A cultural perspective on parent-adolescent emotional interactions

Adolescence has been described as a period of emotional “turmoil” that manifests itself in parentadolescent conflicts. Disagreements over everyday issues characterize Western parent-child relationships, and are even considered normative. The current project starts from the notion that the cultural expectations for adolescence differ substantially across cultures, and focuses on the resulting differences in emotional interactions between parents and adolescents. Building on a socio-dynamic view of emotions, we propose that (a) adolescent emotions are co-constructed in interactions with parents, and (b) both the emotions and the interactions in which they evolve are shaped according to the prevailing ideas and practices of the cultural context (Butler, 2011; Mesquita & Boiger, 2014). In two cross-cultural studies , we examine how emotions evolve during parent-adolescent interactions in two cultures that have been found to differ on many dimensions: Belgium and Japan. Across cultures, we expect that the co-construction of emotions during interactions is informed by ideas about what is ‘normal’ and ‘good,’ but that these ideas vary across cultures. The project aims to contribute to a more dynamic understanding of adolescent emotional life, and its diverse cultural manifestations.