/.25/.24/.13
delinquency
Conflict parents
depression
.10/.14/.34/ .14/.08
anxiety
.12/.17/.41/.22/.11
?2 (70)177.09, GFI.99, RSMEA .04
Medium/Positive/Engage/Withdraw/Low
 
 
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Conclusion regressions

• Parent-adolescent conflicts are related to
  behavioral and
• emotional problems
• Conflict resolution
• Aggression withdrawal (), engagement (),
  positive ()
• Delinquency positive (-), compliance (-)
• Depression positive (-), withdrawal (), exit
  (-), compliance ()
• Anxiety engagement (), compliance (), exit
  (-)
• No mediation of conflict or conflict resolution
• Some moderating effects of conflict resolution

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Conclusion types

• Relation between conflicts and adjustment depends
  on adolescents conflict resolution style
• conflict engagement
• more problem behaviors
• conflicts stronger related to emotional problems,
  less strong to behavioral problems (aggression)
• withdrawal
• Somewhat more conflicts but not stronger related
  to problems than positive solving
• positive conflict solving
• less problems and conflicts

 
 
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• Thank you