Similarities and Differences in Mother-Daughter and Mother-Son Conversations During Preadolescence and Adolescence

Abstract

Temporal and functional conversation styles were examined in discussions between mothers and their preadolescent or adolescent sons and daughters. Conversations were audiotaped and coded for speakers’ rates of overlaps between speaking turns, simultaneous speech, and successful interruptions. Results indicated that boys and girls of both ages used a high-involvement conversational style including frequent overlaps, simultaneous speech, and interruptions. Mothers used a high-considerateness style characterized by significantly lower rates of overlaps, simultaneous speech, and interruptions than their children. Secondary analyses examining the functions of speakers’ simultaneous speech and successful interruptions indicated that adolescents produced less confirming simultaneous speech than preadolescents, and more confirming simultaneous speech was produced in the preadolescent boy dyads than in either the adolescent boy dyads or the preadolescent girl dyads. Finally, adolescent boys produced significantly more rejecting successful interruptions than their mothers.