Family communication patterns as mediators of communication competence in the parent—child relationship

In this study we examined family conversation and conformity orientations as mediators of the association between young adults’ perceptions of their parents’ communication competence and their own self-reported communication competence. Participants included 417 young adult children from the United States. Although measurement invariance was established for both sons and daughters, separate models were tested to account for significant differences in correlations between both groups. For daughters, the association between perceptions of parents’ communication competence and their own competence was fully mediated by conversation orientations. For sons, conversation orientations only partially mediated the effects of parental communication competence. Conformity orientations did not emerge as a significant predictor of young adults’ competence, although perceptions of mothers’ competence were an inverse predictor of family conformity.