Conflict resolution in the family : PET skills acquisition in parent/adolescent dyads

Parent Effectiveness Training (PET) (Gordon, 1975) is a practical course teaching communication skills to parents, particularly listening, assertiveness and conflict resolution. Youth Effectiveness Training (YET) (Hall & Zener, 1981) teaches the same skills to teenagers from their own viewpoint. Both are aimed at improving the quality of family life, and at prevention of serious problems. Research into PET has been largely concerned with attitudinal change, and there is an overwhelming need for investigation of behavioural outcomes. The present study attempted a behavioural measure of specific PET skills, utilising a three-minute video-recorded roleplay of a standardised conflict interaction between parent and adolescent. There were 13 parent/teenager dyads in the experimental group, and 11 similar pairs, matched as closely as possible, in the control group. The videoed interactions were put onto a single tape in random order and assessed "blind" by three skilled independent raters, using bi-polar visual analog scales especially constructed to measure listening and confrontation skills and conflict resolution. Results showed that the parents improved significantly in conflict resolution, and in confrontation skills as compared with the control group. On listening skiills they improved considerably more than the control group, but the difference was not great enough to be statistically significant. The teenagers in the experimental group improved significantly more than those in the control group in conflict resolution. Their gains in listening and confrontation skills were also greater than those of the control group, but the differences were not large enough to be regarded as statistically significant. Standard questionnaires constructed to measure (a) attitudinal changes in parent-child relationships as an outcome of parent education (Parent Attitude Survey, Hereford,1963), (b) changes in self-concept (Self Esteem Inventory, Coopersmith, 1967) following the course, and (c) changes relating to expressed behaviour (FIRO-B, Schutz, 1967) were administered as part of the overall assessment, but no significant differences were found between the groups. However, the study showed that parent/adolescent dyads can change their interactions in a positive way using skills that can be spontaneously applied