Parent- Adolescent Family Conflict And Communication Patterns

Throughout these images there are examples of parent-adolescent communication.conflict. All family types have conflict and depending on the communication patterns established(Pluralistic, Consensual, Laissez-faire, and Protective) determines the conflict strategies used. These are determined by two orientations; conversation and conformity. After knowing the family types it allows a better prediction of the type of conflict strategy the parent and adolescent will use; integrative, avoidant, or distributive. These multimedia images will demonstrate the different family communication types, some including conflicts and how they are dealt with.

Mean Girls (2004) Regina's Mom

This is a representation of a mom in a laissez-faire family type. Regina's mom is a great example because of her low in conversation and low in conformity relationship with her daughter. There is no real mother-daughter relationship apparent in this gif or throughout the movie. Although, she is talking this is no conversation, the daughter does not care what the mother is saying. Along with this, there is low conformity, as the mother is not stopping her from having sex and instilling any of her views onto her daughter.

Mean Girls (2004) Cady's Parents

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These parents are an example of a pluralistic family. They demonstrate low conformity, and high conversation with Cady. They care about their daughter and make sure she is prepared for the first day of school, likewise asking her how her day was after school. The parents never judge Cady on her choices, as she changes her style, they do however communicate with her on a daily basis.

Modern Family Season 2 Episode 6

Claire wants Haley to conform to the expectations she has of how her daughter needs to dress. How teenagers choose to express themselves (dress style) is a common topic of conflict between parents and adolescents. Claire does not want Haley to dress promiscuous for Halloween and Haley tries on different costumes until it has the approval of her mother. This type of family is consensual (high conversation, high conformity). This family type and how they are both trying to find a solution to the problem shows an integrative conflict strategy.

High School Musical (2006)

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This popular movie gives another example of a consensual family, but the conflict style used here was more distributive and avoidant. They both believed they were right so they yelled and then left the conflict unresolved. Troy’s dad wants Troy to conform to his expectations of what he sees for his future in basketball, using a distributive strategy. However, Troy is not sure that is the path for him anymore, he wants to sing and play, and is avoidant in the end.

Bob's Burgers Season 6 Episode 17

In this episode Tina Belcher the daughter wanted to go to Horse Camp, however the family could not afford it. Money issues is another source of family conflict. In order to resolve the conflict the family all made sacrifices and were able to have enough money to send her to Horse Camp. This is an example of integrative conflict strategy being used, a common strategy among pluralistic families like the Belcher family according to Holman et al. (2014).