| Research in health and family communication suggests that intimate friends and family members are uniquely capable of influencing each other's health-related behaviors (e.g. Bylund & Duck, 2004; Malis & Roloff, 2007). Studies have examined the crucial roles that spouses (Kiecolt-Glazer & Newton, 2001), romantic partners (Dennis, 2006), parents (Distefan, Gilpin, Choi, & Pierce, 1998) and friends (Flanagan, Elek-Fisk, & Gallay, 2004), play in the health-related behaviors of others; yet no research to date examines young adults' influence on their parents' health-related behaviors. The present study provides an exploratory examination of health-related confrontations initiated by young adults attempting to influence their parents' problematic health-related behaviors.;Confrontation strategies often vary based upon the nature of the relationship between two individuals (Cloven & Roloff, 1994; Newell & Stutman, 1989). Parents and children have an inherent power differential built into their relationship (Caughlin, Golish, Olson, Sargent, Cook, & Petrionio, 2000), as well as established family rules for appropriate communication dynamics (Fitzpatrick & Richie, 1994) that influence the circumstances under which young adults may initiate health-related confrontations and the capacity for such confrontations to change their parents' behavior.;A sample of 196 undergraduate college students at Northwestern University completed a questionnaire assessing their health privacy beliefs, strategies for influencing health-related behaviors in others, their family communication environments (see Fitzpatrick & Richie, 1994), and their experiences with confronting their parents about a serious health concern. Results indicated that participants' perceptions of legitimacy were predictive of confrontation, but degree of worry was not. Furthermore, expressiveness in the family environment was inversely correlated with parental health privacy beliefs, and positively correlated with initiating confrontation, expressing loving feelings during confrontation, reporting the confrontation as a good experience, and improvement of parents' health-related behavior. Structural traditionalism in the family environment was not significantly related to any variables except the belief that parents' health information was not private. Avoidance in the family environment was significantly related to young adults delaying the confrontation, hostility and negative emotions during the confrontation, regretting the confrontation and attempting to avoid confrontation in the future. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed. |
