Abstract

The purpose of this work is to study the interactions in family context, in which the processes of verbal conflict are involved. From the point of view of the social interaction as a place of acquisition and co-construction of shared knowledge, the verbal conflict between parents and preadolescents places as an instrument of interaction and a vehicle of socialization. The aim of the research is to analyse the strategies of participants in conflict's situations and to reveal a model of dynamic relations between parents and preadolescents. The methodology concerns videotape recording of Italian family dinners, transcription and codification (according to the approach of Conversation Analysis). The results confirm the importance of the verbal conflict in the family context as a strategy of relationships between parents and preadolescents: the data underline the link between different aspects of conflict and pragmatic implications to the participation of family's members at dinner table conversations.