ARGUMENT SEQUENCES IN CONFLICT DISCOURSES

The Theory of Individuation predicts systematic differences in argumen tative behavior between mothers and their adolescent daughters. Accord ing to this theory, control is assumed as a major relational intention of mothers, whereas daughters are assumed to rather show intentions o f individualisation. The confrontation of oppositional intentions is e xpected to produce specific sequential regularities in the utterances. The focus of this paper is on the identification of systematic betwee n turn sequences of verbal units in 60 discussions between 30 dyads of mothers and their adolescent daughters. Every dyad discussed two ever yday issues identified as relevant conflicts for them. The discussions were tape-recorded and transcribed for further analyses. Units of com munication were determined and categories of conversation management w ere considered: initiatives and positive and negative responses to ini tiatives. Arguments were categorized according to their function: supp orting, modifying, weakening, accepting or rejecting the position or a n argument. The data were analyzed using lag-sequential analyses. The following significant sequences occured: Argument confrontation (count er-arguments were met by counter-arguments), and reciprocity (positive and negative responses to arguments were followed by responses of the same quality) were particularly salient. With mothers, in particular, repetition of initiatives could be identified. The results are compat ible with the assumptions drawn from Individuation Theory.