Parent/Child Conflicts in Middle Age
Data from your surveys tell us that more than two-thirds of older parents and their Baby Boomer children have disagreements with each other. In their order of importance, these conflicts focus on:
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Communicating & Interacting: Yelling, criticizing, ignoring each other
- Lifestyle issues: Hairstyle, drugs and alcohol, driving, sexual values
- Child-rearing
- Politics and religion
- Work performance
- Housework and houseold maintenance
Most of these reports concerned the first two issues, according to the
study's principal author, Ed Clarke, Ph.D.
Conflict seems to be a natural and expected
part of family interaction. At a certain level of tension, some parents
and children distance each other as a way of coping with the stress.
Other families reporting the same amount
of tensions weather it better. There were many reports of tension, disagreement
and fights, but at the same time, there were also comments about affection,
contact and mutual support. This is the paradox of family relationships
over the life course.
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