Associations Between Marital Conflict and Adolescent Conflict Appraisals,Stress Physiology,and Mental Health

The goal of the current study was to examine conflict appraisals and diurnal cortisol production as mediators of the robust association between marital conflict and adolescent adjustment problems. Parents reported their marital conflict and were observed engaging in a marital conflict discussion; they also reported adolescent internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Adolescents (n = 105, 52% female, 10–17 years of age) appraised their parents’ marital conflict and reported their internalizing and externalizing behaviors. After the laboratory visit, adolescents provided four saliva samples on each of 2 consecutive days to assess diurnal cortisol production. More-negative marital conflict predicted more self-blame for parental conflict, which in turn predicted less robust decreases in cortisol across the day. Further, this flattened cortisol production pattern mediated the relationship between greater self-blame for parental conflict and adolescents’ elevated internalizing behaviors. Feeling responsible for parental conflict appears to be particularly damaging in terms of physiological regulation and adjustment, and may therefore be a particularly useful intervention target.     

Interparental aggression and parent-adolescent salivary alpha amylase symmetry

The present study examined salivary alpha amylase (sAA), a putative marker of adrenergic activity, in family members engaging in family conflict discussions. We examined symmetry among family members' sAA levels at baseline and in response to a conflict discussion. The relation between a history of interparental aggression on parent-adolescent sAA symmetry also was examined. Participants were 62 families with a mother, father, and biological child age 13-18 (n = 29 girls). After engaging in a relaxation procedure, families participated in a 15-minute triadic family conflict discussion. Participants provided saliva samples at post-relaxation/pre-discussion, immediately post-discussion, and at 10 and 20 min post-discussion. Participants also reported on interparental physical aggression during the previous year. Across the sample we found evidence of symmetry between mothers' and adolescents' sAA levels at baseline and around the discussion. Interparental aggression was associated with lower sAA levels among fathers. Interparental aggression also affected patterns of parent-child sAA response symmetry such that families reporting interparental aggression exhibited greater father-adolescent sAA symmetry than did those with no reports of interparental aggression. Among families with no interparental aggression history, we found consistent mother-adolescent symmetry. These differences suggest different patterns of parent-adolescent physiological attunement among families with interparental aggression.     

Interparental aggression and children's adrenocortical reactivity: testing an evolutionary model of allostatic load

Guided by an evolutionary model of allostatic load, this study examined the hypothesis that the association between interparental aggression and subsequent changes in children's cortisol reactivity to interparental conflict is moderated by their temperamental dispositions. Participants of the multimethod, longitudinal study included 201 2-year-old toddlers and their mothers. These children experienced elevated levels of aggression between parents. Consistent with the theory, the results indicated that interparental aggression predicted greater cortisol reactivity over a 1-year period for children who exhibited high levels of temperamental inhibition and vigilance. Conversely, for children with bold, aggressive temperamental characteristics, interparental aggression was marginally associated with diminished cortisol reactivity. Further underscoring its implications for allostatic load, increasing cortisol reactivity over the one year span was related to concomitant increases in internalizing symptoms but decreases in attention and hyperactivity difficulties. In supporting the evolutionary conceptualization, these results further supported the relative developmental advantages and costs associated with escalating and dampened cortisol reactivity to interparental conflict.     

Patterns of adjustment among children of battered women

Children exposed to interparental violence have been characterized by an array of psychological problems, but findings regarding the precise nature of these problems have been inconsistent. This study used cluster analysis to determine whether distinct patterns of adjustment could be identified in 228 8- to 14-year-old children residing in battered women's shelters. Five such patterns emerged: multiproblem-externalizing, multiproblem-internalizing, externalizing, mild distress, and no problems reported. This solution was cross-validated in independent halves of the sample and was similar for boys and girls. Differences among the clusters on relevant family and demographic variables were examined, and it was found that the clusters could be distinguished on the basis of the frequency of children's exposure to interparental violence, parent-child aggression, and children's appraisals of interparental conflict.     

