Acculturation-Based and Everyday Parent Adolescent Conflict Among Chinese American Adolescents: Longitudinal Trajectories and Implications for Mental Health

The purpose of the study was to examine 2 types of conflict for Chinese American families that have not been integrated in previous literature: everyday conflict and acculturation-based conflict. We explored the relation between the 2 types of conflict over time and their associations with adolescent adjustment (i.e., anxiety/somatization, loneliness, depressive symptoms, and self-esteem). The sample consisted of 316 Chinese American adolescents (M = 14.8 years, SD = .73 at Wave 1) who participated in a 3-wave longitudinal study. The results showed that everyday and acculturation-based conflict are related and change in parallel over time. However, the 2 types of conflict are unique predictors of the 4 different indicators of psychological functioning. Results also suggested that psychological functioning is a better predictor of trajectories of conflict than vice versa. Taken together, the results highlight the importance of considering how the acculturation process contributes to parent adolescent conflict regarding everyday issues and deeper cultural values.