The current study investigated the association of interparental conflict, parent-child attachment, and children's behavior problems in middle childhood. Although the effects of interparental conflict have been studied extensively, there has been little research done in the developmental period of middle childhood. This study examined the potential mediating role of the attachment relationship between parents and children in a community sample consisting of 86 two-parent families with at least one child between the ages of 8-11. Path modeling procedures indicated that attachment security serves as a mediator between interparental conflict and child behavior problems based on child reports. In particular, child-reported attachment security to the mother significantly mediated the association between children's perceptions of threat from interparental conflict and child-reported internalizing and inattentive/hyperactive symptoms. Child-reported attachment security to the father was not a significant mediator and mediation was not supported in parent-report models. The current findings have implications for families experiencing conflict and speak to the importance of attachment in the parent-child relationship when explaining the association between instances of interparental conflict and child behavioral outcomes. In particular, parents who engage in conflict can prevent the damaging effects of that conflict by making the conflict less overt, explaining to children the reasons for the conflict, and providing children with some assurance that a secure parent-child and interparental relationship is still present, despite the conflict.

Extensive literature suggests that Latino youth experience higher levels of depression when compared to youth from other ethnic backgrounds yet relatively little is known regarding why this particular population is especially susceptible to depression. This study focused on family level stressors and the link between interparental conflict and adolescent depressive symptoms in Latino families. The sample consisted of 400 girls and 290 boys, they were distributed into four groups based on gender and family structure. Written surveys were completed in their respective English classes measuring the aforementioned variables. Results indicated a significant relationship across all four groups between family stressors and interparental conflict, along with interparental conflict and depression. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Research is lacking regarding the role of positive emotions expressed by parents during interparental conflict (IPC) on child functioning. This study examined the relationship between parents’ expressions of positive emotions (PE) during IPC and child functioning. Child functioning measures included children’s feelings of happiness during an IPC laboratory task between their parents, cognitions regarding IPC in the home, feelings of emotional security in the marital system, and psychological adjustment (i.e., internalizing and externalizing behaviors, and depression). In addition, this study tested whether PE predicted these measures of child functioning above and beyond conflict resolution, and whether child temperamental surgency moderated the relationship between PE and child functioning. It was hypothesized that more PE would be related to more adaptive child functioning scores (Research Question 1), and that this relationship would occur above and beyond conflict resolution (Research Question 2). Furthermore, it was hypothesized that for children with high levels of temperamental surgency, more PE would be related to more adaptive child functioning scores compared to less PE (Research Question 3), mainly due to the proclivity for surgent individuals to experience and express positive emotions more strongly compared to less-surgent individuals. Participants included 98 parent dyads and their children between the ages of 9-11 years. The family triad came in to the laboratory and completed questionnaires and a problem discussion task in which parents discussed a conflict topic with their child present in the room. Trained coders coded parents’ expressions of happiness during the problem discussion task, as well as signs of conflict resolution. Children reported on their feelings of happiness immediately following the problem discussion, and on their perceptions of their parent’s IPCs and their feelings of depression. Mother’s reported on their children’s security in the marital system, internalizing and externalizing behaviors, and surgency traits. These child functioning measures were regressed on mother PE and father PE separately to determine whether parents’ expressions of PE were related to child functioning. Child gender, family socioeconomic status, and an average of parents’ negative emotions (i.e., anger, sadness, and fear) during the problem discussion were included in the analyses as potential covariates. Results from Research Question 1 were such that mother PE was positively associated with children’s feelings of happiness during the problem discussion, and father PE was negatively associated with children's negative emotional reactivity (a component of children’s sense of emotional security in the marital system). Research Question 2 results showed that mother PE predicted child happiness above and beyond conflict resolution, and that father PE predicted children’s negative emotional reactivity above and beyond conflict resolution. Finally, Research Question 3 results showed that child temperamental surgency moderated the relationship between mother and father PE and children’s reports of conflict properties (i.e., children’s perceptions of their parents’ conflicts as more frequent, more intense, and less resolved). Decomposition of the interactions indicated that as father PE increased, children with surgency scores in the top 66th percentile reported increases in conflict properties. Alternatively, for children with surgency scores below the 25th percentile, increases in father PE was associated with decreases in reports of conflict properties. All other analyses were nonsignificant. This study provides an important first step in determining whether parents’ expressions of positive emotions during IPC are related to child functioning, and whether child temperament plays a role in this relationship.

