cultural, family, and personal contexts of parent-adolescent conflict

Cultural, Family, and Personal Contexts of Parent-Adolescent ConflictAuthor(s): Brian K. BarberSource: Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 56, No. 2 (May, 1994), pp. 375-386Published by: National Council on Family RelationsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/353106 .

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BRIAN K. BARBER Brigham Young University

Cultural, Family, and Personal Contexts

of Parent-Adolescent Conflict

This study analyzed samples of 1,828 white, black, and Hispanic families with adolescents from the 1988 National Survey of Families and Households in an attempt to explain variations in levels of conflict between parents and adolescents. Parents reported the frequency of conflict with adolescents on 10 issues. Consistent with past research, conflict was reported to occur more frequently over everyday matters such as chores and dress than over substantive issues such as sex and drugs. All parents reported dis- agreeing over the same issues, but white parents reported more conflict than either minority group. Adolescent personality characteristics, history of problem behaviors, and negative parenting were the strongest predictors of conflict across cultural groups.

Conflict between parents and their adolescents has been the subject of considerable research attention over the past several decades. Although much of this research has been criticized as atheo- retical in design (Montemayor, 1983), there have been important theoretical implications drawn from its findings. Most significantly, the findings that only a minority of U.S. families experience

serious levels of conflict have been instrumental in reframing conceptions of adolescence away from the earlier view of it as a period inevitably fraught with turmoil and stress (Blos, 1979; Freud, 1969). Parent-adolescent conflict remains an important area of inquiry because of the consistent associations between conflicted family interaction and several forms of internalized, exter- nalized, and family problems (Montemayor, 1986).

In investigating conflict between parents and adolescents, researchers have focused primarily on documenting the frequency of conflict, describing variations based on age and sex of parents and adolescents (e.g., Galambos & Almeida, 1992), and on developmental factors such as puberty, perceptions of social conventions, and ex- pectancies of relationship with parents (Collins, 1990; Smetana, 1988; Smetana, Yau, Restrepo, & Braeges, 1991; Steinberg, 1981, 1988). This research has helped describe the normative developmental features of conflicted relationships between parents and adolescents, but has not at- tempted to explain variation in conflict between families. Why do some families have more conflict than others? What is it about a given set of parents and adolescents that results in more serious and sustained conflict? Since it has been demonstrated that families vary considerably in their degree of conflict, normative developmental factors are not sufficient in explaining variations across families. The reasons some families are more conflicted than others may have more to do

Center for Studies of the Family, and Department of Sociolo- gy, 930 SWKT, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602.

Key Words: adolescence, blacks, cross-cultural, family conflict, Hispanics.

Journal of Marriage and the Family 56 (May 1994): 375-386 375



376 Journal of Marriage and the Family

with the personal characteristics of the partici- pants in the conflict, or with other factors related to the life circumstances and interactional history of family members, than with normative changes occurring in either parents or adolescents. To this point, however, despite Montemayor's (1983, 1986) repeated admonitions, there appears to have been little investigation of the personal characteristics of family members or patterns of family interaction that are associated with variations in conflict during adolescence. This study repre- sents an initial attempt to address this need.

For the present research, parent-adolescent conflict was regressed on several categories of personal and contextual variables within each cultural group. These analyses focused primarily on family factors, such as family structure, social standing, and parenting patterns, and also included measures of parental and adolescent characteristics, such as personality, problem history, and depression. The purpose of these analyses was to begin to provide a personal and contextual profile of those individuals and families that experience higher levels of conflict. An important aspect of the study was that the sample included representative subsamples of white, black, and Hispanic families. This permitted an evaluation of whether parent-adolescent conflict is similar across cultures, or whether and how conflict and its predictors vary in different cultural groups.

LEVELS OF CONFLICT ACROSS CULTURES

Since the preponderance of studies have concen- trated on white families, there is little information available as to how culture-specific parent-adolescent conflict is. As well as being a product of developmental transitions occurring in both parents and adolescents, it is sensible to consider that intergenerational conflict may also be a reflection of more general interaction patterns that exist in the home. These patterns are, in turn, affected by culture-specific philosophies, values, and behaviors. Variations in ideologies and goals regarding childrearing in different ethnic groups, as well as resultant socialization strategies and family interaction patterns, have been the subject of considerable recent discussion (Garcia Coll, 1990; Hoff- man, 1988; Levine, 1977; Ogbu, 1981). Differ- ences appear to be particularly noteworthy when comparing minority cultures to the majority culture, as is the case with blacks and Hispanics in the United States.

