Intrafamilial political discordance impacts familial and psychological well-being through reduced positive communication

Political disagreements within families can undermine both individual and relational well-being. This study analyzed varying configurations of parent-child political discordance—including partisan-partisan and partisan-neutral dyads—in Hong Kong ( N = 586) following the 2019 social unrest and examined its familial and psychological consequences over two weeks ( n = 200). Findings indicate that neutral-partisan dyads, similar to their partisan-counterparts, exhibited significantly larger differences in support for government, police, and anti-government protestors compared to politically concordant dyads. Dyads in which one member supported the anti-government (“ yellow ”) camp and the other supported the pro-government (“ blue ”) camp or identified as neutral reported lower levels of positive communication and poorer family functioning than dyads sharing the same stance. Mediation analyses revealed that reduced positive communication explained the impact of political discordance on increased psychological distress across discordant dyads. However, this mediation effect on family functioning was observed only in yellow - neutral and yellow - blue dyads. By incorporating partisan-neutral disagreements into the analysis, this study offers an ecologically valid account of parent-child political discordance among partisan and neutral family members, highlighting the potential threat to both personal and family well-being when intrafamilial communication is compromised.