Growing Together, Thinking Apart: Shared Meaning, Dialectical Thinking, and Family Well-Being Across Generations

Background:  Adolescence is a period when families must balance emotional connection with growing autonomy. How family functioning supports well-being during this transition remains unclear, particularly in cultural contexts that value harmony amid difference. This study examined how family functioning relates to life satisfaction among Hong Kong Chinese parents and adolescents, focusing on dialectical thinking and the balance between congruent and divergent family perceptions.
Method:  Participants were 309 parent–adolescent dyads from Hong Kong. Using the Actor–Partner Interdependence Mediation Model and the Actor–Partner Own–Difference approach, the study tested direct, indirect, and cross-dyadic pathways between family functioning, dialectical thinking, and life satisfaction, with multi-group models comparing mothers and fathers.
Results:  Family functioning was positively associated with greater life satisfaction for both generations. Adolescents' perceptions were positively related to parents' life satisfaction, whereas parents' perceptions showed no cross-dyadic associations. In the multi-group analyses, fathers' family functioning was negatively associated with adolescents' life satisfaction, whereas the corresponding association was not evident for mothers. Regarding perceptual fit, congruence between parents' and adolescents' views was associated with higher well-being, whereas discrepancy was associated with lower parental well-being; for adolescents, discrepancy was positively associated with life satisfaction only in father-adolescent dyads. Dialectical thinking showed selective indirect effects linking family functioning to parents' life satisfaction, evident in the pooled sample and more consistently among mothers.
Conclusions:  The study highlights adolescent family life as a relational context in which well-being reflects ongoing negotiation of connection and autonomy. The pattern emphasizes the importance of considering interdependence, role-specific dynamics, and culturally embedded meaning-making when interpreting links between family functioning and life satisfaction.

© 2026 The Author(s). Journal of Adolescence published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Foundation for Professionals in Services to Adolescents.