Conflict Resolution Strategies in Parent-Adolescent Disagreements

The current study examined conflict resolution strategies parents and adolescents use when discussing a disagreement and how these strategies relate to adolescent depression. A global, observational coding system was used to investigate the specific engaging (i.e., active listening, autonomy promoting and expressing, and relational) and disengaging (i.e., hostile, controlling, and withdrawal) strategies that 68 parent-adolescent dyads utilized during a conflict discussion. Even though correlations between convergent and divergent validity measures were low, the coding system proved highly reliable. Additionally, analyses demonstrated that parent active listening and adolescent relational behaviors were associated with lower levels of adolescent depression whereas parental withdrawal behavior was moderately related to an increase in adolescent depression. As such, it appears that it is not only what is said between parents and adolescents during a disagreement that influences adolescent depression, but it is also how that discussion is verbally and non-verbally conducted that can impact adolescent depression. iii iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS01A1. I would also like to acknowledge Dr. Hussong for her continued guidance, commitment, and support as both my mentor and Masters committee chair member, and her generosity in allowing me use of her data set. I am also very appreciative of Dr. Cox and Dr. Jones for their time and invaluable feedback as members of my Masters committee.