In the face of prejudice, discrimination, and lower opportunity, minority parents may inten- tionally set their expectations and tailor their socialization strategies to prepare their children for the difficult reality of being a minority citizen (Taylor, Chatters, Tucker, & Lewis, 1990). This process of racial socialization is likely reflected in the empirical findings that black and Hispanic parents score higher on indices of authoritarianism (Dornbusch, Ritter, Leiderman, Roberts, & Fraleigh, 1987). This authoritarianism may also reflect economic factors. Substantial proportions of minority families are economically disadvantaged, and disadvantaged families have been shown to be more authoritarian (Gecas, 1979), perhaps because of the emphasis on conformity that is central to the occupational environments of low-income parents (Kohn, 1969).

Parents who foresee from their own experience that life in the dominant culture is difficult may elevate control of their children so that the children will have a better chance at succeeding. Higher levels of control likely are associated with elevated expectations for conformity in offspring, a context that proscribes challenges to authority and may result in comparatively less expressed conflict between parents and their children. Ac- cording to Smetana and colleagues (1991) social conventions, or the "arbitrary and agreed-on behavioral uniformities that coordinate the interaction of individuals within different social sys- tems" (p. 45), play an important role in parent- adolescent conflict. Such social conventions may vary substantially from one culture or subculture to another. For minority families, conventional or normative expectations may include stronger pro- scriptions against intergenerational conflict because such behavior is not consonant with the established authority and control patterns. Even if agreement with or adherence to social conventions may change in families of all cultural groups as children and parents develop, the baseline strength of conventions in specific cultural groups may explain differences in absolute levels of behavior across groups.

PERSONAL AND FAMILY PREDICTORS OF CONFLICT

As noted earlier, most research attention to parent-adolescent conflict has focused on the role of developmental features and transitions in parent- adolescent relationships. These studies have not been designed to address the question of variations in level of conflict. Consequently, we have



Parent-Adolescent Conflict 377

little direct evidence of the role of important non- developmental factors in the establishment of conflictual relations between adolescents and their parents. Montemayor (1986) reviewed an extensive sorting of literature that has implications for understanding variations in conflict, and classified this information into several categories that encompass general areas of the family social environment: social class and structure, personal characteristics of parents and adolescents, and parent-child interaction. The current study drew on this conceptual scheme in identifying general domains of potential influence, and then simulta- neously tested these domains on variations in two types of parent-adolescent conflict.

METHODOLOGY

Sample

The data source for this study was the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH; Sweet, Bumpass, & Call, 1988). The NSFH con- sisted of interviews with a national probability sample of 13,017 respondents. The survey field work began in March 1987 and concluded in May 1988. The survey included a main sample of 9,943 respondents representing the noninstitutional Unit- ed States population age 19 and older. In addition, several population groups were double sampled, including minority groups, single-parent families, and stepfamilies. One adult per household was ran- domly selected and interviewed, and a self-admin- istered questionnaire was given to the spouse or cohabiting partner of the primary respondent. Sev- eral portions of the main interview were self-ad- ministered to facilitate the collection of sensitive information and to ease the flow of the interview.

Analyses for the present study utilized data from 1,828 households containing a child between the ages of 12 and 18 years. Respective sample sizes for the three ethnic groups were: 1,341 whites, 382 blacks, and 105 Hispanics. Samples were distributed among major national regions as follows: for whites, 18% Northwest, 30% North Central, 32% South, 19% West; for blacks, 18% Northwest, 19% North Central, 58% South, 5% West; and for Hispanics, 7% North Central, 51% South, and 43% West.

Measures

Measures used in this study were selected to represent as much as possible the general domains of

predictors identified by Montemayor (1986): social class and structure, personal characteristics of parents and adolescents, and parent-child interaction.

Parent-adolescent conflict. Parent-adolescent conflict was measured by parental reports of dis-

agreements with their child over 10 specific issues. The precise wording of the question was: "In the last 12 months, how often have you had

open disagreements with (child) about each of the

following?" Topical areas of conflict included:

1. How he/she dresses. 2. His/her girlfriend/boyfriend. 3. His/her friends. 4. How late he/she stays out at night. 5. Helping around the house. 6. His/her sexual behavior. 7. His/her drinking, smoking, or drug use. 8. Money. 9. School.

10. Getting along with other family members.

A 6-point Likert-type response scale was used

ranging from "never" to "almost every day."

Parental characteristics. The modified form of the Center for Epidemiology Studies Depression Scale (Ross, Mirowsky, & Huber, 1983) was used as the measure of parental depression. Parents were asked to estimate the number of days during the past week they felt or behaved in several

ways, including: "felt that you could not shake off the blues even with help from your family or friends," "felt depressed," and "felt that every- thing you did was an effort." Cronbach's alpha for this scale was .92.

