The Emotional Experience of Parent-Adolescent Conflict When Discussing Digital Topics: An Exploratory Emergent Variable Analysis

Abstract

With the rise of digital technologies in everyday life, parent-adolescent conflict has expanded to include discussions about digital topics. This study investigated the emotional experiences of adolescents and their mothers during conflict discussions about digital issues (e.g., screentime, social media, videogaming) relative to non-digital issues (e.g., fighting with siblings, bad attitude, schoolwork), as well as the potential moderating effect of attachment to digital devices. A total of 164 mother-adolescent dyads with youth aged 12-13 years (43.3% girls; 78.1% White) visited the lab to complete a series of questionnaires and engaged in a conflict discussion task about their two most intense sources of conflict. Real-time behavioural codes measured Digital Discourse as the proportion of time spent discussing digital versus non-digital issues. Emotional Experience was constructed as an emergent variable based on Physiological Arousal, Observed Expressivity, and Self-Reported Negative Emotional Appraisal. Results showed that Emotional Experiences during parent-adolescent conflict discussions for adolescents did not vary significantly in response to the proportion of time spent discussing digital issues. For mothers, more Digital Discourse was associated with a more neutral Emotional Experience, characterized by less positive Observed Expressivity, but also less Self-Reported Negative Emotional Appraisal. There were no moderating effects based on attachment to one’s digital devices. However, gender-specific models revealed exceptions for boys; more Digital Discourse was linked to a less positive Emotional Experience during conflict discussions, characterized by less positive Observed Expressivity, and boys who were more attached to their digital devices reported feeling more negatively during the conflict discussion, regardless of the proportion of time spent discussing digital or non-digital issues. These descriptive findings provide a robust foundation for future studies, guiding researchers in understanding how digital issues may compare to the broader conflict literature while highlighting the unique aspects of digital technologies.