Perceived Parental Conflict as a Predictor of Relationship Conflict Narratives

Much research connects an individual's relationship with their parents in childhood to their adult relationships. Familial relationship patterns can predict or even directly influence constructs like adult relationship satisfaction and conflict behaviors. Narrative accounts of romantic conflict (i.e., stories that individuals tell about conflict between themselves and a romantic partner) are a rich but often underutilized source of information in exploring these phenomena. For example, how might a child's perceptions of parental conflict inform their future relationship conflict narratives? In order to answer this question, we will examine relationship narratives sourced from The CouPers Study (Couples and Personality), a longitudinal study of Swiss and German couples (with a final wave of N = 549 couples). We will examine individuals' own perceptions of intraparental conflict in order to determine if they are predictive of conflict characterizations within adult relationships. The results of this study may provide us with tools to identify predictors of high conflict relationships.