Parents’ Perceptions and Responses to Parent-adolescent Conflict Situations: A Mixed Methods Approach

Abstract

Background: Understanding how parents cognitively and emotionally perceive and respond to parent-child conflicts would provide a basis for targeted and effective parent education programs. The specific aims of this online mixed methods research study were to (1) categorize parents of adolescents based on their level of parental self-efficacy, parent-child communication, parent-child relationships, parent-child conflicts, and parental stress; and (2) explore parent-child conflict situations and parents' perceptions and responses to them in each group. Methods: A total of 103 parents with adolescent children aged 11∼16 years were recruited from five cities in Korea to participate in the study. Participants completed an online questionnaire about parentchild relationships and described a parent-child conflict situation that occurred within the past week and their perceptions and responses to it. We used cluster and content analyses for quantitative and qualitative data, respectively. Results: The study revealed two clusters: adequate parent-child relationship (group 1) and inadequate parent-child relationship (group 2). The key variable distinguishing the two groups was parental selfefficacy. Although parents in both groups generally experienced frustration, anger, worry, discouragement, and disappointment in the conflict situations, the two groups differed in their perceptions and responses to these situations. Conclusions: Results suggested that parent education programs should focus on improving parental self-efficacy. Additionally, the programs should provide an opportunity for parents to practice selfreflection, help them understand the link between emotion-thought-behavior based on cognitive model, and thus, effectively manage parent-child conflict situations.