A single item was used to measure parental health. Parents responded on a 5-point Likert-type scale to the following question, "Compared with other people your age, how would you describe your health?" Responses ranged from "very poor" to "excellent." The mean score on the health variable was 4.14 with a standard deviation of .82.

Adolescent characteristics. The NSFH included items from the 1981 National Survey of Children and these were used to measure adolescent characteristics in the present study. Parents were asked to assess 10 aspects of their child's personality on a 3-point scale, ranging from "not true" to "often true." Varimax factor analysis resulted in two independent factors that were labelled negative and positive personality. Items measuring negative personality were: "loses temper easily,"




"is unhappy, sad, depressed," "is fearful or anxious," and "bullies, or is cruel or mean to others." Cronbach's alpha was .56. Positive personality items were: "is willing to try new things," "keeps self busy," "is cheerful and happy," "does what you ask," "gets along well with other kids," and "carries out responsibilities on his/her own." Cronbach's alpha was also .56.

To determine problem history, parents were asked if their child had ever been involved with any of a series of six problem behaviors including: behavior problems at school, repeating a grade, being suspended or expelled from school, running away from home for one or more nights, trouble with the police, and seeing a doctor or therapist about any emotional or behavioral problems. Positive responses were coded as 1 and negative responses were coded as 0, and a total problem history scale was created by summing responses across all items. The mean problem history score was 1.01, with a standard deviation of 1.36.

Parenting. Three measures of parenting were selected from the limited set of parenting variables in the NSFH. Positive parenting was computed by calculating the mean of three items reported by parents: how often the parent praises the child, hugs the child, and allows the child to help set rules. A 4-point Likert type scale from "never" to "very often" was used and Cronbach's alpha was .59. The mean of two items that had the same response scale as above was computed for the measure of negative parenting: how often the parent spanks or slaps, or yells at the child. Cronbach's alpha was .49. The third parenting variable was a single-item measure for monitoring. Parents responded on a 4-point Likert-type scale from "all the time" to "hardly ever" to the question: "When (child) is away from home, is (he/she) supposed to let you know where (he/she) is?" The mean score was 1.28, with a standard deviation of .58.

A measure of parental expectations was also included in the analysis. Parents were asked to re- port how important it was to them that their children behave in 12 specific ways: always follow family rules; do well in school; be independent; be kind and considerate; control their temper; always do what you ask; carry out responsibilities on their own; do well in creative activities such as music, art, or drama; keep busy by themselves; get along with other kids; do well in athletics; and try new things. Responses were scored on a 7- point Likert-type scale from "not at all important"

to "extremely important." Cronbach's alpha for the combined scale was .86.

RESULTS

Frequency and Topic of Conflict

Space limitations do not permit the presentation of age of adolescent, sex of adolescent, and sex of parent associations with all types of conflict. Briefly, we found, as did Galambos and Almeida (1992), that age effects were negative, positive, or nonsignificant depending on the type of conflict. Sex effects were negligible. Table 1 presents percentages of parents reporting conflict with their adolescents in each cultural group. Response categories for the 10 topics of conflict have been collapsed to reflect systematic increases in frequency of conflict (i.e., never, monthly, weekly, and up to daily). The final category is the combination of the original responses "several times per week" and "almost daily." Likewise, the recoded weekly category is the aggregate of the "several times per month" and "about once a week" re-

sponse values. Table 1 is a composite of 10 sepa- rate cross-tabulations between the specific types of conflict and ethnicity of respondents.

In the final column of the table, chi-squares are recorded for blacks and Hispanics. These values were computed through log-linear analyses that used whites as the reference group. A series of models were tested to determine the degree to which the discrepancy between the observed and expected frequencies on a given conflict variable were attributable to differences between either blacks and whites or Hispanics and whites. Thus, for example, the 36.99 chi-square for blacks for conflict over chores indicates that the reported frequencies of conflict differed significantly compared with whites, controlling for any differences between whites and Hispanics.

Parents in all groups reported very little conflict over major issues such as sexual behavior and substance use. Over 90% of white, black, and Hispanic parents reported never having an open disagreement with their child over the child's sexual behavior during the past year. Similar percentages are reported for substance use, with a greater percentage of white parents experiencing occa- sional (monthly) conflict. Also, a large majority of all parents reported no conflict over their children's boy- and girlfriends. It is clear from these analyses that the consistent findings of past research that parents and adolescents quarrel little




TABLE 1. Row PERCENTAGES OF PARENT-ADOLESCENT CONFLICT BY ETHNIC GROUP WITH CHI-SQUARE ANALYSES

Up to Topic of Conflict Never Monthly Weekly Daily Chi-Square

Helping around house White 21 28 37 14 Black 35 22 27 16 36.99*** Hispanic 52 14 23 11 52.09***

