The Role of Mothers’ Worries and Negative Thoughts in the Formation of Mother–Daughter Conflicts During Adolescence

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to explore and explain the process through which mothers’ worries and negative thoughts contribute to the formation of mother–daughter conflicts during adolescence.

Methods and Materials: This qualitative study was conducted using Glaser’s classical grounded theory approach. The participants were 18 mothers of adolescent daughters aged 15 to 18 years living in Tehran, Iran, who were selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews and continued until theoretical saturation was achieved. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed through constant comparative analysis, including open, axial, and selective coding. Trustworthiness was enhanced through participant checking, peer review, rich contextual description, systematic documentation of the analytic process, and preservation of interview transcripts and analytic memos.

Findings: The inferential analysis revealed that mothers’ worries and negative automatic thoughts functioned as the central driving force in the emergence and persistence of mother–daughter conflicts. The final grounded model consisted of three interrelated domains: mothers’ cognitive–emotional foundations, mothers’ interactive–parenting strategies, and contextual factors. The cognitive–emotional domain included parenting concerns, excessive anxiety and worry, difficulty understanding adolescents’ emotions, and limited awareness of adolescent cognitive development. The interactive–parenting domain included blame and humiliation, poor emotional regulation, inability to establish balanced rules, weak problem-solving skills, violation of privacy and autonomy, ineffective verbal communication, and lack of balanced intimacy. Contextual factors, including the father’s role, peer relationships, and the influence of virtual space, intensified or maintained the conflict cycle. The model suggested that mothers’ negative interpretations of normal developmental behaviors activated controlling, blaming, and emotionally dysregulated responses, which increased resistance, emotional distance, and repeated conflict.

Conclusion: Mother–daughter conflicts during adolescence appear to emerge through a dynamic, cyclical, and self-reinforcing process in which maternal worries and negative thoughts distort mothers’ perceptions of adolescent behavior and activate ineffective interactional strategies. Preventive and therapeutic interventions should therefore focus on modifying mothers’ negative cognitions, strengthening emotional regulation, improving empathy, increasing developmental awareness, and promoting constructive mother–daughter communication.