Parent-child conflicts and
pubertal development in
Croatian adolescents
Gordana Keresteš
Irma Brković
Gordana Kuterovac Jagodić
Department of Psychology
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Zagreb, Croatia
Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Ljubljana 2008.
Transition to adolescence –
increase in parent-child conflict
One reason – pubertal maturation:
impact
of hormonal changes on child’s
behavior
impact of visible body changes
 on child’s self-perception and behavior
 on parental perception of the child and behavior
toward the child
Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Ljubljana 2008.
Different measures of pubertal
maturation in studies of conflict:
Chronological age
 School grade
 Single sign of puberty (e.g. menarche)
 Pubertal development status (combination of

different signs of maturation)

Pubertal timing (relative to referential group
according to age and gender): early, on-time, late
Conflicting findings
Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Ljubljana 2008.
Present study

Differential relations of 3 indicators of pubertal
maturation with parent-child conflict:
Chronological age (CA)
Pubertal status (PS)
Pubertal timing (PT)
Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Ljubljana 2008.
 Previous
studies on parent-child conflict
 General
conflict level
 Conflict with mothers
 Present
study:
 General
conflict level + 9 specific conflict topics
 Conflict with mothers + Conflict with fathers
Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Ljubljana 2008.
Research questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
Is pubertal maturation associated with frequency
of conflict, & is the degree of association different
for different indicators of maturation?
Which are the most & least frequent conflict topics
among parents and young adolescents in
Croatia?
Are there differences in conflict level and topics by
child’s and parent’s gender?
Who report about more conflict – children or
parents?
Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Ljubljana 2008.
Participants


219 two-parent families (217 both biological parents)
Children




Mothers




Mean age 39.7 ys, range 29-53 ys
Education: 20.2% university, 70.2% high-school, 9.6% elementary level
74.4% employed
Fathers




grades 4-8, mean age 12:8 ys, range 9:4-15 ys
53.4% girls
54.3% firstborns or only children (i.e. first child in adolescence)
Mean age 42.2 ys, range 34-63 ys
Education. 18.5% university, 73.7% high-school, 7.8% elementary level
83.8% employed
Sample biased toward higher SES
Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Ljubljana 2008.
Measures - Conflicts





Parent-Child Conflict Scale, designed after Deković et al. (1999)
Frequency of 40 conflict issues rated on a 4-point scale
(1 = never to 4 = very often)
Results (1-4):
 Overall conflict frequency (40 items)
 Conflict frequency in 9 domains: Home Chores, School,
Inappropriate Behavior, Appearance, Leisure Time, Peers
& Going Out, Financies, Health, Philosophy of Life
Cronbach alpha whole scale: .93 (parents) -.94 (children)
Cronbach alpha 9 conflict domains:
Child Reports – Conflict with Mother
 .66-.81 Child Reports – Conflict with Father
 .65-.82 Mother Reports – Conflict with Child
 .69-.84 Father Reports – Conflict with Child
 .67-.79
Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Ljubljana 2008.
Measures – Pubertal maturation
CA
 PS – PDS (Petersen et al., 1998)
 PT: Early, On-time, Late maturation

 Relative
PT according to PDS (PT-PDS):
 25-50-25% of PDS-distribution within
children of same class & gender
 Perceived PT – directly assessed by:
 Child (PPT-C)
 Mother (PPT-M)
 Father (PPT-F)
Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Ljubljana 2008.
PDS (Petersen et al., 1998)

5 indicators of pubertal maturation:
 boys
& girls: growth spurt in height, body hair
(pubic & axillary), skin changes
 girls only: breast development & menarche
 boys only: voice changes & facial hair
 each indicator except menarchy: 4 levels
(1 = not yet begun to 4 = completed)
 menarche: No (=1) / Yes (=4)
 Total score: Mean 5 items (1-4)
 Cronbach alpha: .79 girls, .72 boys
Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Ljubljana 2008.
Procedure

Children filled-out questionnaires in school
(conflict with mother and father assessed separately)