Family relations White 47 22 21 10 Black 67 14 12 7 48.25*** Hispanic 64 13 14 9 11.47**

School White 50 25 18 7 Black 68 16 10 6 41.15*** Hispanic 76 10 11 3 25.41***

Dress White 51 28 17 4 Black 56 20 17 8 24.25*** Hispanic 61 16 17 6 8.11*

Money White 58 24 15 3 Black 71 14 11 5 27.87*** Hispanic 81 7 8 4 23.46***

How late child stays out White 62 25 11 2 Black 66 18 12 4 10.25* Hispanic 77 12 10 1 10.09*

Friends White 63 28 8 2 Black 64 21 11 4 14.22** Hispanic 67 17 14 2 8.91"

Boyfriend/girlfriend White 79 14 5 2 Black 77 13 6 5 7.19 Hispanic 84 8 6 2 2.88

Substance use White 88 8 3 1 Black 97 2 1 1 26.34*** Hispanic 94 2 3 1 5.04

Sexual behavior White 92 6 1 1 Black 92 5 1 2 5.00 Hispanic 96 2 1 1 3.14

Note: The reference group is white respondents. *p<.05. **p<.01. ***p < .001.

over personal issues extends also to these non- white families (Lynd & Lynd, 1929; Montemay- or, 1983; Smetana, 1988). These findings should not be misinterpreted to mean that parents and adolescents are necessarily in agreement with each other on their views regarding sex, drug use, or boy- and girlfriends. Rather, it is likely that these are areas that are less frequently discussed than other more mundane issues, and that there is therefore less disagreement on them.

Consistency across ethnic groups is further seen in the topics about which parents and adoles-

cents most frequently disagree. Very similar patterns are evident for each group, with disagreements about helping around the house most frequent for each group, and conflict about family relations, school, dress, and money in similar de- creasing frequencies. It is apparent, then, that for this representative sample of U.S. families, parent-adolescent conflict is quite normative regarding topics of conflict. Regardless of cultural back- ground, parents disagreed with their adolescents over issues that are central to the day-to-day experience of living together.




As expected, minority families reported lower levels of conflict than white families. This is evident throughout the data with the exception of those areas where there was virtually no conflict in any cultural group. The clearest example of the difference is conflict about chores. Fifty-two percent of Hispanic parents reported never disagree- ing about doing things around the house, com-

pared with 21% of white parents. Moreover, twice as many white parents (28%) as Hispanic parents (14%), reported monthly conflict over chores, and substantially more white parents (37%) reported weekly conflict than did Hispanic parents (23%). In each case, black parents fell between these extremes.

Higher levels of conflict among white families were evident for most of the types of conflict. The ordering of frequency of conflict from white to black to Hispanic apparent in disagreement about chores, however, did not hold as strongly else- where. Actually, percentages of conflict reported by black parents more closely aligned with levels

reported by Hispanic parents. There were excep- tions to this, as in the same level (17%) of conflict over dress in each of the three groups, but overall it was evident that white parents reported substantially higher levels of conflict than did blacks and especially Hispanics.

To address the hypothesis that lower levels of conflict among minority families is a function of higher expectations for children's conformity and behavior, analyses of variance were conducted on the parental expectation variables. Several of these were directly relevant to the issues of conformity to parental authority-for example, "follow family rules," "control temper," "do what parents ask," and "carry out responsibilities." The findings of these analyses are presented in Table 2. Post hoc (Scheff6) analyses of means revealed that, as expected, both black and Hispanic parents reported significantly higher expectations than did white parents across all expectations, with the exception of "be kind and considerate," and "try new things" for blacks and whites. With large

TABLE 2. ANALYSES OF VARIANCE OF PARENTAL EXPECTATIONS BY ETHNIC GROUP

Means (SD) Post hoc Scheff6

Parent Expectations F Ratio (dJ) White Black Hispanic H>Wa B>Wb H>Bc

Follow family rules 38.13*** 5.80 6.26 6.63 *** *** * (2,1652) (1.18) (1.18) (.77)

Do well in school 43.76*** 6.05 6.52 6.73 *** *** (2,1650) (1.04) (1.00) (.65)

Be independent 18.49*** 5.96 6.31 6.34 ** *** (2,1649) (1.06) (1.08) (1.05)

Be kind, considerate 3.01* 6.54 6.52 6.74 (2,1653) (.79) (.94) (.60)

Control temper 18.85*** 5.98 6.26 6.55 *** *** (2,1649) (1.07) (1.17) (.78)

