Author:

Keywords:

Social Sciences, Psychology, Developmental, Psychology, Mid-adolescence, Identity styles, Conflict frequency, Conflict resolution, Mother-adolescent dyad, FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS, PARENT, PERCEPTIONS, EXPLORATION, DIMENSIONS, DYNAMICS, CHILD, TIME, Adolescent, Adult, Belgium, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Mother-Child Relations, Negotiating, Regression Analysis, Self Concept, Social Identification, Surveys and Questionnaires, Young Adult, 1303 Specialist Studies in Education, 1701 Psychology, Developmental & Child Psychology, 5201 Applied and developmental psychology, 5203 Clinical and health psychology, 5205 Social and personality psychology

Abstract:

Adolescent identity and parent-adolescent conflict have each attracted considerable research interest. However, few studies have examined the important link between the two constructs. The present study examined the associations between adolescent identity processing styles and adolescent conflict resolution styles in the mother-adolescent dyad. Questionnaires about conflict frequency and resolution were completed by 796 adolescents (66% female, mostly Caucasian) and their mothers. Adolescents also completed a measure on identity styles. Each identity style was hypothesized to relate to a specific conflict resolution behavior. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that the information-oriented identity style was positively associated with positive problem solving and negatively with conflict engagement and withdrawal, the normative style was positively associated with compliance, and, finally, the diffuse-avoidant style was positively associated with withdrawal and conflict engagement and negatively with positive problem solving. Our results demonstrated that the way in which adolescents tackle identity-relevant issues is related to the way in which they deal with conflicts with their mothers. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.