Emotional synchrony in family networks is linked to adolescent well-being in daily life

Family emotional processes play a central role in adolescent well-being, yet most research relies on dyadic or static approaches that do not capture the dynamic, system-level nature of family emotional life. In a sample of adolescents (ages 12–17), mothers, and fathers ( N = 120; 2,365 assessments), constituting 40 family triads, we used ecological momentary assessment and a dynamic network approach to estimate how emotions fluctuate over time and co-vary across family members within each system. Emotional synchrony—defined as the extent to which family members’ affective states change together—was modeled at both overall (between-family) and momentary (within-family) levels. Results indicated that families exhibited greater synchrony in positive affect than negative affect, alongside substantial heterogeneity in network structures. At the person level, greater positive affect synchrony was associated with higher adolescent well-being and lower distress, whereas negative affect synchrony showed inverse patterns. At the momentary level, increases in negative affect synchrony were associated with higher concurrent well-being and lower stress. Many of these person-level associations were substantially attenuated once adolescents’ general affect levels were accounted for, whereas synchrony at the between-family level continued to predict adolescents’ momentary well-being beyond their concurrent affect. These findings highlight emotional synchrony as a dynamic property of family systems and underscore the importance of modeling family processes across multiple timescales.