Abstract, This work studies verbal conflict between parents and preadolescents through analysis of family dinnertime conversations. We move from the assumption that verbal conflict is an educational instrument of interaction and a tool of socialization. The aim of the research is to analyze the participants’ strategies in situations of conflict and to highlight the relations between parents and preadolescents in these specific situations. The data collection methodology is mainly ethnographical: videotape recordings of Italian middle class family dinners (the families were selected as being dual career ones with two children) were fully transcribed and codified following the approach of Conversation Analysis. The results of the quantitative (by the use of the log-linear models) and qualitative analyses confirm the importance of verbal conflict in family context as a particular cultural strategy of relationships between parents and preadolescents. The analytical data underline the relations between different aspects of conflict and the pragmatic implications for all family members at dinnertime conversations.

Cette recherche vise à étudier le conflit verbal entre parents et enfants préadolescents dans les conversations en famille au cours du dîner. Le conflit verbal est considéré comme un outil éducatif au sein des interactions familiales et un moyen de socialisation pour tous les participants. Le but de la recherche est l’analyse des stratégies de participation aux interactions conflictuelles, pour mettre en évidence les relations discursives entre parents et enfants préadolescents. Dans le cadre d’une méthodologie ethnographique, on a enregistré plusieurs dîners de familles italiennes de classe sociale moyenne (les familles ont été sélectionnées sur la base de certains critères comme la présence des deux parents qui travaillent et de deux enfants); les données ont été transcrites intégralement, en accord avec le modèle d’Analyse de la Conversation. Les résultats des analyses quantitatives (par l’utilisation des modèles log-linéaires) et qualitatives confirment l’importance du conflit verbal dans le contexte familial comme stratégie culturelle spécifique à la relation entre parents et enfants préadolescents: l’analyse des données souligne la relation parmi différents aspects du conflit et les implications pragmatiques concernées pour les participants en situation de conversation à table.

Key words: Cultural practices, Early adolescence, Family interaction, Socialization, Verbal conflicts.

