Identifying the Components of Parent–Adolescent Communication Breakdown: A Qualitative Analysis
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Objective: The objective of this study was to explore and identify the key components of communication breakdown between parents and adolescents within the Canadian context. Methods and Materials: This qualitative research employed an exploratory design using semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 26 participants, including 13 parents and 13 adolescents residing in Canada. Participants were selected through purposive sampling to ensure diversity in gender, age, and family backgrounds. Data collection continued until theoretical saturation was achieved. All interviews, lasting 45–60 minutes, were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using thematic analysis. NVivo 14 software was used to facilitate systematic coding, categorization, and theme development. Rigor and trustworthiness were ensured through member checking, audit trails, and peer debriefing. Findings: Analysis revealed three overarching categories of communication breakdown: emotional barriers, interactional dynamics, and contextual influences. Emotional barriers included lack of emotional expression, high reactivity, misinterpretation of intentions, lack of empathy, emotional distance, and spillover of parental stress. Interactional dynamics encompassed power struggles, poor listening skills, inconsistent communication styles, inadequate conflict resolution strategies, technology-related distractions, generational language gaps, and parentification of adolescents. Contextual influences comprised cultural expectations, family structure complexities, peer and social pressures, academic and career demands, socioeconomic stressors, and parental migration and adaptation challenges. Illustrative quotations highlighted how these components disrupted trust, openness, and relational balance within families. Conclusion: The study concludes that parent–adolescent communication breakdown is a multidimensional phenomenon shaped by emotional regulation challenges, relational dynamics, and broader socio-cultural contexts. Addressing these issues requires interventions that foster emotional literacy, active listening, and culturally responsive dialogue strategies. Findings contribute to a deeper understanding of family communication and provide implications for practitioners, educators, and policymakers seeking to strengthen adolescent well-being and family relationships.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.008 | 0.010 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.006 | 0.004 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.003 | 0.002 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".