Adolescent-parent discrepancies in beliefs about family relationships in Turkish families: Links to conflict, cohesion, life satisfaction and conflict management

The present study examined: (a) the extent to which Turkish adolescents and their parents shared similar beliefs and values about family relationships, (b) how adolescent-parent discrepancies in these beliefs were linked to family cohesion and conflict as well as adolescents' life satisfaction, and (c) how adolescents and parents manage disagreements in the face of open conflict. A total of 143 families, consisting of adolescent-parent dyads or triads (i.e., adolescent-mother and/or father) (Total N = 359), participated in the present study. Results indicated that parents endorsed their authority more and had later age expectations for their adolescent's behavioral autonomy than did their adolescents. Yet, adolescents and parents placed similar levels of importance on family interdependence. Higher adolescent-parent discrepancies in beliefs about family interdependence and parental authority were linked to lower levels of cohesion and adolescent life satisfaction. In adolescents' reports of real and hypothetical disagreements, compliance and negotiation emerged as the most salient conflict management strategies. Similarly, negotiation and compliance expectation were the most salient strategies in parents' reports. Self-assertion and autonomy-support also emerged in adolescents' and parents' reports, respectively, in specific disagreement contexts. Overall, divergent and convergent patterns in adolescents' and parents' values and beliefs about family relationships and patterns of conflict management showed that Turkish adolescents and parents try to incorporate both autonomy and relatedness into their relationships.