Pathways between profiles of family functioning, child security in the interparental subsystem, and child psychological problems

This study was designed to delineate pathways between systems profiles of family functioning, children's emotional insecurity in the interparental relationship, and their psychological adjustment in a sample of 221 children and their parents. Consistent with family systems theory, cluster analyses conducted with assessments of marital, coparental, and parent-child functioning indicated that families fit into one of four profiles: (a) cohesive families, characterized by warmth, affection, and flexible well-defined boundaries in family relationships; (b) disengaged families, reflected in high levels of adversity and low levels of support across family subsystems; (c) enmeshed families, evidenced by high levels of discord and weak maintenance of relationship boundaries in the family unit; and (d) adequate families, defined by elevated parental psychological control within a larger family context of low discord and high warmth. In comparison to children in cohesive families, children in enmeshed and disengaged families exhibited greater signs of insecurity in the interparental relationship concurrently and internalizing and externalizing symptoms both concurrently and 1 year later. Structural equation models revealed that a latent, multimethod measure of insecurity in the interparental relationship partially mediated associations between family enmeshment and disengagement and children's psychological symptoms 1 year later. Results are discussed in relation to how they inform and refine a family-wide model of the emotional security hypothesis.     

Pathways and processes of risk in associations among maternal antisocial personality symptoms, interparental aggression, and preschooler's psychopathology

Two studies examined the nature and processes underlying the joint role of interparental aggression and maternal antisocial personality as predictors of children's disruptive behavior problems. Participants for both studies included a high-risk sample of 201 mothers and their 2-year-old children in a longitudinal, multimethod design. Addressing the form of the interplay between interparental aggression and maternal antisocial personality as risk factors for concurrent and prospective levels of child disruptive problems, the Study 1 findings indicated that maternal antisocial personality was a predictor of the initial levels of preschooler's disruptive problems independent of the effects of interparental violence, comorbid forms of maternal psychopathology, and socioeconomic factors. In attesting to the salience of interparental aggression in the lives of young children, latent difference score analyses further revealed that interparental aggression mediated the link between maternal antisocial personality and subsequent changes in child disruptive problems over a 1-year period. To identify the family mechanisms that account for the two forms of intergenerational transmission of disruptive problems identified in Study 1, Study 2 explored the role of children's difficult temperament, emotional reactivity to interparental conflict, adrenocortical reactivity in a challenging parent-child task, and experiences with maternal parenting as mediating processes. Analyses identified child emotional reactivity to conflict and maternal unresponsiveness as mediators in pathways between interparental aggression and preschooler's disruptive problems. The findings further supported the role of blunted adrenocortical reactivity as an allostatic mediator of the associations between parental unresponsiveness and child disruptive problems.     

Adolescents' behavior in the presence of interparental hostility: developmental and emotion regulatory influences

Within-family covariation between interparental hostility and adolescent behavior across three interactions over a 2-year period was explored in a sample that included 37 typical adolescents and 35 adolescents recently hospitalized for psychiatric difficulties. More interparental hostility across the three interactions was associated with more adolescent hostility and more positive engagement (at a trend level) regardless of psychiatric background. Parent-to-child hostility in each interaction mediated the link for adolescent hostility but not for positive adolescent engagement. Emotion regulation capacities and age were linked to variability in adolescents' behavior in the presence of interparental conflict. In interactions with more interparental hostility, adolescents with greater capacity to tolerate negative affect were more likely to show increased positive engagement, and adolescents who were better able to modulate their emotional expression were less likely to show increased hostility. Covariation between interparental and adolescent hostility across the three family interactions decreased as the adolescent aged. These findings are consistent with the theory that exposure to interparental hostility is emotionally disequilibrating, and that adolescent responses may reflect differences in emotion regulation and other developmentally based capacities. Gender and variations across families in overall levels of hostile parenting were also linked with adolescent behavior in the presence of interparental hostility.     

