The goal of this study is a first exploration of the modalities of the conflicts between par-ents and adolescents exploited through conversational analysis of videotaped dinners in three different families. The focus concerns the description of the differences between the couples mother/son and father/son. The results show the high frequence of verbal conflicts in the conversation: more frequently the mother is involved than the father in the family communi-cation, and she is involved in a larger number of conflicts. Conflicts with the mother are more often started by the adolescents, while the opposite case happens with the father. Also the modalities of conflict closure are different: beside the stand-off, that represents in both cases the prevalent modality, compromise is adopted with the mother, and withdrawal with the father. The results show the presence of two different styles: maternal and paternal ones.