Testing the Underlying Mechanism of a Brief Family Conflict Intervention: Longitudinal Changes in Mother-Adolescent and Father-Adolescent Communication

Community families with adolescents can benefit greatly from evidence-based family intervention research focusing on improving parent-adolescent conflict communication. However, there is limited intervention research for community families with adolescents that examines the changes in parent-adolescent communication to evaluate the intervention effectiveness. This study assessed the short-term intervention effect on post-test assessments of openness and problems in mother-adolescent and father-adolescent communication and explored longitudinal change trajectories of communication scores from pre-test to 3-year follow-up. 225 families were randomly assigned to either parent-adolescent intervention (PA: n = 75), parent-only intervention (PO: n = 75), or control group (n = 75). Results found significant intervention effects for the PA group but not for the PO group. Compared to the control group, PA mothers reported significantly greater openness in mother-adolescent communication, PA adolescents reported significantly greater openness in father-adolescent communication, and PA fathers reported significantly fewer problems in father-adolescent communication. Longitudinal trajectory analysis visualized linear change trajectories for each intervention group. Findings suggest that family intervention programs may differently impact mother-adolescent and father-adolescent communication and underscore the importance of involving both paternal caretakers and adolescents in the intervention process.