Parental Hope Communication and Parent-Adolescent Constructive Conflict Management: A Multilevel Longitudinal Analysis

ABSTRACT

Drawing from relational conflict management research and hope theory, the present study hypothesized that parental hope communication is positively related to constructive parent-adolescent conflict management. Utilizing three waves of longitudinal survey data from 393 Latina/o 6^th–8th grade students, we tested the hypotheses using a random intercept cross-lagged panel model, which partitions variance at the between-person and within-person levels over time. At the between-person level, we found that, relative to the sample averages, as Latina/o students reported higher levels of parental hope communication, they tended to report higher levels of constructive conflict over the academic year. At the within-person level, parental hope communication at one time point positively predicted constructive parent-adolescent conflict at the next time point. Our findings inform hope theory, family communication, and positive communication research by demonstrating the potential utility of parental hope communication for increasing constructive conflict in parent-adolescent relationships.

Acknowledgment

We would like to thank Cinthia Chicas, Daisy Figueroa, Hannah Gunter, Lyndsi Ibarra, Celine Jeremiah, Roselia Mendez Murillo, Debora Pérez Torres, and Rachyl Pines who assisted in this study’s data collection and data entry. We are also grateful to the school administrators and students who contributed to this study.

Funding

This study was funded by the Pearl Chase Award and the ISBER Award at the University of California, Santa Barbara, which was awarded to the second author.