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Psycholog ical Bul letin Copyrig h t 1990 by the Am eric an Psycholog ical Assoc iat ion , Inc.1990, Vol. 108, No. 2, 267 -290 0033-2909/90/$00.75

M arita l Co nf l ic t an d Chi ldren's Ad jus tm ent:

A Cogni t ive -Contextua l Framework

John H . Grych and Frank D. FinchamUniversity of Il linois

Marital problems have been related to numerous indexes of maladjustment in children. Althoughseveral parameters of this association have been identified, the process by which exposure tointerparental conflict gives rise to adjustment problems in children is largely unexplored. Researchon the link between marital conflict and child maladjustment therefore is critically evaluated, and

a framework is presented that organizes existing studies and suggests directions for future researchon processes that may account for the association. According to the framework, the impact ofmarital conflict is mediated by children's understandingof the conflict, which is shaped by contex-

tual, cognitive, and developmental factors. The implications of the framework for children's adjust-

ment are discussed.

Marital discord has been associated with a number of in-

dexes of maladjus tment in children, including aggression, con-

duct disorders, and anxiety (Emery, 1982, 1988). Research on

the effect of divorce on children similarly indicates that the

conflict associated with divorce, rather tha n the break up of the

family, is pri mari ly responsibl e for man y of the pro blems seen

in children whose pare nts d ivorce (e.g., Emery, 1988; Long &

Forehand , 1987). Because at least 40% of all children bor n i n

the late 1970s and early 1980s are likely to experience a divorce

(Glick & Lin, 1986), an d m any more will live in inta ct families

marked by a high degree of parental discord, the impact of

marital discord on children warrants attention.

The relation between marital discord and child behaviorproblems was well documented in Emery's (1982) seminal re-

view. However, the co nclu sion that marita l conflict is asso-

ciated with children's adjust ment needs to be examined more

closely for two reasons. F irst, relatively few of the studies inves-

tigating marital discord a nd divorce published at that time spe-

cifically measured interparental conflict, but focused instead

on marital quality using self-report measures of global marital

satisfaction or interviews of unknown reliability and validity.

Althoug h marit al satisfaction and conflict are likely to be asso-

ciated, un hap py marriage s are not always marked by overt con-

flict, and most marita lly satisfied couples occasionally engage

in conflict. Moreover, marital satisfaction is also correlated

with other factors that may affect children's adjustment (e.g.,pare nt-c hild relations) (Belsky, 1981). Th us, studies using mea-

sures of marital satisfaction provide only indir ect evidence that

marital conflict is associated with children's adjustment. Sec-

Preparation of this article was supported by National Institute ofMental Health Grant R01 M H44078-01 and a Faculty Scholar Award

from the W. T. Grant Foundation to Frank D. Fincham.We thank Carol Diener, Ross Parke, and Thomas Bradbury for their

helpful comments on earlier drafts of the article.Correspondence concerning his article should be addressed to John

H. Grych or Frank D. Fincham, Department of Psychology, University

of Illinois, 603 East Daniel Street, Champaign, Illinois 61820.

267

ond, little attention has been paid to the processes that might

give rise to the association between marital conflict and child

problems, and specific causal hypotheses rarely have been

tested.

In view of these observations, it is necessary to analyze more

precisely the association between marital conflict and child

adjustment and to explore processes that may account for this

assoc iation (cf. Waters, Jouriles , Smith, & Richte rs, 1988). The

purpose of the present article, therefore, is twofold. We first

review studies assessing marital conflict and child adjustm ent

to provide a more detailed description of the relation between

them. Although several parameters of the association between

marital conflict and child problems have been identified, littleis known about the mechanisms that underlie the association.

We then present a framework designed to organize existing

studies and to facilitate research into the processes that may

give rise to this relation.

T H E A S S O C I A T I O N B E T W E E N M A R I T A L

C O N F L I C T A N D C H I L D R E N ' S A D J U S T M E N T

Review

In this section we examine evidence concern ing he existence

of a relation between marital conflict and child adjustment,

consider factors that ma y influe nce the st rength of this relation,and th en discuss mechanism s that have been proposed to ac-

count for the association between marital conflict and child

problems.

Th e Na t u r e o f th e R e l a t i o n B e t we e n M a r i t a l Co n f li c t

a n d C h i M P r o b l e m s

Both marital conflict and child adjustment are multid imen-

sional constructs. Marital conflict can vary i n frequency, inten -

sity, content, and resolution and can be overt or covert. All

marriages are characterized by some degree of conflict, and it

is unlikely that all expressions of marit al conflict are stressful



268 J O H N H . G R YC H A N D F R A N K D F I N C H A M

f o r c h i l d r e n . I n f a c t , e x p o s u r e t o s o m e t y p e s o f c o n f l ic t m a y

p r o m o t e t h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f c o n s t r u c t iv e p r o b l e m - s o l v i n g o r

c o p i n g s t r a t e g ie s . B e c a u s e m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t c a n b e e x p r e s s e d i n

m y r i a d w a y s , i t i s i m p o r t a n t t o i d e n t i f y w h i c h d i m e n s i o n s o f

m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a r e r e l a t e d t o c h i l d p r o b l e m s . L a t e r w e c o n -

s i d e r e v i d e n c e p e r t a i n i n g t o s e v e r a l o f t h e s e d i m e n s i o n s ( s e e

