The Relationship between Parent-Adolescent Conflict and the Amount of Time Adolescents Spend Alone and with Parents and Peers

Abstract

MONTEMAYOR, RAYMOND. The Relationship between Parent-Adolescent Conflict and the Amount of Time Adolescents Spend Alone and with Parents and Peers. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1982, 53, 1512-1519. The purpose of this study was to investigate the widely held hypotheses that among adolescents an inverse relationship exists between parent and peer involvement, and that conflict with parents is associated with a peer orientation. Reports of time use and parental conflict for 3 days were obtained from 64 adolescents through telephone interviews. 3 findings were made. (1) Adolescents spent equal amounts of time with parents and peers but engaged in very different types of activities-work and task activities with parents, play and recreation with peers. (2) Time spent with parents was negatively correlated with peer time for females and time spent alone for males. (3) Adolescents who had disagreeable relations with their mothers spent much of their time with their fathers, not with peers. The results were discussed in terms of the different functions that mothers, fathers, and peers fulfill for adolescents.