Parent–Adolescent Dyads as Temporal Interpersonal Emotion Systems

Abstract

Research on the role of parent–adolescent relationships in psychosocial adjustment needs a conceptual approach that specifies the processes by which development is nested in the relationship. I forward a new approach and emphasize the need to consider the unique elements that individuals bring to the dyadic system. I also emphasize the need to examine processes at multiple time scales. I highlight the complexity of dyadic system dynamics: Biological predispositions set the foundation for the parent–adolescent relationship and the emotion dynamics that emerge during interactions. As the system gets entrained through repeated interactions over longer time scales, real‐time dynamics coalesce into psychosocial adjustment, which in turn constrains real‐time dynamics. I review the evidence for each of these processes and discuss the implications.

Testing Transactional Processes between Parental Support and Adolescent Depressive Symptoms: From a Daily to a Biennial Timescale

“…Although the transactional perspective is increasingly acknowledged (although hardly ever tested within-families), little is known about the timing of these transactional process. A dynamic systems perspective on adolescent development (Granic, 2005;Lougheed, 2020) theorizes that transactional processes within families may unfold at various timescales. In fact, there are reasons to assume that the transactional processes between parental support and adolescent depressive symptoms differ in the short term versus long term, such that increased depressive symptoms might evoke more support from parents on the short term (Gottman et al, 1996) but can lead to less parental support by longer-term relationship erosion processes on the long term (Coyne, 1976;Rudolph, 2009).…”

Developmental Methods for Emotion Dynamics

“…In terms of interpersonal processes, Butler (2011) put forth a conceptualization of individuals in close relationships as temporal interpersonal emotion systems (TIES), in which each partner's emotion systems (physiological, behavioral, and subjective emotional responses) interact with each other's, creating a dyadic system in which emotions are regulated interpersonally over time. With a focus on the developmental dynamics of the parent-adolescent relationship, in my own work (Lougheed, 2019(Lougheed, , 2020 I recast the dynamics of TIES within a multiple time scale framework to illustrate how momentary interpersonal dynamics coalesce into broader features of the relationship, which in turn constrain the momentary dynamics of TIES.…”

Parent‐Adolescent Emotion Dynamics at Multiple Time Scales

“…Parent-adolescent TIES consist of the interactions between two individuals across time (e.g., moments, days, and years; Butler, 2011). Each individual is a self-regulating emotion system, consisting of dynamic interactions among emotional experience, social expression, and arousal (Butler, 2011;Lougheed, 2020). Individuals are nested within the broader parent-adolescent TIES that self-organize from the interactions between these two self-regulating individuals.…”

“…Metatheoretical perspectives such as relational metatheory (Lerner & Hilliard, 2019) and dynamic systems perspectives (Lewis, 2000) emphasize the integration of both individual differences and developmental processes. Building off Butler's (2011) dynamic‐systems‐based theoretical position of close relationship partners forming temporal interpersonal emotion systems (TIES), a theoretical model (Lougheed, 2020) of the developing parent‐adolescent dyad as TIES can structure thinking about development at multiple time scales. In this article, we describe this model and briefly review recent research supporting it.…”

“…Similarly, parents develop through their relationship with their adolescent: parenting an adolescent requires different skills than parenting a child, and parents' own developmental transitions (e.g., to midlife) may interact with their adolescents' developmental transition (Steinberg, 2001). Thus, the parent-adolescent relationship is a system of two developing individuals who contribute to each other's development through their interactions (Lougheed, 2020).…”