Parent-adolescent communication

This project involved the development of a questionnaire for measuring parent-adolescent communication on both process and content dimensions. The six process dimensions, chosen on the basis of available literature, were: frequency, initiation, recognition, self-disclosure, domination and satisfaction. Six-point scales with clearly defined scale points were designed for each dimension. Fourteen content areas were also chosen and these were selected to include areas representative of two dimensions: general principles vs. specific issues, and external social reference vs. intrafamily references. First-year university students rated their interactions with their mothers, fathers and both parents together on each of the six process dimensions for each of the fourteen content areas. Parents were asked to rate the same items in the way they thought their adolescent son or daughter would rate them. Results were analysed separately for each process dimension using discriminant analysis, with sex of parent and sex of adolescent as independent variables. Overall, adolescents of both sexes tended to communicate more with mothers than with fathers over a wide range of areas. In fact, politics was the only area on which subjects talked more with fathers than mothers. Also, more self-disclosure occurred to mothers than to fathers, with daughters disclosing more to mothers than did sons. Mothers were also more accurate than fathers at predicting adolescents' responses. The usefulness of the questionnaire for exploring this important area of parent-adolescent communication will be discussed.