Daily Variation in Family Cohesion and Conflict: Implications for Adolescent Psychopathology and Well-Being

Family-level cohesion and conflict are robust predictors of adolescent psychopathology. Prior work draws on static, one-time assessments of these constructs, guiding our conceptualization of these constructs. This manner of conceptualization assumes that families are static in nature, when in fact there may be meaningful fluctuation in family functioning over time. This study sought to a) determine whether there is meaningful variability in family-level functioning over days and b) evaluate whether daily fluctuations in family cohesion or conflict could account for adolescent’s mood and well-being, when differentiating between within-family and between-family effects.

This study sampled 99 families of adolescents in 9^th or 10^th grade using a 21-day daily diary design. Adolescents and parents responded to items from the Family Environment Scale to capture family cohesion and conflict; adolescents reported on their daily symptoms and positive well-being. Daily survey compliance was excellent; adolescents averaged 18.92 and parents averaged 20.27 of 21 days.

Reliable change scores indicated that there was meaningful within-family family cohesion (.76) and conflict (.67) (Bolger & Laurenceau, 2013). Building on these results, we then computed two sets of multilevel models in which adolescents’ daily mood and well-being were regressed on either cohesion or conflict, disentangling within-family and between-family effects.

Across analyses with family conflict as a predictor, unique effects were found for within-family and between-family effects. At a between-family level, families that were higher in average conflict across days had significantly lower average levels of anger (.66**), anxiety (.40**), and depression (.52**); and lower levels of positive affect (-.44**), life satisfaction (-.41**), and purpose in life (-.45**). Within-family results also indicated that on days when families experienced higher than their typical conflict, youth also experienced increases in their anger (.27**), anxiety (.11**), and depression (.11**), as well as decreases in positive affect (-.17**), life satisfaction (-.15**), and purpose in life (-.15**).

Family cohesion exhibited a consistent, yet reverse pattern of effects. At a between-family level, families that were higher in average cohesion had adolescents with less anger (-.31**) and depression (-.31**), as well as higher positive affect (.51**), life satisfaction (.52**), and purpose in life (.67**). At the within-family level, on days when families were more cohesive then their typical levels, adolescents reported decreases in anger (-.33**), anxiety (-.09*), and depression (-.15**), as well as increases in their positive affect (.30**), life satisfaction (.25**), and purpose in life (.25**).

These results underscore the importance of capturing daily variation in family functioning to better assess risk and identify malleable family risk and protective factors for family-based interventions.