Affective communication differences between distressed and nondistressed mother--adolescent dyads

An assessment technique of having mothers and young adolescents describe in brief written form what they like and dislike about each other was evaluated. Distressed dyads (N = 38) produced responses that were rated significantly more negative (Demanding, Personal Attack, Anger and Hostility, Complaining About Unfairness or Disrespect) and less positive (Good Relationship, Appreciation of Other, Complimentary, and Enjoyment) than nondistressed dyads (N = 40). Evidence of reliability was reported. Ratings of the written responses correlated significantly with independently obtained codings of tape-recorded interactions, thus offering support for validity of the method.