An Examination of Conflict in Emerging Adulthood Between College Students and Their Parents

The Early Stages of the Transition to Adulthood: Similarities and Differences between Mother-Daughter and Mother-Son Dyads

“…Some research has suggested the importance of attending to youths' gender when studying the transition to adulthood. For example, although Renk et al (2006) found no difference between which sources of parental conflict were most salient for male and female youth (e.g., independence, values, schooling, and material possessions), the researchers did find a gender difference in how male and female youths perceived the parent-youth relationship following conflict. Specifically, daughters were more likely than sons to experience their fathers as accepting, and fathers were generally found to be more positive and emotionally available than mothers.…”

“…Research also suggests that parent-youth engagement in transition to adulthood projects may be a gendered phenomenon, with some similarities, but also some differences between mothers and sons, mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and fathers and daughters (McKinney & Renk 2008;Renk et al 2006;Trees 2002). Unfortunately, with the exception of a single study focused on career development projects in early adolescents (Domene et al 2007), the existing body of research using Young, Valach, and colleagues' action theory has paid relatively little attention to how the gender of the parent and youth influences the process of negotiating and working to achieve family projects.…”

Parental Invasive and Children's Defensive Behaviors at Home and Away at College: Mediated Communication and Privacy Boundary Management

“…If children and their invasive parents share a living space, removing themselves from the vicinity of their parents (or, alternatively, taking steps to safeguard information in their room) may take particular exigency for children. Parental spatial invasions were also associated with verbal defenses, which suggest that children may try to use verbal communication to construct a privacy boundary around their personal space (perhaps leading to explicit conflict; Renk et al, 2006). Phone invasions were associated with a variety of defensive behaviors, including spatial, phone, and online defenses.…”

“…Mayer (2003) argues that technological surveillance within the family ''is likely to be motivated by concern over another's safety'' (p. 435); thus, such behavior may pit one family member's need for privacy against another family member's need for information. These tensions can be especially salient during college, as the degree of children's independence is frequently a locus of parent-child conflict (Renk et al, 2006). Overall, then, the widespread use of new communication technology strongly suggests revisiting Petronio's (1994) For college students who live away from home, the geographical distance from parents may also necessitate boundary renegotiation (Cooney, 2000).…”

Multivariate Models of Parent-Late Adolescent Gender Dyads: The Importance of Parenting Processes in Predicting Adjustment

“…Conflict then prompts the formation of new expectations that are congruent with late adolescents' attempts to achieve autonomy and individuality [26,27]. Such conflict does not have to be extreme, as in storm and stress theories [9], but will occur at a minor level over everyday issues [28]. For the sample in this study, late adolescents' transition to college will require parents to change their expectations and will likely result in conflict.…”