Do what parents ask 60.71*** 5.47 6.13 6.38 *** ** (2,1651) (1.21) (1.17) (.93)

Carry out responsibilities 12.86*** 6.18 6.33 6.66 *** * * (2,1647) (.95) (1.09) (.63)

Do well in music, art 46.98*** 4.49 5.24 5.66 *** *** (2,1652) (1.56) (1.72) (1.59)

Keep busy alone 34.07 4.90 5.40 5.84 *** *** (2,1644) (1.37) (1.43) (1.27)

Get along with other kids 23.27*** 5.99 6.28 6.57 *** *** * (2,1649) (.99) (1.06) (.89)

Do well in athletics 58.73*** 4.05 4.90 5.56 *** *** **

(2,1649) (1.71) (1.78) (1.75) Try new things 9.43*** 5.49 5.59 6.08 ****

(2,1652) (1.26) (1.45) (1.13)

aMeans for Hispanics greater than means for whites. bMeans for blacks greater than means for whites. 'Means for Hispanics greater than means for blacks. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p<.001.




sample sizes like the one employed in this study, statistical significance does not necessarily imply substantive variation. But the fact that in several cases the differences spanned an entire scale in- terval suggests that differences between groups on expectations are meaningful.

A final point regarding these findings is im-

portant. The difference in conflict between white and minority families so evident through much of the analyses is not apparent when considering families who reported the highest level of conflict-that is, up to daily arguments. There was much greater consistency across all three groups in the extent to which parents reported having daily conflict over several issues. A good example is conflict over money matters. Whereas white

parents reported 2 to 3 times the frequency of monthly or weekly conflict with their adolescents over money, they did not differ substantially from the minority families on daily conflict over

money. In this and other cases (e.g., conflict over chores, curfew, dress, and friends), black parents actually exceeded white parents in daily conflict, as did Hispanics for conflict over dress. These findings imply that conflict may not be a linear

function. The fact that culture was useful in differentiating levels of conflict up to a certain fre-

quency, but not beyond, suggests that habitual conflict is a different phenomenon, at least unrelated to the cultural factors associated with less

frequent disagreement.

Profiles of Conflicted Families

The second major purpose of this paper was to analyze the personal and family factors that are

predictive of parent-adolescent conflict. Sets of 18 variables representing social class and family structure, parent characteristics, adolescent characteristics, and parenting were entered simultane- ously in regression analyses for each cultural group. Rather than present analyses of all 10 measures of disagreement, conflict over chores and conflict about family relations were selected as dependent variables because of the relatively greater amount of variance that existed in these variables for all families.

Conflict over helping around the house. Analyses of predictors of parent-adolescent conflict over

TABLE 3. REGRESSION ANALYSES OF CONFLICT OVER CHORES ON FAMILY VARIABLES, BY RACE

White Black Hispanic

Variable r / t r p t r t

Class/structure Parent education -.01 .04 1.78 .05 .08 1.60 .34 .09 .92 Mother work .03 .03 1.42 .05 .02 .43 .02 -.03 -.31 Single parent .04 -.02 -.89 .02 -.10 -1.92 .20 -.08 -.84 Stepfamily .01 -.02 -.81 -.07 -.06 -1.17 -.03 -.02 -.21

Parent characteristics Age -.18 -.05 -1.80 -.03 .08 1.49 -.19 -.03 -.29 Sex .08 .06 2.32* .16 .15 2.67** .02 .00 .01 Health -.09 -.01 -.35 -.04 .00 .05 .13 .19 1.91 Depression .11 .03 1.25 .14 .03 .60 .19 .05 .60

Adolescent characteristics Age -.16 -.07 -2.79** .02 .00 -.07 -.03 .05 .56 Sex -.02 -.02 -.73 -.05 -.05 -.99 -.01 .03 .37 Negative personality .35 .16 5.89*** .34 .20 3.74*** .40 .13 1.19 Positive personality -.44 -.33 -12.44"** -.38 -.30 -6.26*** -.31 -.27 -2.99** Problem history .23 .03 1.06 .23 .09 1.77 .40 .23 2.10* Easy to raise -.12 -.06 -2.37* -.02 .02 .43 -.30 -.03 -.35

Parenting Positive -.11 -.05 -1.70 -.06 -.01 -.27 .01 -.11 -1.23 Negative .28 .13 4.85*** .25 .12 2.28* .29 .23 2.34* Monitor -.02 .00 -.08 .00 -.02 -.39 .10 .02 .27 Expectations -.06 .00 .20 -.01 .02 .50 -.40 -.34 -3.70***

F 28.57*** 7.25*** 4.62***

R2 .27 .23 .39 n 1,325 381 104

*p<.05. **p<.01. ***p<.001.




household chores are presented in Table 3. Rela- tively equal proportions of variance were ac- counted for in white (.27) and black families (.23), with greater variance explained for Hispan- ic families (.39).