D im e n s io n s o f Co n f l ic t) . S i m i l a r ly , c h i l d a d j u s t m e n t i s a g l o b a lt e r m t h a t e n c o m p a s s e s e l e m e n t s su c h a s t h e a d a p t i v e n e s s a n d

a p p r o p r i a t e n e s s o f c h i l d r e n ' s b e h a v i o r , e m o t i o n a l w e l l - b e i n g ,

s e l f - c o n c e p t , a n d a c h i e v e m e n t . U n d e r s t a n d i n g t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p

b e t w e e n m a r i t a l c o n f l i ct a n d c h i l d a d j u s t m e n t t h u s a l s o r e -

q u i r e s a s s e s s m e n t o f a w i d e r a n g e o f a d j u s t m e n t i n d e x e s t o

d e t e r m i n e i f s o m e o u t c o m e s a r e m o r e c l o s el y re l a te d t o e x p o -

s u r e t o c o n f l i c t t h a n o t h e r s .

A p p r o x i m a t e l y 2 0 s t u d i e s h a v e b e e n p u b l i s h e d i n v e s t ig a t i n g

t h e r e l a t i o n b e t w e e n m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a n d c h i l d r e n ' s a d j u s t -

m e n t . A l t h o u g h , a s n o t e d e a r l ie r , m a n y o f t h e s t u d i e s r e v i e w e d

b y E m e r y ( 1 9 8 2 ) a c t u a l l y m e a s u r e m a r i t a l s a t i s f a c t i o n , o t h e r s

p r o v i d e m o r e d i r e c t e v i d e n c e f o r t h e e x i s t e n c e o f a n a s s o c i a t i o n

b e t w e e n m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a n d c h i l d b e h a v io r . T h e f i n d i n g s o f

t w o e a r l y s t u d i e s i n d i c a t e t h a t o p e n l y e x p r e s s e d m a r i t a l c o n -

f l ic t is m o r e c l o s e ly a s s o c i a t e d w i t h c h i l d p r o b l e m s t h a n i s m a r -

i t a l d i s s a t i s f a c t i o n ( H e t h e r i n g t o n , C o x , & C o x , 1 9 8 2 ; R u t t e r e t

a l . , 1 9 7 4 ; s e e a l s o E m e ry & O ' L e a ry , 1 9 8 4 ; J o h n s o n & O ' L e a ry ,

1 9 87 ) . H e t h e r i n g t o n e t a l . ( 1 98 2 ) f o u n d t h a t o n l y t h e d e g r e e o f

c o n f l i c t to w h i c h c h i l d r e n w e r e e x p o s e d w a s r e l a t e d to a d j u s t -

m e n t p r o b l e m s i n c h i l d r e n . " E n c a p s u l a t e d c o n f l i c t ; ' o r c o n -

f l i ct o f w h i c h c h i l d r e n w e r e n o t a w a r e , w a s n o t a s s o c i a t e d w i t h

b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s . S i m i l a r ly , c h i l d p r o b l e m s w e r e f o u n d t o b e

m o r e h i g hl y a s s o c ia t e d w i th u n h a p p y m a r r i a g e s t h a t w e r e q u a r -

r e l s o m e , te n s e , a n d h o s t i l e t h a n t o u n h a p p y m a r r i a g e s c h a r a c -

t e r i z e d b y a p a t h y a n d i n d i f f e r e n c e ( R u t t e r e t a l ., 1 97 4) .

S i n c e E m e r y ' s 0 9 8 2 ) r e vi e w , m o r e t h a n a d o z e n s t u d i e s h a v e

b e e n p u b l i s h e d t h a t s p e c i f ic a l l y a s s e ss t h e r e l a t i o n b e t w e e nm a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a n d c h i l r e n 's a d j u s t m e n t . M o s t o f t h is r e s e a r c h

e x a m i n e s o v e r t c o n f l i c t , o r c o n f l i c t o f w h i c h c h i l d r e n a r e l i k e l y

t o b e a w a r e . T h e s e s t u d i e s h a v e d o c u m e n t e d a s s o c i a t i o n s b e -

t w e e n m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a n d a r a n g e o f n e g a ti v e c h i l d o u t c o m e s ,

i n c l u d i n g e x t e r n a l i z i n g p r o b l e m s s u c h a s c o n d u c t d i s o r d e r (e .g .,

J o h n s o n & O ' L e a ry , 1 9 8 7 ; J o u r i l e s , Mu rp h y , & O ' L e a ry , 1 9 8 9 ;

W i e r s o n , F o r e h a n d , & M c C o m b s , 1 9 88 ) , a g g r e s s i o n (e .g ., J a c o b -

s o n , 19 7 8 ; J o h n s t o n , G o n z a l e z , & C a m p b e l l , 1 9 8 7 ), a n d d e l i n -

q u e n c y / a n t i s o c i a l b e h a v i o r ( E m e r y & O ' L e a r y , 19 8 4; P e t e r s o n

