A Structural Equation Model for the Relationship between Family Communication Patterns and Emotional Maturity in Teenage Girls: The Mediating Role of Parent-Child Conflict

The objective of this study was to investigate the mediating role of parent-child conflict in the relationship between family communication patterns and emotional maturation in teenage girls. This research was a correlation study. The statistical population consisted of all female high school students in Kashan, Iran, in the 2019-2020 academic year. Of the statistical population of the research, 250 students were selected through the use of cluster sampling. Data were gathered by the questionnaires of Fitzpatrick & Ritchie Family Communication Patterns, Singh & Bhargava Emotional Maturation and Straus Parent-Child Conflict. Data analyzed by Pearson correlation and Structural Equation Modeling. The results showed that model had a good fit. Conversation orientation dimension had a significant negative effect on emotional immaturity and conformity orientation had a significant positive effect on emotional immaturity. Moreover, family conversation orientation had a significant negative effect on parent-child conflict and conformity orientation had a significant positive effect on parent-child conflict. Additionally, parent-child conflict had a mediatory role in the relationship between family communication patterns and emotional maturity of teenage girls. It was also revealed that conversation orientation can reduce parent-child conflict and lead to increase emotional maturation. Conformity orientation, however, increased parent-child conflict, and thus had a negative effect on emotional maturity of teenage girls. Based on the overall results of this study, family communication patterns and parent-child conflict play important roles in emotional maturity of teenage girls.