1. Objectifs

Intentions :
The goal of this thesis was «to shed light on the intricate dynamics within family conflict, and how these dynamics come to shape youth behavior and socioemotional adjustment.» (p. 98) More precisely, «[t]he objective of Study 1 was to examine the dynamic nature of mother-child conflict, in relation to children’s socioemotional development.» (p. 15) The objective of Study 2 «was to examine conflict behaviors and emotional expression within sibling relationships.»(p. 15)

Questions/Hypothèses :
The author hypothesized that, «following their own sad/distressed affect, participants would display more avoidance/withdrawal and conciliatory remarks» that, «[f]ollowing their angry/upset affect, participants would display more conflict-escalating (i.e., disagreement and confrontative behaviors) and analytic behaviors» and that «[p]articipants would display more de-escalating behaviors (i.e., analytic and conciliatory remarks) following expressions of positive affect.» (p. 26)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
The participants of the first study «represent a subset of the Concordia Longitudinal Research Project (Concordia Project; Schwartzman et al., 1985; Stack et al., 2017), a prospective, longitudinal study of at-risk individuals from Montréal, Canada.» (p. 28) «One hundred participants, aged nine to 13 years, participated in the present study with their mothers.» (p. 28) «Thirty-two offspring of original Concordia Project participants, aged 12 to 15 years, participated (i.e., “focal adolescents”) [in the second study]. There were 22 girls and 10 boys, with a mean age of 13.87 years […].» (p. 71)

Instruments :
Questionnaire

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique
Analyse de contenu

3. Résumé

«Results from both studies indicated that overall, family members escalated conflict more (i.e., disagreed and confronted) and made more assertive (i.e., analytic) remarks when they appeared angry (i.e., displayed frowning/upset affect), and were more conciliatory and avoidant when they appeared sad. Neutral affect predicted the most conflict de-escalating behavior (i.e., analytic and conciliatory remarks), while positive affect promoted both de-escalating behavior and avoidance. Links between individuals’ behavior and their interaction partners’ emotional expressions were generally similar, yet weaker than responses to their own emotions. Differences between mother-child versus sibling conflict patterns, as well as between mother-child conflict before and after the transition to adolescence, suggested that family conflict dynamics are influenced by relationship type as well as developmental timing. Results from Study 1 also indicated that mothers’ tendency to escalate conflict when angry was associated with difficult child characteristics in earlier childhood and socioemotional difficulties in adolescence. Further, maternal and child de-escalation following sadness predicted socioemotional adjustment in adolescence. Furthermore, Study 2 identified many within-family similarities in responses to negative emotions, yet relatively few similarities in how youth responded across the two conflict contexts (i.e., with their mothers and with their siblings).» (p. iv)