& Z i l l , 1 9 8 6 ) a n d i n t e r n a l i z i n g p r o b l e m s s u c h a s d e p r e s s i o n

( J o h n s to n e t a l ., 1 9 8 7 ; P e te r s o n & Z i l l , 1 9 8 6) a n d a n x ie ty /w i th -

d ra w a l ( e. g. , L o n g , S la t e r , F o re h a n d , & F a u b e r , 1 9 8 8 ; W ie r s o n e t

a l ., 19 8 8) . S e v e ra l i n v e s t ig a t io n s h a v e a l s o r e p o r t e d th a t s o c ia lc o m p e t e n c e ( E m e r y & O ' L e a r y , 1 9 84 ; L o n g , F o r e h a n d , F a u b e r ,

& B ro d y , 1 98 7 ) , c o g n i t iv e c o m p e t e n c e (L o n g e t a l. , 1 9 8 7 ; Wie r -

s o n e t a l . , 1 9 8 8 ), a n d g ra d e p o i n t a v e ra g e (G P A ; L o n g e t a l. , 1 9 8 7 ;

W i e r s o n e t a l . , 1 9 8 8 ) a r e r e l a t e d t o m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t . S e v e r a l

s t u d i e s h a v e a l s o f o u n d r e l a t i o n s h i p s b e t w e e n c h i l d r e n ' s p e r -

c e p t i o n s o f f a m i l y c o n f l i c t a n d n e g a t i v e c h i l d o u t c o m e s ( e . g . ,

E n o s & H a n d a l , 1 9 86 ; F a r b e r , F e l n e r & P r i m a v e r a , 1 9 8 5; S l a t e r

& H a b e r , 1 9 8 4 ), b u t o n l y s t u d i e s t h a t a s s e ss m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a r e

c o n s i d e r e d i n t h e p r e s e n t a r t i c le .

T a b l e 1 p r e s e n t s a s u m m a r y o f s t u d i e s t h a t e x a m i n e t h e r e l a -

t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a n d c h i l d r e n ' s a d j u s t m e n t .

F o r e a c h s t u dy , t h e t a b l e ( a) l i st s c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s o f t h e s a m p l e ,

( b ) i d e n t i f ie s w h e t h e r i n d e p e n d e n t o r n o n i n d e p e n d e n t r a t e r s o f

m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a n d c h i l d a d j u s t m e n t a r e u s e d , a n d ( c) p r o v i d e s

a b r i e f s u m m a r y o f r e s u lt s . T o o r g a n i z e t h e s e st u d i e s , T a b l e I i s

d i v i d e d i n t o t w o m a j o r s e c t i o n s : s t u d i e s o f m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t in

t h e c o n t e x t o f p a r e n t a l s e p a r a t i o n o r d i v o r c e (w h i c h o f t e n i n -

c l u d e a c o m p a r i s o n g r o u p o f c h i l d r e n f r o m i n t ac t f a m i li e s) a n d

s t u d i e s o f c h i l d r e n f r o m i n t a c t f a m i l i e s . S t u d i e s u s i n g d i v o r c e da n d i n t a ct f a m i l i e s a re d i s t i n g u i s h e d b e c a u s e c h i l d r e n w h o

h a v e e x p e r i e n c e d a d i v o r c e m a y b e e x p o s e d t o u n i q u e s t r e s s o r s

( e. g., s e p a r a t i o n f r o m a p a r e n t ) t h a t c h i l d r e n i n i n t a c t f a m i l i e s

d o n o t f a c e . A d d i t i o n a l l y , t h e f a c t t h a t t h e m a r i t a l d i s c o r d i n

d i v o r c e d f a m i l i e s l e d t o d i s s o l u t i o n o f t h e m a r r i a g e s u g g e s t s

t h a t t h i s g r o u p m a y d i f f e r i n s o m e w a y f r o m f a m i l i e s t h a t r e -

m a i n e d i n t a c t . W i t h i n t h e s t u d i e s u s i n g i n t a c t f a m i l i e s , w e h a v e

d i s t i n g u i s h e d f u r t h er b e t w e e n t h o s e e x a m i n i n g c h i l d r e n w h o

h a d b e e n r e f e r r e d f o r p s y c h o l o g i c a l t r e a t m e n t a n d t h o s e u s i n g

n o n c l i n i c s a m p l e s , a s E m e r y ( 1 98 2) d o c u m e n t e d a s t r o n g e r r e -

l a t i o n b e t w e e n m a r i t a l d i s s a t i sf a c t i o n a n d b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s

i n f a m i l i e s w i t h a c l i n i c - r e f e r r e d c h i l d .

