How Mothers' and Children's negativity predicts conflict resolution

According to coercion theory, children's expressions of negative affect impede adaptive parent-child conflict resolutions. Recent emotion-focused extensions of this theory suggest that parents' negative affect also motivates them to end conflicts quickly and limits their ability to engage in the cognitive flexibility required to socialize positive problem-solving. This brief report responds to a call to test this theory extension with behavioral observations. In a sample of 190 mother-child dyads (mean child age = 6.47 years), we observed discussions of relevant conflict topics in the laboratory and rated mother and child negativity, as well as conflict resolution (compromise, win/loss, standoff). We used a logistic regression accounting for covariances between mother and child negativity to test whether each uniquely related to conflict resolution type. Both mother and child negativity predicted conflict resolution but in different ways. When children displayed more negativity, dyads were more likely to reach a standoff than a compromise. When mothers displayed more negativity, dyads were more likely to reach a win/loss resolution than a compromise or a standoff. Findings are discussed in terms of parent and child negativity contributions to power differentials and disengagement, respectively, as well as how these findings relate to coercion theory tenets.