Parent–adolescent relationships: an adjusted person-centred approach

Abstract

Person-centred approaches classify individuals with similar attributes in the same group and describe differences between these groups of individuals. However, these approaches are scarcely used, partly due to their low predictive power. This study aimed to overcome previous limitations using an adjusted person-centred procedure to identify a reliable and valid parent–adolescent typology and demonstrate the value of an adjusted approach. Adolescents (N = 2281, 49% males, Mage = 14.35, SDage = 2.33) completed self-reports regarding relationship quality, psychopathology and personality. Harmonious, average, turbulent and detached relationship types were identified and replicated. These types showed external validity, as they displayed distinctive patterns in psychopathology and personality. The adjusted procedure clearly increased predictive power, as it explained more variance in outcomes when compared to the standard procedure. This study contributes to adolescent research by identifying a reliable and valid parent–adolescent relationship typology and demonstrating the value of an adjusted person-centred approach.