Abstract
<p>Shared reality is an experience of having "merged minds" and shared inner states, e.g. feelings, thoughts, opinions and concerns with a close relationship partner. It is a substantial component for establishing and nurturing close relationships. The purpose of this study was to examine, for the first time, shared reality between parents and children. To this day, the focus of research in this field was on romantic couples and adult strangers. We investigated 60 dyads of parents of adolescent children (ages 9-17) through self-report questionnaires and experience sampling methods, completed by parents 3 times a day for 3 days (K=728 questionnaires). Stronger parent-child shared reality was found to be associated with more perceived responsiveness experienced by the parent from the child, and with more interpersonal emotion regulation behaviors performed by the parent towards the child. The associations remained when controlling for parent-child closeness and for parent shared reality with their partner. Together, these findings suggest that shared reality is a significant and valuable factor within parent-adolescent relationships, with unique relevance beyond other relationship components. Our findings demonstrate how the unique shared reality between children and parents can be an essential part of the family’s everyday life.</p>