Generally, there was little relationship between the social class/family structure variables and conflict over chores. Most of the multivariate (P) and bivariate (r) coefficients were near zero. Among black and Hispanic families, relationships between conflict and parent education and single parenting were somewhat stronger than for whites. The direction of these relationships was consistent across all families, indicating higher levels of conflict among more educated families, and lower levels among families with single parents.

There were also very few meaningful relationships between parent characteristics and conflict over chores. Depression was unrelated in any group and parental health was associated only for Hispanics, and this in a positive direction. Sex of parent was relevant especially for black adolescents for whom there was greater conflict with mothers compared to fathers.

In contrast to the two previous clusters of predictors, several of the adolescent characteristic variables had meaningful relationships with conflict over chores for all families. Age and sex were largely unrelated but the two personality variables had much stronger predictive power. Parents' perceptions of their children's personali- ties as positive (i.e., happy, independent, con- forming, and socially responsible) or negative (i.e., unhappy, anxious, unkind) were relatively strongly related to conflict in predictable ways. More conflict occurred between parents and adolescents in families where parents perceived their children to be negative, and less conflict in families where adolescents were perceived as positive. This pattern held for all families. Adolescents' prior history with problems (e.g., with school of- ficials, police, etc.) was also consistently related across families at the bivariate level and at the multivariate level for Hispanics.

Negative parenting (spanking, slapping, yelling) was consistently associated with higher levels of conflict over chores in all families, and most strongly for Hispanics. Hispanic families were also distinguished significantly by the role of

TABLE 4. REGRESSION ANALYSES OF CONFLICT OVER FAMILY RELATIONS ON FAMILY VARIABLES, BY RACE

White Black Hispanic

Variable r / t r / t r t Class/structure

Parent education .06 .11 4.48*** .05 .03 .63 .20 .02 .17 Mother work -.02 -.02 -.78 -.03 -.06 -1.13 .05 .06 .78 Single parent .03 -.03 -1.23 .13 .05 .96 .29 .02 .23 Stepfamily -.04 -.07 -2.84** -.04 .00 .04 .02 .10 1.17

Parent characteristics Age -.22 -.08 -2.90** -.20 -.10 -1.84 -.21 .12 1.17 Sex .06 .03 .93 .11 .01 .21 .19 .09 .96 Health -.06 -.02 -.63 -.02 -.03 -.62 -.02 -.02 -.22 Depression .08 .00 -.09 .10 .00 .02 .23 -.04 -.47

Adolescent characteristics Age -.23 -.13 -4.78*** -.08 -.01 -.12 -.14 -.13 -1.40 Sex .06 .03 .93 -.01 .00 .05 -.01 .02 .24 Negative personality .40 .26 9.49*** .29 .15 2.72** .60 .45 4.11*** Positive personality -.25 -.09 -3.25*** -.20 -.14 -2.81** -.07 -.14 -1.59 Problem history .24 .08 3.04** .21 .08 1.46 .48 .15 1.42 Easy to raise -.14 -.07 -2.78** -.09 -.02 -.37 -.19 -.01 -.12

Parenting Positive -.03 -.01 -.39 .06 .10 1.94* .31 .20 2.32* Negative .31 .15 5.76*** .27 .14 2.55** .35 .09 .90 Monitor -.03 .01 .22 -.03 -.02 -.39 .05 .02 .29 Expectations -.06 -.02 -.90 -.03 -.03 -.55 -.32 -.18 -2.05"

F 26.05*** 4.08*** 5.12*** R2 .25 .13 .42 n 1,325 381 104

*p <.05. **p <.01. ***p <.001.




parental expectations, which were unrelated to conflict in black and white families. The direction of this relationship confirmed the earlier advanced hypotheses that the presence of high expectations for children's behavior is associated with lower

expressed conflict. Parental monitoring had no effect in any group, and positive parenting (praises, hugs, involves child in decisions) was related much more strongly again for Hispanics.

Conflict over getting along with family members. Very similar patterns emerged in the analyses of conflict over family relationships (Table 4). Again, more variance in conflict in Hispanic families was explained by the model (.42), than for white (.25) or black (.13) families. For the social class and family structure variables, relationships were, as before, quite low. Differences compared to the previous analysis included a strengthening of the link with educational level of parents for white families, and a weakening for blacks and Hispanics. Also, the stepfamily variable had mild

relationships for white and Hispanics. For whites, stepfamilies had somewhat lower levels of conflict over family relationships, but conflict was

higher among Hispanic families with stepparents. Parent characteristics were generally unrelated

to family conflict with the exception of parental age, which had somewhat stronger relationships for conflict over family relationship than for conflict over chores. Negative relationships obtained for white and black families, and there was a positive association for Hispanics. Again, depression had mild to moderate positive bivariate associations with conflict which were attenuated in the multivariate analyses.

