Cognitive flexibility as a mediator of family communication environments and young adults' well-being.
In this study, cognitive flexibility was tested as a mediator of family communication environments (i.e., family expressiveness, structural traditionalism, and avoidance of conflict) and young adults' well-being (i.e., self-esteem, mental health, and physical health). Participants included 395 young adults from first-marriage and postdivorce families. Using structural equation modeling, the results revealed that family expressiveness positively predicted young adults' cognitive flexibility, whereas avoidance of conflict emerged as a negative predictor. Cognitive flexibility, in turn, fully mediated the influence of both expressiveness and avoidance of conflict on well-being. Although structural traditionalism did not predict cognitive flexibility, it did have a direct, inverse effect on young adults' well-being. Among the more important implications of this study is the finding that structural traditionalism and avoidance of conflict, 2 aspects of a conformity orientation in families, generate different effects (i.e., direct vs. indirect) on young adult's well-being.
Koesten
Joy
J
Department of Communication Studies, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045-7574, USA. jkoesten@ku.edu
Schrodt
Paul
P
Ford
Debra J
DJ
D035841:Behavioral Research; D003071:Cognition; D003142:Communication; D034462:Dissent and Disputes; D004243:Divorce / Q000523:psychology; D005190:Family / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior / Q000208:ethnology; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage / Q000523:psychology; D008603:Mental Health; D015146:Midwestern United States; D017008:Negotiating; D012649:Self Concept; D012922:Social Change; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult / Q000523:psychology*