Longitudinal Associations Between Mother–Child and Father–Child Closeness and Conflict From Middle Childhood to Adolescence

• Published date: 01 July 2021
• Author: Mingjun Xie,Amy K. Nuttall,Deborah J. Johnson,Desiree B. Qin
• Date: 01 July 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12531

M XInstitute of Developmental Psychology, Beijing Normal University, China

A K. N, D J. J,  D B. QDepartment of Human

Development and Family Studies, Michigan State University

Longitudinal Associations Between Mother–Child

and Father–Child Closeness and Conict From

Middle Childhood to Adolescence

Objective: The present study aimed at exam-

ining the longitudinal associations between

closeness and conict in mother–child and

father–child relationships from middle child-

hood to adolescence.

Method: Using six-wave longitudinal data of

mother–child and father–child relationships

from Grades 1 to 9 fromthe National Institute of

Child Health and Human Development Study of

Early Child Care and Youth Development study

(N=1,105 families; 79% European White,

21% ethnic minorities), the present study used

multivariate longitudinal modeling to address

the research goal.

Results: Formother–child relationships, higher

levels of conict at Grade 1 were signicantly

associated with slower increases in conict and

greater declines in closeness over time, while

controlling for the effects of demographic vari-

ables. Moreover, ndings suggest coordination

of change across mothers and fathers, such that

sharper decreases in closeness (or increases

in conict) between mothers and children were

associated with sharper decreases in closeness

Institute of Developmental Psychology, Bei-

jing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

(mingjun.xie01@gmail.com).

Key Words: adolescence, closeness, conict, father–child

relationships, parent–child relationships.

(or increases in conict) between fathers and

children.

Conclusion: The present study contributes to

the literature by elucidating the complexities of

the dynamic changes in parent–child relation-

ships and highlighting the importance of includ-

ing both mothers and fathers in the same model.

Implications: Our ndings have important

implications for family practitioners and edu-

cation and intervention programs aimed at

supporting families in coping with the chal-

lenges in tuning parent–child relationships

during adolescence.

During adolescence, closeness with parents

decreases and conict with parents increases

(Laursen & Collins, 2009; Marceau et al., 2015;

Steinberg, 1988). Although the developmental

trajectories of parent–child relationships have

been documented in prior research (Trentacosta

et al., 2011), the existing literature has not yet

examined the longitudinal associations between

mother–child and father–child relationships. In

particular, little is known about whether changes

in mother–child relationships are associated

with changes in father–child relationships.

Grounded in family systems theory (Cox &

Paley, 1997), the present study uses a multivari-

ate longitudinal design to extend prior ndings

on parent–child relationships by examining

866Family Relations 70 (July 2021): 866–879

DOI:10.1111/fare.12531