Parent-Child Communication, Relationship Quality, and Female Young Adult Children’s Well-Being in U.S. and Finland

Abstract

Parent-child communication and parent-child relationship quality could influence young adult children’s well-being. Further, the associations between parent-child communication and relationship quality and young adult children’s well-being could differ in various cultural environments. In this study, we examined the associations among these constructs and potential cultural differences with two large samples of female college students from the U.S. ( N = 393) and Finland ( N = 264). Several major findings from structural equation modeling were revealed. For the U.S. sample, better parent-child communication, but not relationship quality, was related to female young adults’ better well-being (i.e., lower levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms and higher levels of life satisfaction). For the Finnish sample, however, better parent-child relationship quality, but not communication, was related to fewer problems in female young adults’ well-being. Further model comparisons suggested that the association between parent-child communication and well-being was much stronger among American female young adult children whereas the association between parent-child relationship quality and well-being was much stronger among Finnish female young adult children. In addition, parental divorce was negatively associated with parent-child communication and parent-child relationship quality. Other covariates included young adult children’s age, living arrangements, and family income. The models revealed similar patterns for mothers and fathers. Cultural implications were discussed.