3-105 - The Interpersonal Legacy of Family Relationships: Implications for Adolescent and Young Adult Peer and Romantic Relationships

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Peer, dating, and romantic relationships reflect central and stage-salient developmental domains during adolescent and early adult years (e.g., Masten et al., 2005; Snyder, 2006). Interpersonal relationships are multifaceted, requiring a broad conceptualization including risk and protective factors. Gratifying relationships promote individual well-being and set the stage for later relationship success (Gottman, 2002; Keyes, 2002); Coercive or abusive relationships place adolescents and emerging adults on risk trajectories for maladjustment (e.g., Dishion & Tipsord, 2010). This symposium addresses the need for research that draws connections across development to illuminate risk and protective processes for the formation of positive interpersonal relationships by offering diverse research methods and longitudinal study designs that advance research on the enduring effects of the family on an individuals’ interpersonal world.
The first study examined longitudinal implications of parenting and parent-adolescent relationships during early adolescence that promote key interpersonal skills that, in turn, are related to emerging adult romantic relationship quality. The second study examined the role of interparental aggression, parent-child aggression, and maternal and paternal attachment as predictors of college students’ violence victimization in romantic relationships, using 4 longitudinal assessments over an 8 week period. The third study examined how adolescents’ internal representations of interparental conflict explain the link between conflict exposure at home and adolescent’s later aggressive behavior with peers. The fourth study examined family relationships in early adolescence as predictors of adolescents’ patterns of communication with friends, by evaluating the content of text messages as a window into the quality of their friendships.

Sub Unit

• Family Context & Processes

Chair

• Gregory M Fosco, Pennsylvania State University

Individual Presentations

• A Developmental Perspective on Emerging Adult Romantic Relationships: Family Effects through Adolescent Interpersonal Skills - Presenting Author: Mengya Xia, Pennsylvania State University; Gregory M Fosco, Pennsylvania State University; Mark Ethan Feinberg, Penn State Univ

• Family Processes and Aggression in Adolescent Romantic Relationships - Presenting Author: Christina Caiozzo, 10Charge; Jessica Houston, Marquette University; John H Grych, Marquette University

• Emotional insecurity and social maladjustment: Examining the implications of destructive interparental conflict for adolescents - Presenting Author: Kathleen N. Miller, University of Notre Dame; E. Mark Cummings, University of Notre Dame; Patrick Davies, Univ of Rochester

• Dominance and Negativity in Middle Childhood Predict Positive and Negative Engagement with Others in Early Adolescence - Presenting Author: Robert A. Ackerman, University of Texas at Dallas; Conrad A. Corretti, The University of Texas at Dallas; Kevin J. Carson, The University of Texas at Dallas; Samuel E. Ehrenreich, University of Texas at Dallas; Marion K. Underwood, University of Texas at Dallas