Parents’ and children’s power effectiveness during polyadic family conflict: Process and outcome

Abstract

Parent–child power effectiveness was investigated during naturally occurring polyadic family conflict with young children involving three or more family members. In 35/39 families, 210 conflict sequences were identified and coded for type of power, power effectiveness, and conflict outcome. Effective use of power overall and by each partner was assessed using two methods: microscopic (target’s response to an actor’s power move during the process of conflict) and macroscopic (power moves related to conflict outcome). Actor findings revealed that parents were more effective using certain types of power microscopically (i.e., simple, legitimate, reward) and macroscopically (i.e., simple, legitimate, questioning), whereas children were more effective using reward power macroscopically. Our findings support the unique qualities of the parent–child relationship and the complex context of polyadic family conflict. The study contributes to the literature on the socialization of young children in the family context.

From Surrender Stories to Persistence Stories: Young Girls’ Narratives of Agency and Power in Child–parent Conflicts

“…This story type also reflects the ongoing shift towards more equal child-parent relations (Kuczynski, 2003;Leonard, 2016;Sevón, 2015) in which parents are open to being influenced by their children's views (Lundy, 2007). The children in the mediation and compromise stories were also offered opportunities to act responsibly (Leonard, 2016), highlighting that conflicts can provide important opportunities for children to learn social rules, practise navigating social relations, and express their agency in a socially competent way (e.g., Della Porta et al, 2019;Kuczynski, 2003).…”

Conflict Resolution and Emotional Expression in Sibling and Mother-Adolescent Dyads: Within-Family and Across-Context Similarities

“…In addition, conflict discussions were limited to mother-child and sibling dyads. It would be valuable to apply the present methodology to interactions including fathers, as well as to triadic or whole-family observations (Della Porta, Howe, & Persram, 2019; Persram et al, 2019). Every family member contributes to the dynamics within the home, and the place of fathers in these dynamics remains understudied (Little, Germeroth, & Garber, 2019; Ravindran, Hu, McElwain, & Telzer, 2019).…”

Young children's differential use of power during family conflict: A longitudinal study

“…The sessions were transcribed and later sequences of polyadic family conflict were identified. All conflict sequences that matched our definition of conflict (i.e., incompatibility in goals expressed when one person explicitly opposed another person's actions or statements; Hay & Ross, 1982), which involved three or more active family members were included (Della Porta & Howe, 2017; Della Porta et al., 2019). To meet the polyadic conflict criteria, each actor had to contribute verbally or nonverbally to the conflict at least once for a minimum of three actor moves per sequence.…”

“…During conflicts in early childhood, win‐loss is the most common outcome (Della Porta et al., 2019; Howe et al., 2002). Therefore, the present study examined power strategy effectiveness in win‐loss conflicts, specifically win outcomes, to capture the impact of children's use of power (Della Porta et al., 2019; Recchia et al., 2010). This method allows for the investigation of which power moves effectively influence others to successfully meet one's goals.…”