Parental Conflict and Parent-Child Emotional Connection Among Emerging Adults

The current study will attempt to fill a gap in literature by examining how the level of severity of parental conflict may correlate with emotional closeness in parent-child relationships. There is existing research on divorce affecting the quality of these relationships. However, divorce is not the only parental conflict that families experience. In addition to this, our research is especially important since we focus on a developmental stage (emerging adulthood) with limited research. The purpose of this study is to find if there is a correlation between the severity of parental conflict in childhood and children’s report of emotional connection with their parents during emerging adulthood. The current study examined the relationships between the severity of parental conflict and the parent-child relationship among emerging adults (N = 208) by implementing an online survey through Qualtrics. The results indicated that higher levels of severity in conflict among parents correlated to lower levels of parent-child emotional closeness. Findings suggest that this could help parents understand that the relationship with their spouse may affect their future relationship with their child. Future studies should examine different cultures, age groups, number of siblings, and how positive interactions between parents may impact the parent-child relationship. College of Education and Professional Studies Presentation Award Winner