abstract: ABSTRACT This cross-sectional study examined whether the temperament dimensions of negative emotionality, positive emotionality, and impulsivity moderated the relation between interparental conflict and children’s internalizing and externalizing problems. The sample consisted of 355 divorced mothers and their children (9-12 years old) who participated in a randomized controlled trial of a preventive parenting intervention for divorcing families. Children provided reports of their experiences of interparental conflict and internalizing and externalizing problems; mothers provided reports of children’s temperament and internalizing and externalizing problems. The relations were examined separately for child report and mother report of outcomes using multiple regression analyses. Results found no support for the interactive effect of interparental conflict and temperament dimensions on children’s internalizing or externalizing problems. Consistent with an additive model of their effects, interparental conflict and temperament dimensions were directly and independently related to the outcomes. There was a significant, positive effect of interparental conflict and negative emotionality on children’s internalizing and externalizing problems. Positive emotionality was significantly, negatively related to internalizing and externalizing problems. Impulsivity was significantly, positively related to externalizing problems only. The patterns of results varied somewhat across mother and child report of interparental conflict on externalizing problems and positive emotionality on internalizing problems. The results of this study are consistent with the previous research on the significant main effects of interparental conflict and temperament dimensions on children’s internalizing and externalizing problems. These findings suggest that children’s environment and intrapersonal characteristics, represented by children’s experiences of interparental conflict and temperament, both uniquely contribute to children’s post-divorce internalizing and externalizing problems. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Psychology 2016

abstract: This study examined the mediating role of children's self-reported appraisals in the relation between interparental conflict intensity and child adjustment. Both parent-reported and child-reported conflict intensity were used as predictor variables. Findings suggested that children's total appraisals mediated the relationship between child-reported conflict intensity and all four outcome variables (conduct disorder, depression, anxiety, and total adjustment). Additionally, children's appraisals of negative evaluation by others mediated the relationship between child-reported conflict intensity and depression, and both rejection and negative evaluation by others mediated the relationship between child-reported conflict intensity and anxiety. Only one mediational relationship was established when assessing conflict intensity through parent report, with children's appraisals of harm to others mediating the relationship between parent-reported conflict intensity and anxiety. Findings from this study outline the importance of assessing conflict and appraisals from the child's perspective as results indicated a higher level of mediating effects of child appraisals in the relation between conflict and child outcomes when assessing conflict from the child's perspective. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Educational Psychology 2014

This study investigated efficacy of an online, preventive intervention program, Children of Divorce-Coping with Divorce (CoD-CoD; Boring, 2011). It extends previous findings to a sample of eight youth from high-conflict families who recently initiated legal divorce proceedings. CoD-CoD is a cognitive-behavioral intervention that targets coping efficacy, coping strategies, and divorce-related cognitive appraisals. A multiple-baseline single case experimental design evaluated change in daily use of active and avoidant coping strategies and corresponding coping efficacy ratings. Individual patterns of change were inspected for the program’s putative mediator variables and overall mental health functioning. Results indicate that daily coping efficacy ratings increased for four participants and decreased for the three participants who reported the highest levels of exposure to interparental conflict. The majority of participants increased use of at least one type of active coping strategy and half decreased use of at least one type of avoidant coping strategy. There were no observed patterns of systematic change in divorce-related cognitive appraisals and changes in mental health functioning were mixed. An exploratory analysis found that youth were classified as "high-risk" on a psychometrically-sound risk index in 100% of cases with documentation of two or more conflict-indicative legal events in the family court file. The study findings are consistent with previous evidence of a moderated program effect on coping efficacy, although positive effects on youth-reported mental health functioning were not replicated. Findings are discussed within the context of a high-conflict sample with temporal proximity to the legal divorce and in light of study limitations. Research directions toward effectively connecting at-risk youth with evidence-based prevention services are detailed.

Although the negative associations between marital conflict and children’s adjustment are well documented, less is known about how marital conflict styles (e.g., engagement, withdrawal, problem solving and compliance) are related to children’s developmental outcomes. The present study seeks to determine what types of parents’ conflict styles, during the child’s first year of life, are related to children’s behavioral outcomes in the first grade. Analyses examine the hypothesis that more conflictual conflict resolution styles of parents during a child’s infancy will predict poorer child outcomes over time. In addition, given the growing literature documenting the first year of life as a particularly sensitive period in children’s development, the proposed study will explore the effect of parents’ conflict resolution styles in the child’s first year of life on child outcomes at age six, controlling for concurrent levels of conflict. Lastly this study will explore the interaction of parents’ conflict resolution style in predicting children’s outcomes. Conflict resolution style and children outcomes were examined in a sample of 153 working-class, first-time parents and their children. Participants were recruited through prenatal classes at hospitals and birth clinics, as well as through Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) offices in Western Massachusetts.

This study provides evidence for the psychometrics of a 25-item instrument that measures divorcing individuals' perceived level of interparental conflict. The Level of Conflict Assessment (LOCA) was administered to 484 individuals who were attending a state-mandated parent education seminar for divorcing or separating parents. The unique feature of this instrument is that it was designed to measure perceived levels of conflict at the time of divorce. The internal consistency reliability of the scale was very high (α =.94). Through generalized linear modeling regression (specifically Gamma with log-link), five out of eight items were statistically significant, establishing a level of scale validity.

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