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

Abstract

In this study, the authors examined whether parent-child conflict during the middle childhood years varied among families characterized as having different cultural traditions regarding issues of respect for parental authority and parenting practices. The sample included 133 African American, European American, and Latina girls (M age = 8.41 years) and their mothers. African American and Latina girls showed significantly more respect for parental authority than did European American girls. Furthermore, African American and Latina mothers reported significantly more intense arguments when respect was low than did European American mothers. Higher levels of discipline and better communication by mothers were both associated with reports of lower frequency of conflict; ethnicity did not moderate this association. Thus, respect for authority was most salient to group differences in conflict.Keywords parent-child relationships; parent-child conflict; respect; parenting practices Research on the nature of conflict within parent-child relationships has traditionally focused on two developmental periods, early childhood and early adolescence. 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? Research investigating conflictual interactions between parents and their children during this developmental time period is sparse at best. In addition, despite a growing literature on families of different ethnic and economic backgrounds (e.g., Cauce, Hiraga, Graves, & Gonzales, 1996;Conger, Ge, Elder, Lorenz, & Simons, 1994;Fuligni, 1998;McLoyd & Smith, 2002;Smetana & Gaines, 1999) Children who enter adolescence with more conflictual relationships have been found to be at greater risk for more severe parent-child problems and poorer child outcomes during adolescence (Steinberg, 2001). In prior studies, both positive and negative emotional expressions and conflicts were more common in mother-child than in father-child interactions (Russell & Russell, 1987), a pattern that persists into adolescence (Collins & Laursen, 1992). Because mothers and daughters typically experience close, interdependent relationships, this dyad may be particularly prone to conflict when attempts to integrate individual goals and behaviors (while maintaining the close relationship) are put forth. However, very few investigations have examined mother-daughter interactions among families with different cultural contexts, especially among preadolescent girls. Respect for Parental AuthorityMany researchers have suggested that the changes i...

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Language brokering and adjustment among Chinese and Korean American adolescents: A moderated mediation model of perceived maternal sacrifice, respect for the mother, and mother–child open communication.

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