Avoidant Addresses in Japanese Families Reflect Family Conflicts

The study focused on Avoidant Addresses (AAs) in Japanese families and investigated the links between daily use of AAs in the family and family conflicts. The participants were 329 Japanese college students. They reported forms of address used daily among each of their family members. They also rated the frequency of conflicts among each of their family members. The results show that parent-child relationships with AAs experienced significantly higher frequency of parent-child conflicts than those without. The families with AAs also experienced a higher frequency of family conflicts than those without. Use of AAs might be unacceptable in Japanese families and reflect parent-child and family conflicts.