Citation

Adams R, Laursen B. J. Marriage Fam. 2004; 63(1): 97-110.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, National Council on Family Relations, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1741-3737.2001.00097.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In telephone interviews, 212 adolescents described all disagreements arising the preceding day that involved parents or friends. Conflicts were organized in a similar manner in both relationships: Topics, resolutions, and outcomes were linked together and were usually tied to affect afterward. The specific dynamics of conflict, however, varied in a manner that reflects differences in relationship power and stability. Relative to those with friends, parent-child conflicts more often involved a combination of daily hassle topics, neutral or angry affect afterward, power-assertive resolutions, and win-lose outcomes. Relative to those with parents, friend conflicts more often involved a combination of relationship topics, friendly affect afterward, disengaged resolutions, and equal or no outcomes. Most differences in disagreement dynamics were not a function of differences in the rate at which topics of conflict arose in each relationship: Across topics, parents usually reported more coercion than friends, and friends usually reported more mitigation than parents.

Language: en