Parents' hostility in dyadic marital and triadic family settings and children's behavior problems

The authors examined the relation between parents' hostility during conflict-focused discussions and child behavior problems. Parents engaged in 3 discussions: a dyadic marital discussion of marital disagreements, a dyadic marital discussion of child-related disagreements, and a triadic family discussion with the child about the child-related disagreements. Eighty-nine 2-parent community families with a child aged 9-13 years participated. A significant 3-way interaction between interparental hostility, parent-to-child hostility, and child sex accounted for variance in children's behavior problems. Among boys, higher levels of parent-to-child hostility during family discussions exacerbated the effects of interparental hostility on boys' adjustment. Thus, exposure to higher levels of both interparental and parent-to-child hostility may put boys at risk for developing internalizing and externalizing behavior problems.     

Internalizing symptoms and disorders in families of adolescents: a review of family systems literature

Internalizing symptoms and disorders are relatively common during adolescence and impact considerably on social and emotional functioning. Using a family systems framework, this paper reviews the current literature examining the impact of internalizing symptoms and disorders on the functioning of the family system, the spouse subsystem and the parent-child subsystem. Moreover, literature examining the relationship between parents' and adolescents' internalizing symptoms and disorders is reviewed. The reviewed research demonstrates that there exists an association between internalizing symptoms and disorders and poorer functioning at various levels of the family system. Longitudinal studies have generally reported that parent internalizing symptoms and disorders predict poorer functioning in the family system as well as internalizing symptoms and disorders in adolescents. However, few longitudinal studies have examined whether adolescent internalizing symptoms and disorders predict poorer family functioning and internalizing symptoms and disorders in parents. Those that have examined such effects report mixed results. On the basis of our review, we make recommendations about future research directions. In particular, it is argued that more research on the reciprocal effects of internalizing symptoms and disorders within families is needed to better understand the antecedents and consequences of these conditions for families of adolescents.     

Intrafamily conflict in relation to boys' adjustment at school

Several theoretical models of child development have posited the spread of conflict within families; however, few researchers have studied this process in association with relationships children have with teachers and peers at school. The present study examined the direct, additive, and interactive contributions of interparental, parent-child, and sibling conflict in relation to teacher-child and child-peer conflict in a sample of 117 low-income boys from ages 3.5 to 6 years. Overall, the results suggest that while conflict in any one dyadic family relationship is only modestly associated with later conflictual relationships at school, risk for conflict in relationships with teachers and peers increases when multiple forms of early family conflict are experienced. Results are discussed in terms of the development of conflict across early relationships.     

Mothers' and sons' cognitive and emotional reactions to stimulated marital and family conflict

This study examined cognitive and emotional reactions to family discussions as experienced by sons and mothers from homes with physically aggressive (PA), verbally aggressive (VA), and low-conflict (LC) marital relationships. Boys of PA couples demonstrated more self-interference, self-distraction, and arousal and less criticism than did other sons in reaction to stimulated parental conflict. Boys of LC parents were more optimistic about family conflict and articulated more ideas concerning family structure and how conflict "should" proceed than did other sons. PA mothers made more positive evaluations and offered more autocratic suggestions than did VA mothers. Also, LC mothers, compared with both conflictual groups, made more democratic statements in response to low-conflict situations. These results indicate that marital conflict experienced in the home may influence sons' and mothers' appraisals of family and marital interactions.     