M a n y r e c e n t s t u d i e s o f m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a n d c h i l d r e n 's a d j u s t -

m e n t h a v e h e e d e d t h e m e t h o d o l o g i c a l c r i t ic i s m s o f e a r l i e r r e -

s e a r c h r a i s e d b y E m e r y ( 1 98 2 ). A l t h o u g h a f e w s t u d i e s i n c l u d e

m e a s u r e s o f u n k n o w n o r q u e s t i o n a b l e r e l i a b i l i t y ( e.g ., P e t e r s o n

& Z i l l , 1 9 86 ; T s c h a n n , J o h n s to n , K l i n e , & Wa l l e r s t e in , 1 9 8 9 ),

m o s t u s e w e l l - v a l i d a t e d , r e l i a b l e m e a s u r e s o f c h i l d r e n 's a d j u s t-

m e n t a n d m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t. S e v e ra l o f t h e s t u d i e s l i s t e d i n T a b l e

1 a l s o h a v e u s e d s e p a r a t e r a t e r s o f m a r i t a l a n d c h i l d p r o b l e m s ,

t h u s a v o i d i n g t h e n o n i n d e p e n d e n c e o f d a t a a n d p o t e n t ia l b i as

t h a t r e s u l t s f r o m u s i n g t h e s a m e s o u r c e f o r i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t

b o t h c o n s t r u c t s . T h e s e s t u d i e s h a v e m o s t c o m m o n l y u s e d

t e a c h e r s a s j u d g e s o f c h i l d a d j u s t m e n t . I t s h o u l d b e n o t e d , h o w -

e v er , t h a t t e a c h e r r a t i n g s r e f l e c t a l i m i t e d s a m p l e o f c h i l d r e n ' s

b e h a v i o r , a n d t h a t t e a c h e r s a r e m o r e r e l i a b l e r a te r s o f e x t e r n a l -

i z in g th a n in t e r n a l i z in g b e h a v io r s ( e .g ., Z a s lo w , 1 9 89 ). A fe w o f

t h e s t u d i e s i n T a b l e 1 a l s o h av e o b t a i n e d m e a s u r e s o f m a r i t a l

c o n f l i c t f r o m t h e c h i l d r e n . B e c a u s e d i f f e r e n t r a t e rs h a v e d i f fe r -

e n t p e r s p e c t i v e s a n d a r e a f f e ct e d b y d i f f e r e n t s o u r c es o f e r r o r

( se e A c h e n b a c h , M c C o n o u g h y & H o w e l l , 1 98 7 ), t h e o p t i m a l

a p p r o a c h t o a s s e s s i n g t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t

a n d c h i l d b e h a v i o r i n v o l ve s t h e u s e o f m u l t i p l e s o u rc e s o f i n f o r -

m a t i o n f o r e a c h c o n s t r u c t .

T a b l e 1 s h o w s t h a t 15 o f 1 9 s t u d i e s ( 7 9% ) p r o v i d e s u p p o r t f o r

t h e e x i s t e n c e o f a r e l a t io n b e t w e e n m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a n d c h i l -

d r e n 's a d j u s t m e n t : M a r i t a l c o n f l i c t i s r e l a t e d to s o m e f o r m o f

c h i l d p r o b l e m i n 7 o f t h e 8 s t u d i e s e x a m i n i n g c h i l d r en f r o m

s e p a r a t e d o r d i v o r c e d f a m i l i e s , i n 2 o f t h e 3 u s i n g c l i n i c s a m p l e s

f r o m i n t a c t f a m i l i e s , a n d i n 6 o f th e 8 s t u d i e s e m p l o y i n g n o n -c l i n i c in t a c t f a m i l i e s . B e c a u s e o f t h e l i m i t e d n u m b e r o f s t u d i e s

a n d t h e v a r i e t y o f d i m e n s i o n s o n w h i c h t h e y d i f f e r (e .g ., c o n t e n t

a n d r e l i a b i l i t y o f m e a s u r e s o f m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t , c h i ld r e n ' s a g e ,

t y p e o f s a m p l e u s e d , d a t a - a n a l y t i c s t ra t e g ie s ) , w e r e s t r i c t o u r

s u m m a r y o f T a b l e I t o t h i s s i m p l e b o x s c o re .

S t u d i e s u s i n g a d i v o r c e d s a m p l e i n d i c a t e t h a t m a r i t a l c o n -

f l i c t p r e s e n t b e f o r e a n d a f t e r d i v o r c e i s r e l a t e d t o a r a n g e o f

n e g a t iv e o u t c o m e s , a n d t h a t t h i s a s s o c i a t i o n i s a l s o f o u n d i n

i n t a c t f a m i l i e s i n c l u d e d a s c o m p a r i s o n g r o u p s . F o r e x a m p l e ,

L o n g e t a l. (1 9 87 ) f o u n d s ig n i f i c a n t d i f f e re n c e s b e tw e e n c h i l -

d r e n f r o m h i g h - a n d l o w - c o n f l i c t f a m i l i e s ( r e g ar d l e ss o f m a r i t a l

s t a tu s ) o n t e a c h e r r a t i n g s o f s o c i a l a n d c o g n i t iv e c o m p e t e n c e ,



M A R I T A L C O N F L IC T A N D C H I L D R E N ' S A D JU S T M E N T 269

c o n d u c t d i s o r d e r , p r o b l e m s o l v i n g , a n d G P A , a n d W i e r s o n e t

a l . ( 1988) r e po r t e d t h a t yo un g a do l e s c e n t s ' ( f r om bo t h i n t a c t

a n d d i v o r c e d f a m i l ie s ) p e r c e p t i o n o f in t e r p a r e n t a l c o n f l ic t

c o r r e l a t e d w i t h t e a c he r - r a t e d c onduc t d i s o r de r , a nx i e t y / w i t h -

d r a w a l, c o g n i ti v e c o m p e t e n c e , a n d G P A ( c o rr e la t io n s r a n g e d

f r o m . 2 5 t o .3 2) . T h e e x t en s i v e lo n g i t u d i n a l s t u d y c o n d u c t e d b y

