PROFILING PARENT-ADOLESCENT RELATIONSHIPS: A PATTERN-ANALYTIC APPROACH TO RELATIONSHIP QUALITY
Open Access
- Author:
- Head, Melissa R
- Graduate Program:
- Human Development and Family Studies
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- July 15, 2004
- Committee Members:
- Ann Caverly Crouter, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Susan Marie Mc Hale, Committee Member
Craig Edelbrock, Committee Member
Michael Paul Johnson, Committee Member - Keywords:
- parent-adolescent relationships
cluster analysis - Abstract:
- Our understanding of the nature and development of parent-adolescent relationships derives from empirical studies that focus on one relationship quality at a time (usually conflict), making it difficult to draw conclusions about the implications and consequences of particular relationship experiences, like conflict, for adolescents, parents, and their families. This study approached parent-adolescent relationships from a “person-centered” perspective in order to move away from the practice of studying relationship qualities in isolation. Specifically, this study made use of cluster analysis to profile parent-adolescent relationships along multiple affective and behavioral dimensions, relating those profiles to other characteristics of dyad members and families. In addition, initial relationship profiles were linked to change in relationship quality to see if differences in relationship quality led to differences in how these relationships changed as offspring moved through early and middle adolescence. Data came from 196 families living in central Pennsylvania participating in a longitudinal study; the present study focused on data from mothers, fathers, and secondborn offspring (M age = 12.5) collected during home and phone interviews about individual characteristics, family relationships, and time use. Two-stage cluster analyses, consisting of average linkage with cosine and k-means, were conducted separately for mother-offspring and father-offspring dyads, using eight relationship quality variables: parent and adolescent reports of parental acceptance, time together, conflict frequency, and conflict intensity. Analyses yielded four relationship profiles for both sets of dyads: Harmonious, Uninvolved, Conflictual-Child, and Conflictual-Parent. Harmonious dyads had high acceptance, spent much of their time together, and had infrequent, mild arguments. Uninvolved dyads spent little of their time together, and had infrequent and mild arguments. The two Conflictual clusters were characterized by more negative relationship quality, and differed from one another in who reported more conflict: offspring in Conflictual-Child relationships reported significantly more frequent and intense conflict than their parents, while parents in Conflictual-Parent relationships reported significantly more frequent and intense conflict than their offspring. Individual (e.g., gender, expressivity, depressive symptoms), relationship (e.g., autonomy, parental knowledge), and family (e.g., marital quality, quality of sibling relationships) characteristics were significantly related to relationship profiles in expected ways. The two Conflictual profiles were further distinguished from one another by their pattern of correlates; based on the profiles and pattern of correlates, it appeared that Conflictual-Parent mother-adolescent dyads, and Conflictual-Child father-adolescent dyads, had the most negative relationships. Finally, analyses were conducted testing whether initial relationship profiles moderated the association between adolescent developmental status and relationship change over a two-year period. Longitudinal findings, although scant due to methodological issues, nonetheless highlighted the importance of considering relationship quality when examining how parent-adolescent relationships change as adolescents develop.