References
Ardone, R. (Ed.). (1999). Adolescenti e generazioni adulte. Percorsi relazionali nel contesto familiare e scolastico. Milan: Unicopli.
Atkinson, J.M., & Drew, P. (1979). Order in court: The organization of verbal interaction in judicial settings. London: Macmillan.
Atkinson, J.M., & Heritage, J. (Eds.). (1984). Structures of social action: Studies in conversation analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bastianoni, P., & Briganti, L. (2002). Dispute a tavola: Genitori e figli adolescenti si confrontano. Rassegna di Psicologia, 19(1), 33-54.
Billig, M. (1996). Arguing and thinking. A rhetorical approach to social psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Boxer, D. (2002). Nagging: The familial conflict arena. Journal of Pragmatics, 34, 49-61.
Carrà, E., & Marta, E. (Eds.). (1995). Relazioni familiari e adolescenza. Sfide e risorse nella transizione all’età adulta. Milan: Angeli.
Cigoli, V., Marta, E., & Regalia, C. (1998). Transizioni in età adolescenziale e rischio psicosociale: Un’analisi del clima familiare e della comunicazione genitori-figli. Psicologia Clinica dello Sviluppo, 1, 131-158.
Coombs, C.H. (1987). The structure of conflict. American Psychologist, 42, 355-363.
De Grada, E., & Bonaiuto, M. (2002). Introduzione alla psicologia sociale discorsiva. Bari: Laterza.
Denzin, N.K. (1978). The research act: A theoretical introduction to sociological methods. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Dunn, J., & Munn, P. (1987). Development of justification in disputes with mother and sibling. Developmental Psychology, 23, 791-798.
Edwards, D. (1997). Discourse and cognition. London: Sage.
Eisenberg, A.R., & Garvey, C. (1981). Children’s use of verbal strategies in resolving conflicts. Discourse Processes, 4, 149-170.
Emery, R.E. (1988). Marriage, divorce, and children’s adjustment. Beverly Hills: Sage.
Farris, C. (2000). Cross-sex peer conflict and the discursive production of gender in a Chinese preschool in Taiwan. Journal of Pragmatics, 32, 539-568.
Garfinkel, H. (1967). Studies in ethnomethodology. New York: Prentice-Hall.
Garvey, C., & Shantz, C.U. (1992). Conflict talk: Approaches to adversative discourse. In C.U. Shantz & W.W. Hartup (Eds.), Conflict in child and adolescent development (pp. 93-121). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Goffman, E. (1971). Relations in public: Micro-studies of the public order. New York: Basic Books.
Goodwin, M.H. (1990). He-said-she-said: Talk as social organization among black children. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Grimshaw, A.D. (Ed.). (1990). Conflict talk. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gumperz, J.J. (1982). Discourse strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gruber, H. (2001). Questions and strategic orientation in verbal conflict sequences. Journal of Pragmatics, 33, 1815-1857.
Hartup, W., & Laursen, B. (1993). Conflict and context in peer relations. In C. Hart (Ed.), Children on playgrounds: Research perspectives and applications (pp. 44-48). New York: Albans.
Hartup, W., Laursen, B., Stewart, H.I., & Eastenson, A. (1998). Conflict and friendship relations of young children. Child Development, 59, 1590-1600.
Heritage, J. (1995). Conversation analysis: Methodological aspects. In U.M. Quasthoff (Ed.), Aspects of oral communication (pp. 391-418). Berlin: De Gruyter.
Honess, T.M., Charman, E.A., Zani, B., Cicognani, E., Xerri, M.L., Jackson, A.E., & Bosma, H.A. (1997). Conflict between parents and adolescents: Variation by family constitution. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 15, 367-385.
Jefferson, G. (1985). An exercise in the transcription and analysis of laughter. In T. van Dijk (Ed.), Handbook of discourse analysis (pp. 25-34). London: Academic Press.
Kyratzis, A., & Guo, J. (2001). Preschool girls’ and boys’ verbal conflict strategies in the United States and China. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 34(1), 45-74.
Labov, V., & Fanshel, D. (1977). Therapeutic discourse: Psychotherapy as conversation. New York: Academic Press.
Laforest, M. (2002). Scenes of family life: Complaining in everyday conversation. Journal of Pragmatics, 34, 1595-1620.
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
McKinley, A., Potter, J., & Wetherell, M.S. (1993). Discourse analysis and social representations. In G.M. Breakwell & D. Canter (Eds.), Empirical approaches to social representations (pp. 39-62). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Mannetti, L. (Ed.). (1998). Strategie di ricerca in psicologia sociale. Rome: Carocci.
Maynard, D.W. (1985). How children start arguments. Language in Society, 14, 1-30.
Mazzara, B. (2002). I metodi qualitativi: Una sfida e un’occasione di riflessione per le scienze umane e per le discipline psicologiche. In B. Mazzara (Ed.), Metodi qualitativi in psicologia sociale (pp. 21-41). Rome: Carocci.
Menghini, D., Gnisci, A., & Pontecorvo, C. (2000). Chi problematizza chi nelle cene in famiglia. Regole condivise e convenzioni familiari. Giornale Italiano di Psicologia, 2, 347-375.
Ochs, E., & Taylor, C. (1992). Family narrative as political activity. Discourse and Society, 3(3), 301-340.
Orsolini, M. (1993). Il linguaggio argomentativo dei bambini nelle dispute. In C. Pontecorvo (Ed.), La condivisione della conoscenza (pp. 165-185). Florence: La Nuova Italia.
Orletti, F. (1983). Comunicare nella vita quotidiana. Bologna: Il Mulino.
Pirchio, S., & Pontecorvo, C. (1997). Strategie discorsive infantili nelle dispute in famiglia. Rassegna di Psicologia, 14(1), 83-106.
Pomerantz, A. (1986). Extreme case formulations: A way of legitimizing claims. Human Studies, 9, 219-229.
Pontecorvo, C. (1987). Discussing for reasoning: The role of argument in knowledge construction. In E. De Corte, H. Lodewijks, R. Parmentier, & P. Span (Eds.), Learning and Instruction (pp.71-82). Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Pontecorvo, C. (1996). Discorso e sviluppo. La conversazione come sistema di azione e strumento di ricerca. Età Evolutiva, 55, 56-71.
Pontecorvo, C., Fasulo, A., & Sterponi, L. (2001). Mutual apprentices: The making of parenthood and childhood in family dinner conversations. Human Development, 44, 340-361.
Psathas, G. (1995). Conversation analysis: The study of talk-in-interaction. London: Sage.
Rojewski, J.W., & Bakeman, R. (1997). Log-linear modeling and analysis: Reflections on the use of multivariate categorical data in social science research. Exceptionality, 7(3), 199-203.
Sacks, H. (1992). Lectures on conversation. Cambridge: Blackwell.
Sacks, H., Schegloff, E.A., & Jefferson, G. (1974). A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation. Language, 50, 696-735.
Scabini, E. (1995). Psicologia sociale della famiglia. Sviluppo dei legami e trasformazioni sociali. Turin: Boringhieri.
Schegloff, E.A. (1990). On the organization of sequences as a source of “coherence” in talk-in-interaction. In R. Freedle (Ed.), Advances in discourse processes: Conversational organization and its development (pp. 51-77). Norwood: Ablex.
Scott, M., & Lyman, S. (1968). Accounts. American Sociological Review, 33, 46-62.
Shantz, C.U., & Hartup, W.W. (Eds.). (1992). Conflict in child and adolescent development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Shantz, C.U., & Hobart, C.J. (1989). Social conflict and development: Peers and siblings. In T.J. Berndt & G.W. Ladd (Eds.), Peer relationships in child development (pp. 71-94). New York: Wiley.
Spitz, A. (2005). Power plays: The representation of mother-daughter disputes in contemporary plays by women. A study in discourse analysis. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Saarlandes.
Stamp, G.H. (1991). Family conversation: Description and interpretation. Family Process, 30, 251-263.
Sterponi, L. (2001). La costruzione discorsiva del posizionamento morale attraverso l’attività del “render conto”. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis. Rome: University “La Sapienza”.
Tannen, D. (2001). I only say this because I love you. How the way we talk can make or break family relationships throughout our lives. New York: Random House.
Verhofstadt-Denève, L., Kienhorst, I., & Braet, C. (Eds.). (1996). Conflict and development in adolescence. Leiden: DSWO Press.
Vuchinich, S. (1984). Sequencing and social structure in family conflict. Social Psychology Quarterly, 47, 217-234.
Vuchinich, S. (1990). The sequential organization of closing in verbal family conflict. In A. Grimshaw (Ed.), Conflict talk (pp. 118-138). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Vygotskij, L.S. (1934). Myslenie i rec: Psichologiceskie issledovanija. Movska-Leningrad: Gosudarstvennoe Social’no-Ekonomiceskoe Izdatel’stvo [It. tr. Pensiero e linguaggio. Bari: Laterza, 1992].
Wertsch, J.V. (1985). Culture, communication and cognition: Vygotskian perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Zani, B., & Cicognani, E. (1999). La gestione del conflitto nelle famiglie con adolescenti: Le prospettive di genitori e figli. Giornale Italiano di Psicologia, 4, 791-815.