Adolescentparent disagreement and life satisfaction in families from Vietnam and European American backgrounds

The authors investigated the relationship between adolescent-parent differences in the endorsement of family obligations and adolescent life satisfaction, in families from two differing cultural backgrounds. Surveys were completed by 238 adolescents and their parents, including 135 European-American families and 103 Vietnamese-American families. We examined the relationship between discrepancies and life satisfaction and the moderating effect of cultural background on this relationship. Results showed that adolescent-parent discrepancies were a strong negative predictor of life satisfaction, across two groups that differ both culturally and demographically. The effect was not moderated by cultural background. Adolescence is a universal period of transition from childhood to adulthood, accompanied by social, cognitive, and beha-vioural changes as young people mature physically and take on adult responsibilities. Research with predominantly middle-class American adolescents has indicated that disagreements between adolescents and parents are an inevitable accompani-ment of this process, as adolescents begin to assert their autonomy and broaden the areas over which they claim personal jurisdiction (Smetana, 1995; Steinberg, 1990). Although disagreements with parents are seen as resulting in part from normal age-related changes that promote positiv