Parents filled-out questionnaires at home
(mothers and fathers independently)
Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Ljubljana 2008.
Results
Is pubertal maturation associated with
frequency of conflict, & is the degree of
association different for different
indicators of maturation?
Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Ljubljana 2008.
Correlations between pubertal development
indicators and total conflict level (Boys+Girls)
ChRp-C ChRp-C MRp-C FRp-C
with M
with F with Ch with Ch
CA
.149*
.230**
ns
.138*
PDS
.202**
.194**
ns
ns
PT-PDS
ns
ns
ns
ns
PPT-Ch
ns
ns
ns
ns
PPT-M
ns
ns
ns
ns
PPT-F
ns
ns
ns
ns
Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Ljubljana 2008.
Correlations between pubertal development
indicators and total conflict level (Girls)
ChRp-C ChRp-C MRp-C FRp-C
with M with F
with Ch with Ch
CA
.291**
.323***
ns
ns
PDS
.350***
.309**
ns
ns
PT-PDS
PPT-Ch
ns
ns
ns
ns
ns
.231*
ns
.197*
PPT-M
ns
ns
ns
ns
PPT-F
ns
ns
ns
ns
Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Ljubljana 2008.
2.2
Conflict level
2.1
2
1.9
1.8
1.7
M Reported Cnf
1.6
F reported Cnf
1.5
Late-maturing girls
On-time maturing
girls
Early maturing girls
Girls’ self-perceived pubertal timing and
parental perception of conflict
Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Ljubljana 2008.
Correlations between pubertal development
indicators and total conflict level (Boys)
CA
ChRp-C ChRp-C MRp-C
with M with F
with Ch
ns
ns
.248*
FRp-C
with Ch
.323**
PDS
ns
ns
ns
.252*
PT-PDS
ns
ns
ns
ns
PPT-Ch
ns
ns
ns
ns
PPT-M
ns
ns
ns
ns
PPT-F
ns
ns
ns
ns
Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Ljubljana 2008.
Intercorrelations – pubertal development
measures (Boys+Girls)
PDS
CA
PDS
PT-PDS
.573***
PT-PDS PPT-Ch PPT-M PPT-F
ns
ns
ns
ns
.586***
ns
.200**
ns
ns
.203**
ns
.375***
ns
PPT-Ch
PPT-M
ns
Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Ljubljana 2008.
Intercorrelations – pubertal development
measures (Boys)
PDS
CA
PDS
PT-PDS
PPT-Ch
.553***
PT-PDS PPT-Ch PPT-M PPT-F
ns
-.222*
ns
-.312*
.703***
ns
.290**
ns
ns
ns
ns
ns
.278*
PPT-M
ns
Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Ljubljana 2008.
Intercorrelations – pubertal development
measures (Girls)
PDS
CA
PDS
PT-PDS
PPT-Ch
.646***
PT-PDS PPT-Ch PPT-M PPT-F
ns
ns
ns
ns
.589***
ns
ns
ns
.205*
.299**
.559***
ns
ns
PPT-M
ns
Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Ljubljana 2008.
Which pubertal maturation measure is the
most important conflict predictor?
- SERIES OF 2 HRA (Criteria: ChRp-C with M, ChRp-C with F, MRp-C with Ch, FRp-C with Ch)
1. CA
2. PDS
3. PT
1. PDS
2. CA
3. PT
Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Ljubljana 2008.
HRA – Main Results

Pubertal maturation explained ≤ 14% of conflict
variance – more among girls than among boys




CA the most important conflict predictor for:




ChRp-C with F among girls
MRp-C with Ch & FRp-C with Ch among boys
ChRp-C with F & FRp-C with Ch in total sample
PDS the most important conflict predictor only for:


Among girls all conflict measures significantly explained by puberty
indicators except FRp-C with Ch
Among boys significant Rs for MRp-C with Ch & FRp-C with Ch
Total sample – significant Rs for all measures except MRp-C with Ch
ChRp-C with M among girls
Only PPT-Ch significant conflict predictor

PPT-Ch (the most important) predictor only for MRp-C with Ch among
girls (FIGURE)
Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Ljubljana 2008.
Which are the most & least
frequent conflict topics
among parents and young
adolescents in Croatia?
Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Ljubljana 2008.
3
2.5
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Ch-F
M-M
F-F
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1
Conflict level across nine domains
Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Ljubljana 2008.
Are there differences in conflict level and
topics by child’s and parent’s gender?
Who perceive higher conflict level –
children or parents?
Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Ljubljana 2008.
2
1.9
1.8
1.7
1.6
Boys
Girls
1.5
1.4
ChRep-Cnf
with M
ChRep-Cnf
with F
M Rep-Cnf
with Ch
F Rep-Cnf
with Ch
Total conflict level in four parent-child dyads
according to child and parent report
Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Ljubljana 2008.
Conclusions

Croatian children’s transition to adolescence
not very “stormy & stressful” when conflict
with parents considered:
 Perceived
conflict frequency relatively rare,
especially according to child’s perception and
with fathers
 Most frequent conflict topic: Chores
 Conflict frequency increases with pubertal
maturation, but associations relatively weak,
especially among boys
 CA the most important pubertal predictor of
conflict
Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Ljubljana 2008.
Limitations

Cross-sectional design (longitudinal studies
suggest larger changes in parent-child
relationship during transition to adolescence)

Not representative sample

No objective measures of puberty &/or
conflict
Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Ljubljana 2008.
Future plans

Other predictors of parent-child conflicts
(in addition to pubertal development & parent’s and
child’s gender)

Consequences of parent-child conflict:
What difference does it make for
parents and children to dispute more
or less frequently with each other?
Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Ljubljana 2008.
Thank you for your
attention
Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Ljubljana 2008.