Convergence and Divergence in Adolescent- and Parent-reported Daily Parental Positive Reinforcement: Dynamic Links with Adolescent Emotional and Behavioral

Parents and adolescents often hold concordant and discordant views on parenting behaviors. Scant research has explored short-term within-family dynamics of parent–adolescent congruency and discrepancy on parental positive reinforcement on a micro timescale. Adopting a month-long daily diary design, we examined the convergence and divergence among 86 dyads of adolescents (Mage = 14.5 years, 55% female, 45% non-White) and one of their parents (Mage = 43.7 years, 72% female, 38% non-White) on their perceived daily parental positive reinforcement behaviors and the links to adolescents’ daily emotional, hyperactivity, and conduct problems. Dynamic Structural Equation Modeling revealed both convergence and divergence at the within-family level. At the between-family level, however, there was minimal evidence for parent–adolescent convergence. Within-families, parent divergence was positively and reciprocally linked with adolescent emotional problems prospectively. Parent divergence was also associated with fewer adolescent hyperactivity problems the next day. More adolescent hyperactivity problems were negatively linked to parent–adolescent convergence the next day. The findings unveiled distinct structure of, and associations with parent–adolescent convergence and divergence on parental positive reinforcement behaviors, which highlights the importance of disentangling short-term within-family fluctuations from stable between-family differences at different levels.