Parent-adolescent reciprocity in negative affect and its relation to earlyadult social development

The purposes of this 9-year, prospective longitudinal study were (a) to inv estigate hypothesized reciprocal growth in negative emotions between parent s and adolescents and (b) to examine the influence of this reciprocal proce ss on the development of social relationships during early adulthood. The r esults showed that both parents' and adolescents' initial levels of negativ e emotion toward each other predicted the rate of growth and rate of change in growth of expressed negative affect. In addition, the analyses indicate d that an adolescent's enmeshment in reciprocal negativity in the family of origin carried over into early adult social relationships. The findings de monstrate the reciprocal nature of negative affect in interactions between parents and adolescents and suggest that family experience with this intera ctional style may have an adverse influence on the development of early adu lt social relationships.