Conflict frequency within mother–child dyads across contexts: Links with attachment security and gender

The current study examined context, attachment, temperament, and gender as predictors of conflict frequency between mothers and their young children. Conflict between 40 mothers and their 36-month-old children was observed during multiple laboratory tasks with varying levels of structure, and the number of dyadic conflict episodes was totaled for each context. Mothers also completed measures of attachment and temperament. Results indicated that relative to free play and clean-up contexts, dyads displayed the highest amounts of conflict during the teaching context, which was driven by mother-initiated conflict. Attachment, but not temperament, was predictive of dyadic conflict frequency and child-initiated conflicts for mother–daughter dyads, but not for mother–son dyads, during the teaching context. Specifically, as attachment security increased, conflict decreased between mothers and their daughters. The findings of the study emphasize the importance of examining the context and child's gender in accordance with attachment in order to fully understand the relationship between attachment and conflict frequency.

• We examined the influences of context, attachment, and gender on conflict. • Mother–child dyads displayed the most conflict during a teaching context. • Attachment interacted with gender to predict conflict in the teaching context. • Less secure mother–daughter dyads engaged in the most conflict. • Conflict frequency depends on the context and child's attachment and gender.