Longitudinal Transmission of Conflict Management Styles Across Inter-Parental and Adolescent Relationships.

Abstract

This study longitudinally investigated transmission of conflict management styles across inter-parental, adolescent-parent, adolescent-friend, and adolescent-partner relationships. During four waves, 799 middle-to-late adolescents (Mage-t1 =15.80; 54% boys) and their parents completed the Conflict Resolution Style Inventory. Cross-lagged path analyses indicated transmission of adolescent conflict management styles in relationships with parents to relationships with friends and romantic partners: Positive problem solving and conflict engagement utilized by adolescents in conflicts with parents were significantly, positively related to, respectively, adolescent positive problem solving and conflict engagement in relationships with friends 1year later and relationships with partners 2years later. Thus, the study showed that the way adolescents manage conflicts with parents predicts how they handle conflicts later in relationships outside the family.