Longitudinal relations between parental drinking problems, family functioning, and child adjustment

Relations between maternal and paternal problem drinking symptoms and destructive marital conflict, parenting problems, and children's internalizing and externalizing problems were investigated. Participants were community families with a child in kindergarten who completed questionnaire measures at baseline (N=235), 1 year later (N=227), and 2 years later (N=215). Structural equation modeling revealed that paternal problem drinking at Time 1 was associated with greater destructive marital conflict 1 year later. In turn, destructive marital conflict was related to decreased parental warmth and increased parental psychological control; these parenting problems were associated with greater child internalizing and externalizing problems at the third time point. Further analyses revealed that the indirect effects of paternal drinking on children's adjustment were significant, and that relations remained even after including autoregressive effects. Findings are discussed in terms of family process models for relations between parental drinking and child adjustment problems.     

What It's Like to Be Me (Book)

Examined family moderators of the relation between everyday stressors (hassles) and behavior problems in 99 inner-city children (ages 8-12 years, M = 10.7) and their caregivers. In separate home interviews children reported on their everyday stress, perceived support from mother, and adjustment problems; mothers reported on family demographics, major life stressors, family interaction patterns, and child adjustment difficulties. Higher levels of cohesion and routines attenuated the relation between hassles and both internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors, whereas high family conflict exacerbated the risk for adjustment difficulties. For externalizing behavior, higher levels of family adaptability protected children from the impact of daily hassles. Social support from the mother did not moderate the hassle-adjustment association. Implications for interventions with families are discussed.     

Coping with the stress of parental depression II: adolescent and parent reports of coping and adjustment.

This study examined associations between adolescents' self-reports and parents' reports of adolescents' exposure to family stress, coping, and symptoms of anxiety/depression and aggression in a sample of 78 adolescent offspring of depressed parents. Significant cross-informant correlations were found between adolescents' reports of family stress, their stress responses, and their coping and parents' reports of adolescents' symptoms of anxiety/depression and aggression, but not between parents' reports of adolescents' stress and coping and adolescents' self-reported symptoms. Adolescents' reports of secondary control engagement coping and involuntary engagement stress responses mediated the relation between adolescents' reports of parental stress and parents' reports of adolescents' anxiety/depression symptoms. Moderate levels of correspondence were found in the correlations between parent and adolescent reports of adolescents' exposure to stress, coping, stress responses, and symptoms even after controlling for parents' current depressive symptoms. However, depressed parents reported higher levels of symptoms of anxiety/depression and aggression and more family stress than did their adolescent offspring. Implications for future research on coping and adjustment in offspring of depressed parents are highlighted.     

A systemic perspective on children’s emotional insecurity in relation to father: links to parenting,interparental conflict and children’s social well-being

ABSTRACT

Focusing on the father-child-relationship in a family systems perspective, this paper investigates longitudinal links of parenting, interparental conflict, and positive regard by both parents, to their emotional insecurity with father and mother. Furthermore, to clarify fathers’ contribution to children’s social development, aspects of the relationship to both parents are jointly considered. The sample was drawn from the German family panel pairfam and included 372 family triads with parents’ and children’s self-reports. Findings revealed consistent associations between interparental conflict and lack of positive regard and emotional insecurity, while parenting had no independent links with children’s emotional insecurity or social adjustment. Controlling for the stability of child outcomes, interparental conflict predicted children’s lower prosocial behavior and higher peer rejection. In addition, peer rejection was predicted by children’s emotional insecurity with father. The findings are in line with the emotional security hypothesis and highlight the importance of the father-child-relationship for developing positive peer relationships.     

The relations among depression in fathers, children's psychopathology, and father-child conflict: a meta-analysis

Research on parental depression is beginning to recognize the importance of studying fathers in relation to maladaptive outcomes in their offspring. Paternal depression is hypothesized to correlate with internalizing and externalizing psychopathology in children and adolescents and to compromise adaptive parent-child relationships (e.g., increased conflict). In the present paper, meta-analytic procedures were applied to this literature to address the magnitude and direction of covariation between paternal depression and children's functioning. In addition, we tested whether variation in findings could be accounted for by study characteristics. Results indicated that paternal depression was significantly related to offspring internalizing and externalizing psychopathology and father-child conflict. Larger effects for internalizing symptoms were associated with the use of community samples and symptom rating scales of internalizing problems.     

