1-187 - Gender Dynamics in Family Relationships and Their Links to Adolescent Daily Well-Being and Long-Term Adjustment

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Research has suggested that family life is inherently different for males than females, yet few studies have examined the types of family dynamics that contribute to gendered experiences and their implications for adolescent adjustment. Going beyond the traditional focus on the mother-child dyad, this symposium will offer insight on other important, yet understudied, relationships with fathers and siblings, and various family dynamics (e.g., daily interactions, conflict, gender role attitudes) that shape adolescents’ daily well-being (e.g., distress) and long-term adjustment (e.g., self-worth, substance use, career choice).

Paper 1 investigated gender differences in how adolescents balanced their time with family in conjunction with demands from friends and school on a day-to-day basis and found that females experienced greater distress negotiating between family and friends compared to males. Paper 2 focused on the link between parents’ marital conflicts and parent-child relationship quality predicting adolescents’ substance use. Fathers’ marital conflicts contributed to weaker father-child relationship quality, which in turn, was predictive of their daughter’s, but not son’s, substance use overtime. Paper 3 examined how the sibling dyad gender composition influenced adolescents’ development of self-worth and found that females who were closer with their sisters experienced higher self-worth than adolescents in mixed-gender or male-male sibling dyads. Lastly, Paper 4 investigated how parents’ gender role attitudes and parent-child interactions during early adolescence contributed to their child’s occupational choices in adulthood. Whereas greater time spent with mothers predicted occupations in male-dominated work sectors among males, greater time spent with fathers predicted less female-dominant occupations among females.

Sub Unit

• Family Context & Processes

Chair

• Kim M Tsai, UCLA

Individual Presentations

• Gender Differences in Adolescents’ Daily Negotiation of Time with Family, Friends and Schoolwork - Presenting Author: Kim M Tsai, UCLA; Andrew J Fuligni, University of California, Los Angeles

• Marital Problems, Parent-Child Relations, and Adolescent Substance Use across Time: Perils for Fathers and Daughters - Presenting Author: Kaitlyn Marie Fladeboe, University of Washington; Jeff Cookston, San Francisco State University

• Global Self-Worth from Middle Childhood through Adolescence: Developmental Patterns and Links with Sibling Relationship Qualities - Presenting Author: Chun Bun Lam, 10Charge; Susan McHale, Pennsylvania State University

• Links between Gendered Childhood Socialization Experiences and Occupational Choices in Young Adulthood - Presenting Author: Katie Lawson, Ball State University; Ann C Crouter, Pennsylvania State University; Susan McHale, Pennsylvania State University