Trajectories of intimacy and conflict with mothers and fathers from adolescence to adulthood

The quality of mother–child and father–child relationships evolves during emerging adulthood. Given the diverse life paths of young adults, the positive (intimacy) and negative (conflict) dimensions underpinning these relationships may change heterogeneously. This study aimed to identify trajectories of intimacy and conflict with mothers and fathers from ages 16 to 30, explore the overlap between mothers’ and fathers’ trajectories, and examine whether child characteristics and family characteristics predict membership in these trajectories. Data were drawn from a longitudinal study initiated with 390 participants recruited from sixth-grade classes (58% girls). Intimacy and conflicts were measured at ages 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, and 30, and antecedents were measured at ages 12, 13, and 15. Latent class growth analyses revealed three trajectories of intimacy for mothers: (1) low-stable (30%), (2) moderate-quadratic (40%), and (3) high-quadratic (30%); and for fathers: (1) low-stable (44%), (2) moderate-quadratic (44%), and (3) high-quadratic (12%). Two conflict trajectories were identified for mothers: (1) high-linear (18%) and (2) low-quadratic (82%), and for fathers: (1) high-stable (15%) and (2) low-quadratic (85%). Child gender and socioeconomic status predicted mother-intimacy trajectories, while family cohesion and children’s depressive symptoms predicted intimacy and conflict trajectories with both parents, respectively.