Abstract
Given emerging adulthood is a period of increased independence, it is unclear how much contact emerging adults have with their parents, how this communication occurs, and how frequency of communication differs across sociodemographic characteristics. The main aim of this study was to examine communication patterns and modalities between emerging adults and their parents. Data are from an 8-year longitudinal, population-based study of socio-economically and racially/ethnically diverse adolescents followed into emerging adulthood (n = 1539; mean age = 22.1; 53.1% female). Latent profile analysis results supported a 5-class model, in which classes were characterized by patterns of frequency of communication with parents across different modalities. The most common communication modality included medium levels of engagement (i.e., few times/week), with both parents, and was in-person or via the phone (i.e., calls, text messages, email). Results differed by race/ethnicity. Findings from this exploratory study may be useful for supporting positive communication patterns between emerging adults and their parents and may inform what intervention delivery format (e.g., phone, social media-based, in-person) may be more effective for certain parent/emerging adult subgroups engaging in family-based interventions.
Highlights
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Emerging adults and their parents were communicating regularly, several times per week.
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Preferred communication modality was phone (i.e., texting, emailing, calling).
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The most common pattern of communication was medium engagement with both parents.
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Emerging adults who also had high connectedness with their mothers reported the most frequent communication.
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Abbreviations
- FST:
-
Family Systems Theory
- LPA:
-
Latent Profile Analysis
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Funding
Research is supported by grant number R01HL116892 (PI: D.N-S.) from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, grant number R35HL139853 (PI: D.N-S.) from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health and grant number T32MH082761 (PI: S.C.) from the National Institute of Mental Health. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institute of Mental Health, or the National Institutes of Health.
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J.M.B.: Dr. J.M.B. conceptualized the paper, assisted with data analysis and interpretation, wrote all drafts of the paper, gave final approval of this version to be published, and agrees to be accountable for all aspects of the work regarding the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work. M.S.: Dr. M.S. conducted the data analysis. She also critically reviewed the paper, gave final approval of this version to be published, and agrees to be accountable for all aspects of the work regarding the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work. M.E.: Dr. M.E. assisted with conceptualization of the paper and interpretation of the data. She also critically reviewed the paper, gave final approval of this version to be published, and agrees to be accountable for all aspects of the work regarding the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work. K.L.: Dr. K.L. assisted with data acquisition and conceptualization of the paper. She also critically reviewed the paper, gave final approval of this version to be published, and agrees to be accountable for all aspects of the work regarding the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work. N.S.: Dr. N.S. assisted with conceptualization of the paper and interpretations of results. She also critically reviewed the paper, gave final approval of this version to be published, and agrees to be accountable for all aspects of the work regarding the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work. D.N-S.: Dr. D.N-S. is the principal investigator of the study. She assisted in conceptualizing the paper and contributed to the design of the study. She also critically reviewed the paper, gave final approval of this version to be published, and agrees to be accountable for all aspects of the work regarding the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work.
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Berge, J.M., Simone, M., Eisenberg, M.E. et al. Can We Talk?: An Exploratory Examination of Communication Patterns Between Emerging Adults and their Parents. J Child Fam Stud 32, 1571–1582 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-023-02563-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-023-02563-7