Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Correspondence should be addressed to Kira S. Tensions are normative in the parent and adult child relationship, but there is little research on the topics that cause the most tension or whether tensions are associated with overall relationship quality. Tensions varied between and within families by generation, gender and age of offspring.
In comparison to tensions regarding individual issues, tensions regarding the relationship were associated with lower affective solidarity and greater ambivalence.
Findings are consistent with the developmental schism hypothesis, which indicates that parent-child tensions are common and are the result of discrepancies in developmental needs which vary by generation, gender, and age. Keywords: parent-child, tensions, ambivalence, solidarity, conflict, interpersonal problems. The parent-child relationship is one of the most long-lasting and emotionally intense social ties.
There is a lack of information, however, regarding the topics that generate more intense tensions for parents and their adult children, and whether mothers, fathers, and their sons and daughters report tensions of similar intensity. In addition, it is unclear whether tensions are associated with the overall quality of the relationship.
The present study examined the topics that generate tensions for parents and their adult children to achieve two aims: 1 examine whether the intensity of tension topics varied by generation, gender, and age of adult children, and 2 assess associations between tension intensity, solidarity, and ambivalence.
