Adolescent girls’ conversations with mothers and friends: A matter of style

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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to compare communication patterns of adolescent girls and their mothers versus friends to find evidence of stylistic differences. Fifty‐six girls in two age groups—preadolescent and midadolescent—participated in discussions about four hypothetical issues with either their mothers or close friends. Conversations were coded for various features of temporal communication style: interruptions, overlaps between turns, and simultaneous speech. Girls of both ages and their friends exhibited a fast‐paced conversation style which included frequent interruptions and simultaneous speech and the tendency to use overlaps between turns, and this tendency increased from pre‐ to midadolescence. In contrast, mothers exhibited a style characterized by slower pacing and pausing and infrequent interruptions and simultaneous speech. As a result of these stylistic differences, daughters ended up interrupting their mothers more than mothers interrupted daughters. These results are discussed in terms of the possible meanings of interruptions in conversation.