Conflict Interactions and Negative and Positive Affect in Parent-Adolescent Dyads’ Daily Lives

The effect of parent-adolescent conflict on emotional well-being has been well-documented. However, daily processes related to conflict and positive and negative affect have been overlooked. We tested the mutual effects between parent-adolescent conflict and affect in daily life. Parent-adolescent dyads (N = 171) completed daily diaries between 14 to 21 days to rate their positive and negative affect, and conflict interactions between October 2021 and August 2023. The participants were mostly from families with high socioeconomic status, most of the parents were biological mothers, and over half of the parents were Caucasian. Adolescents were between 13 and 17 years (M = 14.37, SD = 1.28). We tested the daily associations between negative/positive affect and conflict interactions in one dynamic structural equation model (DSEM). Contrary to our expectations, greater adolescent negative affect on a day was associated with lower parent-reported conflict next day. Further, both within- and between-family level correlations between adolescent and parent negative and positive affect were significant. Greater parent and adolescent conflict was related to lower positive and greater negative affect for parents and adolescents. Thus, while both same-day and mean-level associations over time indicate that conflicts are linked to poorer affective well-being, and parents may have made efforts to improve their affect the following day in an attempt to compensate for the conflicts experienced the day before. Further, this effort was appeared to be driven by the adolescents’ rather than the parents’ emotional experiences.