Reconsidering Changes in Parent-Child Conflict across Adolescence: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

A series of meta-analyses addresses whether and how parent-child conflict changes during adolescence and factors that moderate patterns of change. The meta-analyses summarize results from studies of change in parent-child conflict as a function of either adolescent age or pubertal maturation. Three types of parent-adolescent conflict are examined: conflict rate, conflict affect, and total conflict (rate and affect combined). The results provide little support for the commonly held view that parent-child conflict rises and then falls across adolescence, although conclusions regarding pubertal change as well as conflict affect are qualified by the limited number of studies available. Two diverging sets of linear effects emerged, one indicating a decline in conflict rate and total conflict with age and the other indicating an increase in conflict affect with both age and pubertal maturation. In age meta-analyses, conflict rate and total conflict decline from early adolescence to mid-adolescence and from mid-adolescence to late adolescence; conflict affect increases from early adolescence to mid-adolescence. Puberty meta-analyses revealed only a positive linear association between conflict affect and pubertal maturation. Effect-size patterns varied little in follow-up analyses of potential moderating variables, implying similarities in the direction (although not the magnitude) of conflict across parent-adolescent dyads, reporters, and measurement procedures.

The roles of respect for parental authority and parenting practices in parent-child conflict among African American, Latino, and European American families.

“…Moreover, mothers and daughters in the current sample did significantly differ on how heated they reported conflict to be, with girls reporting more intensity in conflict than mothers. This finding was consistent with early-adolescent research findings in the parent-child conflict literature (Laursen et al, 1998), suggesting that some differences in perceptions of parent-child conflict exist prior to adolescence and hence may not be indicative of changing relationships during that developmental period.…”

“…Parent-child conflict across the toddler and early preschool years is often frequent and an important arena for children's socialization (e.g., Dunn & Slomkowski, 1992). Similarly, early adolescence is often a time of increased emotional and physical distancing from parents (e.g., Paikoff & Brooks-Gunn, 1991;Steinberg, 2001), as well as a time during which the frequency and affective intensity of parent-child conflicts may be higher than at other ages (Laursen, Coy, & Collins, 1998). But what is happening between parents and children during middle and late childhood?…”

Late adolescents' self-defining memories about relationships.

“…Unexpectedly, however, the proportion of memories showing parent conflict did not decline across adolescence. Methodological factors may have partly contributed to the difference between the present findings and those of past research (e.g., Laursen et al, 1998). Whereas past research used survey and interview data to assess rates of conflict, the present study used retrospective narratives about momentous events.…”

“…A recent meta-analysis found that the rate of conflict with parents lessened across adolescence (Laursen, Coy, & Collins, 1998), possibly because of greater success at balancing autonomy and connectedness with parents. We therefore examined the relative prevalence of conflict in memories about parents and peers, as well as changes in conflict with the age of the remembered event.…”

Developmental Changes in Adolescents’ Perceptions of Relationships with Their Parents

“…In addition, a meta-analysis showed that conflict affect increased from early to middle adolescence and stabilized during late adolescence in between the levels of the two former age periods (Laursen et al 1998). The increase in conflict during early adolescence was longitudinally confirmed (McGue et al 2005).…”