Positive well-being and dampened emotional reactivity to daily family conflict and family cohesion

Abstract

Conflict and a lack of cohesive daily family relationships can negatively affect adolescent adjustment, although adolescents differ in how they respond (i.e., their emotional reactivity) to these daily experiences. The present study assessed whether adolescents' well-being (i.e., life satisfaction, purpose) was associated with dampened emotional reactivity to daily variability in family conflict and cohesion. Adolescents (N = 150; M_Age = 14.60, SD = 0.83; 61.3% female; 83.4% white) completed a questionnaire regarding well-being and reported family conflict, cohesion, and negative emotion for 21 days between August 2015 and November 2016. Greater life satisfaction was related to dampened negative emotional reactivity to daily conflict, whereas greater purpose was related to dampened negative emotional reactivity to changes in daily family cohesion. Well-being may foster resilience in adolescents' day-to-day emotional processes.