H e t he r i ng t on e t al . (1982) p r ov i de s f u r t he r e v i de nc e o f t he r e l a -t ive e f fe c t s t ha t d i vo r c e a nd m a r i t a l c on f l i c t m a y ha ve on c h i l -

d r e n . T h e y r e p o r t e d t h a t i n t h e f ir s t y e a r f o l l ow i n g d iv o r c e

c h i l d r e n f r o m d i v o r c e d f a m i l ie s m a r k e d b y h i g h c o n f l ic t fu n c -

t i o n e d l es s w e ll t h a n t h o s e c h a r a c t e r i z e d b y l o w c o n f l ic t , w h o

i n t u r n e x h i b i t e d m o r e b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s t h a n c h i l d r e n f r o m

i n t a c t f a m i l i e s. H ow e ve r , t w o ye a r s a f t e r t he d i vo r c e boy s f r om

hi gh - c on f l i c t in t a c t f a m i l i e s d i s p l a ye d m or e a gg r e s s i ve ne s s a nd

a c t i n g o u t b e h a v i o r t h a n b o y s f r o m l o w - c o nf l ic t d i v o r c e d f a m i -

l ie s. A l t hou gh g i f t s w h o ha d e x pe r i e nc e d d i vo r c e d i d n o t d i f fe r

f r om g i f ts f r om i n t a c t f a m i l i e s t w o ye a r s a f t e r t he d i vo r c e , g i rl s

l i v i ng i n f a m i l i e s m a r ke d by h i gh c on f l i c t e xh i b i t e d g r e a t e r

a t t e n ti o n s e e k i ng , w h i n i n g , a n d d e m a n d i n g n e s s a t h o m e a n d a t

s c hoo l t ha n g i f ts l i v ing i n l ow - c onf l i c t fa m i l i e s .

O n e s t u d y u s i n g a d i v o r c e d s a m p l e ( S h a w & E m e r y , 1 9 8 7 )

t h a t d i d n o t c l e ar l y s u p p o r t t h e a s s o c i a t i o n b e t w e e n m a r i t a l

c o n f l ic t a n d c h i l d p r o b l e m s f o u n d t h a t t h e d e g r e e o f a c r i m o n y

pr e s e n t be t w e e n pa r e n t s a f t e r s e pa r a t i on ( m e a s u r e d a s t he e x -

t e n t o f d i s a g r e e m e n t ov e r pos t s e pa r a t i on i s s ues s uc h a s v i s it a -

t i on , c us t ody , a nd c h i l d s uppor t ) w a s s i gn i f i c a n t l y c o r r e l a t e d

w i t h m a t e r n a l r e p o r t s o f i n t e r n a l iz i n g p r o b l e m s , b u t d i d n o t

s i gn i f i c a n t l y p r e d i c t i n t e r na l i z i ng p r ob l e m s w he n t he l e ve l o f

m a t e r na l de p r e s s i on w a s c on t r o l l e d s t a t is t ic a l ly .

R e s e a r c h o n t h e r e l a t io n b e t w e e n m a r i t a l c o n f li c t a n d a d -

j u s t m e n t u s i n g i n t a c t f a m i l i e s i n w h i c h a c h i l d h a d b e e n r e -

f e r re d f o r p s y c h o l o g i c a l t r e a t m e n t a l s o p r o v i d e s e v i d e n c e t h a t

s u p p o r t s t h i s a s so c i a ti o n . F o r e x a m p l e, E m e r y a n d O ' L e a r y

( I 9 8 2 ) f o u n d t h a t b o y s ' p e r c e p t i o n o f t h e f r e q u e n c y o f m a r i t a l

c o n f l ic t w a s r e l a te d t o m a t e r n a l r a t in g s o f c o n d u c t d i s o r d e r ,

i m m a t u r i t y , a n d d e l i n q u e n c y ( c o r r e la t io n s r a n g e d f r o m . 35 t o

.41 ) on t he B e ha v i o r P r ob l e m C he c k l i s t ( Q ua y , 1977) . Po r t e r

a n d O ' L e a r y ( 1 9 80 ) f o u n d c o r r e l a ti o n s o f si m i l a r m a g n i t u d e t o

t h o s e r e p o r t e d b y E m e r y a n d O ' L e a r y (1 98 2 ) b e t w e e n m a t e r n a l

r a t in g s o f o p e n l y e x p r e s s e d m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a n d a r a n g e o f a d -

j u s t m e n t p r o b l e m s i n b o y s , b u t f o u n d t h a t m o t h e r s ' r at i n g s o f

m a r i t a l s a t i s f a c ti on w e r e n o t s i gn i f i c a n tl y a s s oc i a t e d w i t h c h i l d

p r ob l e m s . Th i s sugge s t s t ha t t he r e l a t i on be t w e e n c o n f l i c t a nd

c h i l d be h a v i o r w a s no t s i m p l y a n a r t i f a c t o f m a r i t a l d i s t r e ss .

