Mother-daughter conflict and adjustment in Mexican-origin families: exploring the role of family and sociocultural context

New Dir Child Adolesc Dev. 2012 Spring;2012(135):59-81. doi: 10.1002/cd.20004.

Abstract

This study examined the role of mother-daughter conflict in both mothers' and daughters' adjustment. Drawing from ecologically oriented and person-environment fit models, the authors investigated how the family context, as defined by the transition to adolescent motherhood, and the sociocultural context, as measured by mother-daughter discrepancies in cultural orientations, shaped the associations between conflict and adjustment in Mexican-origin families. Overall, conflict was positively related to mothers' and adolescents' depressive symptoms and adolescents' risky behaviors. This relation was strongest when daughters were more Mexican-oriented than their mothers, and weakest when mothers were more Mexican-oriented than their daughters.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Acculturation*
  • Adaptation, Psychological*
  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Conflict, Psychological*
  • Family Characteristics / ethnology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mexican Americans / psychology
  • Mexican Americans / statistics & numerical data*
  • Mother-Child Relations / ethnology*
  • Role
  • Socioeconomic Factors
  • United States