The interpersonal structure of family interaction settings: Parent-adolescent relations in dyads and triads.

Abstract

This study examines the interrelationships between parental interactive patterns and the interpersonal structure characterizing different settings of family interaction. Toward that end, parental interactive patterns were observed in the presence (a triadic setting) and in the absence (a dyadic setting) of the spouse in 44 families with an early adolescent child. In accordance with hypotheses, the presence of the father enhanced the quality of mother-son relations, whereas the presence of the mother reduced the quality of father-son relations. Additionally, the presence of the spouse influenced the extent to which parents treat girls and boys differently: Mothers differentiated more between girls and boys in the presence of the spouse, whereas fathers differentiated more between girls and boys in the absence of the spouse. Also, relative to the dyad, parental role differentiation increased in the triad but only in families of boys. In demonstrating interdependencies among family relationships as well as the responsivity of parental behaviors to the interpersonal structure of interaction settings, the results support a systems model of family processes. The implications of these results for the study of family relations and sex typing at early adolescence are discussed. The socialization process involves day-to-day encounters between parents and children in contexts that differ in their function, their interpersonal structure, and their impact on the child. To conceptualize the complexity of family dynamics, researchers have come to view the family as a social system (Belsky, 1981; Bronfenbrenner, 1977, 1979; Lamb, 1976, 1977, 1978; Lewis, Feiring, & Weinraub, 1981;Minuchin, 1974; Pedersen, Anderson,

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