I n c o n t r a s t , J o u r i l es , B a i l i n g , a n d O ' L e a r y ( 1 9 8 7 ) r e p o r t e d

s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n s b e t w e e n p a r e n t - c h i l d a g g r e s s i o n a n d

b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s b u t n o r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n m a r i t a l c o n -f l i c t a nd be ha v i o r p r ob l e m s . Th i s s t udy i nvo l ve d c h i l d r e n r e -

f e r re d t o a f a c i li ty f o r w o m e n a n d c h i l d r e n f r o m m a r i t a l ly v i o -

l e n t f a m il ie s ; al l o f t h e m o t h e r s i n t h e s a m p l e h a d b e e n r e c e n t

v i c t im s o f m a r i ta l v i o le n c e , a n d 9 1 % o f t h e c h i l d r e n h a d a l s o

b e e n t a r g e t s o f p a r e n t - c h i l d a g g r e s s i o n w i t h i n t h e p r e v i o u s

ye a r . B e i ng t he v i c t i m o f pa r e n t a l a gg r e s s i on i s l i ke ly t o be

m or e s t r e s s f u l t ha n w i t ne s s i ng m a r i t a l c on f l i c t , a nd s o e xpo-

s u r e t o p a r e n ta l c o n f l i c t m a y b e a m u c h p o o r e r p r e d i c t o r o f

be ha v i o r p r ob l e m s i n s uc h a s a m pl e . Fu r t he r , g i ve n the l e vel o f

a gg r e s s i on p r e s e n t i n t he s e f a m i l i e s , va r i a nc e i n the m e a s u r e o f

c h i l d r e n ' s e xpos u r e t o c on f l i c t m a y ha ve be e n r e s t r i c t e d ( m e a ns

a n d v a r i a n c e s w e r e n o t r e p o r t e d ) .

S t u d i e s e x a m i n i n g n o n c l i n i c i n t a c t f a m i li e s a l so t e n d t o s u p -

p o r t a n a s s o c i a t i o n b e t w e e n i n t e r p a re n t a l c o n f l ic t a n d c h i l d

p r ob l e m s . F o r e xa m pl e , J ou r i l e s e t al . (1989) r e po r t e d t ha t t h e

P h y s i c a l A g g r e s s i o n s u b s c a l e o f t h e C o n f l i c t T a c t ic s S c a l e

( S t r aus , 1979) , a m e a s u r e o f a gg r e s s i on b e t w e e n s pous e s , p r e -

d i c t e d p a r e n t a l r a t i n g s o f c o n d u c t d i s o rd e r , p e r s o n a l i t y d i s -

o r de r , i na de qu a c y / i m m a t u r i t y , a nd c l i n i c a l le ve l s o f c h i l d be ha v -i o r p r ob l e m s a f t e r c on t r o l l i ng f o r l e ve l o f m a r i t a l s a t is f a c ti on .

S i m il ar ly , J o h n s o n a n d O ' L e a r y ( 19 8 7) f o u n d t h a t p a r e n t s o f

g i ft s ra t e d a s h i g h o n t h e C o n d u c t D i s o r d e r s u b s c a le o f t h e

C h i l d B e h a v i o r C h e c k l i s t ( A c h e n b a c h & E d e l b r o c k , 1 9 8 3 ) re -

p o r t e d m o r e i n t e r p a r e n t a l h o s t i l i t y a n d a g g r e s s i o n t h a n d i d

pa r e n t s o f g i ft s no t v i e w e d a s e xh i b i t ing c ond uc t d i s o r de r s , a l -

t h o u g h t h e t w o g r o u p s o f p a r en t s d i d n o t d i f f e r i n m a r i t a l s a t is -

fac t ion.

T h u s , r e c e n t r e s e a r c h d o c u m e n t s a m o d e s t b u t c o n s i s t e n t

r e l a t i ons h i p be t w e e n i n t e r pa r e n t a l c on f l i c t a nd c h i l d r e n ' s a d -

j u s t m e n t , a nd s e ve r a l s t ud i e s i nd i c a t e t ha t c on f l i c t p r e d i c t s

c h i l d p r o b l e m s a b o v e a n d b e y o n d i n d e x e s o f m a r i t a l s a ti sf a c-

t i on . H ow e ve r , a s no t e d p r e v i ous l y he r e , i t i s c r i t ic a l t o e xa m i n e

t h e r e l a t io n s h i p b e t w e e n m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a n d c h i l d a d j u s t m e n t

m o r e c l o se l y i f t h e m e c h a n i s m s u n d e r l y i n g it a re t o b e u n d e r -

s t ood . The r e f o r e , i n t he ne x t t w o s e c t i ons w e d i s c us s ( a) t he

r e l at i o n o f s p ec i fi c d i m e n s i o n s o f m a r i ta l c o n f l ic t t o c h i l d a d -

j u s t m e n t a n d ( b ) d e m o g r a p h i c v a r ia b l e s t h a t m a y i n f l u en c e

thi s re la t ionship .