The pattern of relationships between adolescent characteristics and conflict over family relationships was very similar to the previous analysis. Adolescent age was negatively related to conflict for whites and Hispanics. Again, the negative and positive personality variables and the problem history measure had the strongest relationships of the entire set of predictors. In this case, negative personality, instead of positive personality, appeared to be the strongest predictor, especially for Hispanics.

Finally, negative parenting was the only parenting characteristic predictive of family conflict for white families. Positive parenting was also predictive for black and Hispanic families, but in a positive direction, perhaps reflecting overin- volvement of the parent. And again, only in His-

panic families were parental expectations associated with conflict.

In sum, although there are some interesting variations, the profile of highly conflicted families is quite consistent across the three cultural groups. When social, structural, demographic, and developmental factors were relevant, they de- fined a profile of conflicted families in which parents and adolescents were younger, parents had

higher levels of education, and in which the bio-

logical versus step relationships with parents had a minor impact. These factors, however, were overshadowed by characteristics of the adolescents and the patterns of parenting that occurred in these families. Parental perceptions of the dis-

positions of their children surfaced as the most salient factors in differentiating levels of conflict. For all families, the positive and negative personality attributes, as well as their problem behavior history were generally the most powerful predictors of conflict. The quality of parenting also var- ied predictably.

The only factor that substantially differentiated between the three groups of families was the ex-

pectations parents had of their children. The de-

scriptive analyses earlier in this article identified Hispanic families as having particularly high expectations of their adolescents. These expectations in Hispanic families, but not in white or black families, were also strongly associated with levels of conflict over chores and family relationships.

Two further analyses were conducted to clari- fy these regression results. The first had to do with the prominence of the personality variables. These variables had particularly strong relationships with the outcome measures. It was of interest to know what variables would surface as meaningful if these factors were not present in the equation. Accordingly, analyses were repeated without the two personality measures. Substantial increases in the strength of the beta coefficients for problem history and negative parenting were seen in all families for both types of conflict. Very little change was apparent in any other variables. These findings suggest a close association between perceived personality, prior history of problems, and negative parenting practices.

Finally, the question raised earlier concerning the possible threshold effect that distinguishes habitual conflict from less frequent conflict was ex- plored. Specifically, it was of interest to test whether conflict had linear relationships with its personal and family predictors, or whether these predictors were most relevant to habitual conflict.




Each of these hypotheses was tested using analyses of variance with appropriate contrast matrices, and with the three most powerful variables as factors: negative personality, positive personality, and problem history. The results of these analyses suggested that, generally, the linear hypothesis adequately accounts for the data, particularly for white families. There was some indication that for minority families with habitual conflict, differences in problem history and personality were es-

pecially evident.

DIscusSION

The purpose of this study was to extend the research literature on parent-adolescent conflict by focusing on the personal and social factors related to variations in conflict between families in sam-

ples of white, black, and Hispanic families. Past studies of parent-adolescent conflict have not looked carefully at the personal and family interaction predictors of conflict and have concentrat- ed primarily on white samples.

Several of the analyses reported in this investi-

gation demonstrated that parent-adolescent conflict is a phenomenon that is similar across cultural boundaries. This generality is evident in three areas. First, it is clear that white, black, and His- panic families disagreed about the same issues; namely, parents reported little conflict about substantive issues such as drugs and sex, but reported most disagreement over everyday matters such as chores, family relations, school, dress, and so forth. This finding is consistent with much past work on white families and is presumably a com- ment in part on the types of topics that parents and adolescents discuss. The absence of conflict over controversial topics such as sex and drugs, for example, most likely means that parents and adolescents do not often discuss these issues, rather than that they have no differences in atti- tudes about them. Second, despite substantial cultural differences at lower levels of frequency of disagreements, similar proportions of each group reported chronic (i.e., daily) conflict. Third, the social and personal profiles of parent-adolescent conflict were very similar for all cultural groups.

The major cultural difference had to do with the frequency of conflict reported by parents. There were substantially lower levels of conflict reported by both minority groups in comparison to the white families. The corollary findings that both minority groups had substantially higher expectations of their children raises the issue of the

role of culturally based expectations and conventions in determining the type and quality of behavioral interaction among family members. This link between expectations of behavior and interaction patterns was particularly apparent for the

Hispanic families in this study. The regression analyses showed parental expectations to be a substantial negative predictor of conflict.

