Conflict Frequency with Mothers and Fathers from Middle Childhood to Late Adolescence: Within- and Between-Families Comparisons

• Published in: Developmental psychology Vol. 43; no. 3; pp. 539 - 550
• Main Authors: Shanahan, Lilly, McHale, Susan M, Osgood, Wayne, Crouter, Ann C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Psychological Association 01.05.2007
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Affect; Age Factors; Attitude; Birth Order; Child; Children; Comparative Analysis; Conflict; Family Relationship; Father-Child Relations; Fathers; Female; Humans; Hypothesis Testing; Incidence; Individuality; Interview, Psychological; Interviews; Late Adolescents; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Mother-Child Relations; Mothers; Parent Child Relationship; Psychology, Adolescent; Psychology, Child; Siblings
• ISSN: 0012-1649; 1939-0599
• DOI: 10.1037/0012-1649.43.3.539

The authors examined siblings' dyadic and differential conflict frequency with mothers and fathers from 7 to 19 years of age. Participants were first- and second-borns from 201 families who reported their conflict with each parent in 4 home interviews spaced over 5 years. Multilevel models examining trajectories of conflict frequency across age and year of study revealed that (a) consistent with a spillover hypothesis, elevation in parent-offspring conflict frequency was timed to firstborns' transition to adolescence for both siblings; and (b) consistent with a learning-from-experience hypothesis, there was no increase in conflict frequency at second-borns' transition to adolescence. These findings highlight the importance of studying the development of parent-offspring conflict within the larger family system.