Dimensions of Conflict

S e v e ra l d i m e n s i o n s o f m a r i ta l c o n f l i c t m a y b e i m p o r t a n t t o

c ons i de r . The f r e que nc y , i n t e ns i t y , c on t e n t , a nd r e s o l u t i on o f

c on f l i c t i n pa r t i c u l a r m a y a f fe c t t he s t r e s s f u l ne s s o f m a r i t a l

c o n f l ic t f o r c h i l d r e n a n d t h u s m a y b e r e la t e d t o t h e e x i s t e n ce o f

c h i l d p r o b l e m s . W e c o n s i d e r r e se a r c h e x a m i n i n g e a c h o f th e s e

f a c t o r s in t u r n .

Frequency I nc r e a s e d e xpos u r e t o i n t e r pa r e n t a l c on f l i c t po -

t e n t i a l l y c ou l d ha ve t w o c on t r a s t i ng e f f e c t s : I t m i gh t l e a d t o

f e w e r b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s b e c a u s e c h i l d r e n b e c o m e d e s e n s i-

t i z e d t o m a r i t a l c on f l i c t , o r c onve r s e l y m or e f r e que n t c on f l i c t

m a y s e ns i t i z e c h i l d r e n t o c on f l i c t a nd l e a d t o a g r e a t e r i nc i -

d e n c e o f a d j u s t m e n t p r o b l e m s . A v a il a bl e e v i d e n c e s u p p o r t s t h e

l a t t e r hypo t he s i s i n t ha t m or e f r e que n t ope n c on f l i c t i s a s s o -

c i a te d w i t h i n c r e a s e d b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s ( J o h n s t o n e t a l , 1 9 8 7 ;

Lo ng e t a l. , 1987, 1988 ; Po r t e r & O 'Le a r y , 1980 ; Wi e r s on e t a l ,

1 9 88 ). I n a s t u d y o f n a t u r a ll y o c c u r r i n g e p i s o d e s o f i n t e r p a r e n -

t a l a nge r , c h i l d r e n e xpos e d t o m or e f r e que n t m a r i t a l c on f l i c t

r e a c t e d m o r e i n te n s e ly w h e n e x p o s e d t o a l a t e r e p is o d e o f p a r e n -t a l c on f l i c t t ha n d i d c h i l d r e n w ho ha d e xpe r i e nc e d l e s s f r e -

q u e n t c o n f l i c t ( E . M . C u m m i n g s , Z a h n - W a x l e r , & R a d k e -

Y a rr ow , 1981). A dd i t i ona ll y , c h i l d r e n w ho h a d w i t ne s s e d t w o

a n g r y c o n f r o n t a t i o n s b e t w e e n a d u l t e x p e r i m e n t e r s i n a l a b o r a -

t o r y b e h a v e d m o r e a g g r e s si v e ly t o w a r d a p l a y m a t e t h a n t h o s e

w h o h a d o b s e r v e d o n l y o n e s u c h c o n f l ic t (E . M . C u m m i n g s ,

I a nno t t i , & Za hn- Wa x l e r , 1985) . A l t hough t he s e l a t t e r s t ud i e s

e x a m i n e d o n l y c h il d r e n 's i m m e d i a t e r e a c t i o n t o d i sp l a y s o f

a nge r , t he y s ugge s t t ha t i nc r e a s e d e xpos u r e t o c on f l i c t m a y

have increas ingly negat ive ef fec t s .

R e s e a r c h o n c h i l d r e n ' s l o n g - t e r m a d j u s t m e n t t o d i v o r c e i s

c o n s i s t e n t w i t h t h i s c o n c l u s i o n b e c a u s e b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s



270 J O H N H . G R Y C H A N D F R A N K D . F I N C H A M

T a b l e 1Stud ies Exa min ing the L ink Be tween M ar i ta l Confl ic t and Chi ldren~ Adjus tm ent

S t u d y S a m p l e S o u r c e C o m m e n t

H e t h e r i n g t o n , C o x , &

C o x ( 1 9 8 2)

J a c o b s o n ( 1 9 7 8 )

J o h n s t o n , G o n z a l e z , &C a m p b e l l ( 19 8 7)

L o n g , F o r e h a n d ,F a u b e r , & B r o d y(1987)

L o n g , S l a t e r, F o r e h a n d ,

& Fa u be r (1988)

S h a w & E m e r y ( 1 9 8 7)

T s c h a n n , J o h n s t o n ,K l i n e , &Wa l le r s te in (1989)

W i e r s o n , F o r e h a n d , &M c C o m b s ( 1 9 8 8)

7 2 b o y s a n d 7 2 g i r l s o f

n u r s e r y s c h o o l a g e , h a l ff r o m d i v o r c e d f a m i l i e s ,h a l f f r o m i n t a c t f a m i l i e s

38 3- to 13-ye a r -o ld c h i ld re na n d t h e i r m o t h e r s

52 4- to 12-ye a r -o ld c h i ld re n

(26 boys ; 26 g i r l s ) a nd

t h e i r p a r e n t s

4 0 1 t - t o 1 5 - y e a r -o l da d o l e s c e n t s ( 2 0 b o y s , 2 0g i r ls ) ; h a l f f r o m d i v o r c e df a m i l i e s