Expressed disagreement between adolescents and their parents may be more legitimate in certain families compared to others, and this legiti- macy is likely a function of expectations of con-

formity and authority patterns established in fami-

ly interaction. In light of shifts over the past several decades in white parents' preferences for children's independence and autonomy instead of

conformity (Alwin, 1988), coupled with the evidence that white parents are more child-centered or authoritative than minority parents (e.g., Dorn- busch et al., 1987), it may not be surprising to see

higher levels of disagreement in white families, in contrast to minority families who enforce confor-

mity as a method of insuring survival in the dominant culture.

Caution should be exercised when interpreting these results, however, because it is possible that the lower rates of conflict reported by minority parents reflect a reporting bias associated with social desirability. Minority parents might be somewhat defensive upon being questioned about their personal lives, especially when the research is conducted by majority investigators, and might therefore paint a more positive picture of family life. However, the fact that minority parents would define lower conflict as socially desirable could itself be evidence of the illegitimacy of expressed disagreement between parents and children in these cultures.

Lastly, with regard to levels of expressed conflict, the findings that families from the three cultures were not distinguished to the degree that they experienced daily conflict were very intrigu- ing. Social conventions regarding the acceptabili- ty of conflicted interaction among family members may be operative to a certain degree, but it was apparent that there are conditions under which all families end up experiencing habitual conflict. The combination of child's problem history, negative personality, and negative parenting styles may override any cultural barriers against the expression of conflict.

The analyses describing the social, personal, and family interaction profiles of conflicted families represent a meaningful extension of the ex-




tant work on parent-adolescent conflict. Most past work has focused on normative developmental change in attempting to explain patterns of conflict. The strongest predictor of conflict in these findings was personality characteristics of adolescents. There is some evidence from other investi- gations that some negative personality characteristics, such as ego control/resiliency (Block, Block, & Keyes, 1988) and aggressiveness (Far- rington, 1978), are continuous from childhood to adolescence. Of course, the cross-sectional data in the present study do not permit us to know if these personality characteristics were carried over from childhood, but the association between these characteristics and the measure of problem history and all of their associations with conflict suggest the possibility that conflicted relationships during adolescence are an evolution of problemat- ic interaction that has occurred historically in the family (see Stattin & Klackenberg, 1992, for recent evidence of the stability of parent-child dis- cord from childhood through adolescence). Since reports of conflict and adolescent personality came from one source, the parent, it is also possible that the association between these variables reflects an underlying negative parental appraisal of adolescents, or unmeasured personality or response characteristics of the parents.

The second strongest predictor of conflict was negative parenting. It is likewise not possible to assert a causal explanation of this relationship, but it is easy to understand that parents would adopt coercive parenting strategies to deal with difficult children. It is also possible that negative parenting preceded and contributed to both the personality characteristics of the adolescents and the conflict they had with parents. What is more likely is that reciprocal relationships exist between all of these factors, as has been carefully documented by Pat- terson (Patterson, 1982; Patterson, Bank, & Stoolmiller, 1990). What is apparent in the current data is that higher levels of conflict between parents and adolescents are part of a constellation of negativity in the family that includes aversive personality, history of problem behaviors, and coercive parenting, an environment that likely has its origins before adolescence.

Two recommendations flow from this discussion. First, there is a clear need for more research that assesses adolescent and family development across the transition to adolescence. Block et al. (1988) and others note that the bulk of the adolescent research, even the longitudinal studies, enroll subjects who are already in adolescence. Before

we can confirm the effects of individual and family development during adolescence we must understand conditions prior to adolescence. Thus research designs that begin assessing families before the children reach adolescence and proceed to monitor family relations across the transition to adolescence would be important.

The second recommendation relates to the issue of fit between parent and child. This study's findings portray conflicted families as those in which parents and adolescents appear to clash in terms of personality and interpersonal behaviors. Relatively little attention, at least in the family fields, has been given to the dynamics between children's individual characteristics and the demands imposed on them in the family setting. Lerner, Lerner, and Tubman's (1989) description of the circular interactions between child and parent physical, cognitive, and psychological characteristics and the socialization demands parents place on children illustrates the complexity of interpersonal behavior and suggests important implications for the understanding of conflict development. The study of parent-adolescent conflict could benefit greatly from more attention to this question of the relative compatibility (fit) between the personality and behavioral characteristics of adolescents (and parents) and the socialization practices of the parents. Mismatches here may be important predictors of conflict.

NOTE

Sincere thanks are extended to Vaughn R. A. Call and Joseph E. Olsen for their consultation on the data set and analyses.

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