Children's responses to conflict between their different parents: mothers, stepfathers, nonresident fathers, and nonresident stepmothers.

Children who have experienced parental separation have potentially 3 sets of parents whose relationships may impact on them: mother and former partner, mother and stepfather, and father and new partner. Children's accounts of their response to conflict between these different parental dyads were studied, in relation to the quality of their relationships with these parents assessed with child interviews and questionnaires, and to maternal reports of the children's adjustment, in a sample of 159 children growing up in different family settings. Involvement in conflict within 1 parental dyad was chiefly unrelated to such involvement in conflict between the other parental dyads. In contrast, there was evidence for "spillover" effects in relationships within families; for instance, high frequencies of conflict between parents were linked to more troubled parent-child relationships. Children were more likely to side with the parent to whom they were biologically related than with stepparents. Involvement in mother-nonresident father conflict and in mother-stepfather conflict were both associated with adjustment problems, independent of the qualities of positivity and conflict in the relationship between child and parent. Implications for views on "family boundaries" are considered.     

Children's Responses to Conflict Between Their Different Parents: Mothers,Stepfathers, Nonresident Fathers,and Nonresident Stepmothers

Children who have experienced parental separation have potentially 3 sets of parents whose relationships may impact on them: mother and former partner, mother and stepfather, and father and new partner. Children's accounts of their response to conflict between these different parental dyads were studied, in relation to the quality of their relationships with these parents assessed with child interviews and questionnaires, and to maternal reports of the children's adjustment, in a sample of 159 children growing up in different family settings. Involvement in conflict within 1 parental dyad was chiefly unrelated to such involvement in conflict between the other parental dyads. In contrast, there was evidence for "spillover" effects in relationships within families; for instance, high frequencies of conflict between parents were linked to more troubled parent–child relationships. Children were more likely to side with the parent to whom they were biologically related than with stepparents. Involvement in mother–nonresident father conflict and in mother–stepfather conflict were both associated with adjustment problems, independent of the qualities of positivity and conflict in the relationship between child and parent. Implications for views on "family boundaries" are considered.     

Interparental Agreement on Internalizing, Externalizing, and Total Behavior Problems: A Meta-analysis

Previous studies have addressed the degree of correspondence between interparental reports of children's behavior problems, but have not examined the discrepancies in these reports. A meta-analysis containing 60 studies and 126 independent effect sizes was conducted. Results suggest that maternal and paternal ratings exhibit moderate correspondence in ratings of internalizing behavior problems in children and large correspondence in ratings of externalizing and total behavior problems in children. In terms of discrepancy of reports, parents reported similar levels of all types of problems. Age, gender, and socioeconomic status were found to moderate correspondence between mothers' and fathers' ratings but did not moderate discrepancies in mothers' and fathers' ratings.     

Perceived family climate,psychological adjustment,and peer relationship of black adolescents: A function of parental marital status or perceived family conflict?

This study examined two contrasting views of divorce and its effect on the adjustment of children. The physical wholeness position maintains that divorce itself is the salient variable that adversely affects children via the physical dissolution of the family; while the psychological wholeness position maintains that conflict is the critical variable which influences adjustment and does so regardless of parental marital status. Results of analyses on a sample of black working lower class adolescents failed to support the physical wholeness position; adolescents' age at the time of parental divorce, gender, and parental marital status were not significantly related to perception of family climate, psychological adjustment, grade point average, or peer relationships. However, results did provide strong support for the psychological wholeness position since adolescents' perception of family climate, psychological adjustment, and peer relationships were all significantly related to level of perceived conflict in the family. Conceptualizing divorce as a crisis situation rather than as a uniformly and universally negative event appears more reasonable since adolescents in our sample adapted to, and coped with, divorce. Use of conflict identification and resolution interventions to reduce family conflict may prevent future problems in child development.