First Draft of Abstract

WPA Abstract

Anna Berlin, Melinda Baham, Karina Sokol

The Effect of Discrepancy in Relationship Quality Ratings

on Adolescent Outcomes

The quality of the parent-child relationship substantially affectsa range of adolescent outcomesfrom general well-being (Amato, 1994, Videon, 2005) to resilience following disease (e.g., Orbuch, Parry, Chesler, Fritz, & Repetto, 2005). Given that these findings are not only robust, but are also consistent with societal values that emphasize the importanceof quality parent-childrelationships, it is reasonable to conclude that many parents strive to develop and maintain quality relationships with their children. Yet, it is possible for all family members to agree that quality parent-child relationships are vital, but disagree regarding their subjective ratings ofthe actualparent-childrelationships within the family. Discrepancies in the perception of parent-child relationship qualitymay have detrimental effects on anadolescent’s development. Thus, the present research addresses the question of what impact a lack of consensus within the adolescent-mother-father triad regarding theperceived quality of the parent-child relationship may have on adolescent outcomes. Specifically, this research investigates the hypothesis that discrepancies between family members’ ratings of relationship quality will be associated with negative behavioral outcomes for the adolescent.

To investigate this issue, 393 7th grade adolescents and their mothers and fathers were interviewed regarding various aspects of family life, including the quality of the parent-child relationships. Consistent with the hypothesis, results revealed that the variance of the three family members’ (mother, adolescent, and father) reports when evaluating the quality of father adolescent relationships was, in fact, positively associated[1] with the adolescent’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors (as reported separately by the adolescent, mother and father). Similar results were found for discrepancies in the reports of the quality of mother-adolescent relationships. Results indicate that families who had consensus in perceptions of parent-child relationships had adolescents with better outcomes relative to families with discrepant relationship quality ratings.

Further analyses also investigate how these effects differ as a function of family type(intact or step family).It is important, therefore, that in addition to striving to develop and maintain quality relationships with their children, parents should effectively communicate not only about their actual perceptions of the quality of their relationships with their children, but also about what characteristics they perceive to be important components of a quality relationship.

Word Count: 358

References

Amato, P. R. (1994). Father-child relations, mother-child relations, and offspring psychological well-being in early adulthood. Journal of Marriage and theFamily, 56, 1031-1042.

Orbuch, Tl L., Parry, C., Chelser, M., Fritz, J., & Repetto, P. (2005). Parent-child relationships and quality of life: Resilience among childhood cancer survivors. Family Relations, 54, 171-???.

Videon, T. M. (2005). Parent-child relations and children’s psychological well-being: Do dads matter?. Journal of Family Issues 26(1), 55-78.

[1] Range of correlations from .08 to .24, with 9 of the 12 correlations significant p < .05, and of those 6 were significant p < .005.