Pubertal development and parent-child conflict in low-income, urban, African American adolescents

This research examines associations between pubertal development and parent -adolescent conflict in a sample of 302 urban, low-income, African American adolescents and their parents. Findings revealed that pubertal development was associated with parent-child conflict and that the pattern of results was different for boys and girls. Specifically, parents reported using more verbal aggression with sons during midpuberty than early or late puberty a nd having more "hot" discussions with sons who matured early or late versus on time. Sons reported discussing more hot issues and having more hot disc ussions when they were more developed than when they were less developed. P arents reported using more violent tactics with younger daughters than olde r daughters and discussing more hot issues and having more hot discussions with daughters who matured early versus on time or late. Findings are discu ssed within a framework of understanding links between parent-child conflic t and puberty in more diverse samples of adolescents.