35 11- to 15-ye a r -o lda d o l e s c e n t s ( 3 1 b o y s , 4

g i r l s ) ; 2 3 f r o m d i v o r c e dfa m i l i e s , 12 f rom in ta c tf a m i l i e s

4 0 5 - t o 1 2 - y e ar - o ld c h i l d r e no f s e p a r a t e d p a r e n t s ( 19boys, 21 gir ls)

178 2- to 18-ye a r -o ldc h i l d r e n ( 9 1 b o y s , 8 7g i r l s ) w h o s e p a r e n t s h a ds e p a r a t e d w i t h i n t h ep r e v i o u s y e a r

t78 10- to 15-ye a r -o ldc h i l d r e n ; 7 9 f r o md i v o r c e d f a m i l i e s

S t u d i e s w i t h d i v o r c e d f a m i l i e s

I n d e p e n d e n t r a t i n g s I n t h e fi r s t y e a r a f t e r d i v o r c e , c h i l d r e n d i s p l a y e d m o r e

o f m a r i t a l b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s t h a n c h i l d r e n f r o m h i g h - c o n f l i ct i n t a c tc o n f l i c t a n d c h i l d f a m i l i e s b o t h a t h o m e a n d a t s c h o o l ; a t 2 y r s a f t e r d i v o r c e ,a d j u s t m e n t b o y s f r o m h i g h - c o n f li c t i n t a c t f a m i l ie s w e r e m o r eo b t a i n e d a g g r e s si v e a n d e x h i b i t e d t e ss p r o s o c i a l b e h a v i o r t h a n b o y s

f r o m l o w c o n f l i c t d i v o r c e d f a m i l i e s ; g i r l s f r o m h i g h -c o n f l i c t f a m i l i e s d i s p l a y e d g r e a t e r a t t e n t i o n - s e e k i n g ,w h i n i n g , a n d d e m a n d i n g n e s s t h a n g i rl s f ro m l o w -c o n fl ic tf a m i l i e s

S i n g le s o u r c e R a t i n g s b y t h e c u s t o d i a l p a r e n t o f i n t e r p a r e n t a l h o s t i l it yp r o v i d e s r a t i n g s e x p e r i e n c e d b e f o r e m a r i t a l s e p a r a t i o n c o r r e l a t ed w i t h t h eo f m a r i t a l s a m e p a r e n t ' s r a t i n g s o f c h i l d r e n ' s a g g r e s s i o n ( r = . 2 9 ),c onf l i c t a nd c h i ld inh ib i t io n ( r = . 34) , a nd ove ra l l s e ve r i ty ( r = . 43) on the

a d j u s t m e n t L B C ; c o n c u r r e n t m e a s u r e s o f i n t e r p a r e n t h o s t i l i ty w e r en o t c o r r e l a t e d w i t h r a t i n g s o f ch i l d p r o b l e m s

S i n g l e s o u r c e C o m b i n e d p a r e n t a l r e p o r t s o f v e r b a l a n d p h y s i c a l a g g r e s s i o np r o v i d e s r a t i n g s w e r e u n r e l a t e d t o p a r e n t a l r a t i n g s o f b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s

o f m a r i t a l a t t h e t i m e o f d i v o r c e m e d i a t i o n ; p a r e n t a l a g g r e s s io nc o n f l i c t a n d c h i l d a s s e s s e d a t t h i s t i m e d i d p r e d i c t a g g r e s s i v e , w i t h d r a w n ,a d j u s t m e n t d e p r e s s e d , a n d t o t a l s c o r e s c a l es o f C B C L 2 y r s l a te r ;

p a r e n t s ' v e r b a l a n d p h y s i c a l a g g r e s s io n 2 y r s a f te r d i v o r c e

a l s o p r e d i c t e d c o n c u r r e n t t o t a l , w i t h d r a w n , a n d s o m a t i cc o m p l a i n t s c a l es o f C B C L .

I n d e p e n d e n t r a ti n g s C h i l d r e n f r o m h i g h - c o n f li c t f a m i l ie s w e r e r a t e d l o w e r b yo f m a r i t a l t e a ch e r s o n s o c ia l a n d c o g n i ti v e c o m p e t e n c e a n d G P A a n dc o n f li c t a n d c h i ld h i g h e r o n c o n d u c t d i s o r d er ; i n d e p e n d e n t o b s e r v e rs j u d g e da d j u s t m e n t t h a t t h e s e c h i l d r e n s h o w e d p o o r e r p r o b l e m s o lv i n g d u r i n go b t a i n e d a p a r e n t - c h i l d c o n f l i c t r e s o l u t i o n t a s k

I n d e p e n d e n t r a t i n g s C h i l d r e n f r o m d i v o r c e d f a m i l i e s i n w h i c h c o n f l i c t c o n t i n u e d

o f m a r i t a l h a d l o w e r G P A , g r e a t e r t e a c h e r - r a t ed A W a n d C D ( t re n d )c o n f l i c t a n d c h i l d t h a n c h i l d r e n f r o m l o w - c o n f l i c t d i v o r c e d f a m i l i e s a n d

a d j u s t m e n t i n t a c t f a m i l i e s; t h e l o w - c o n fl i c t d i v o r c e d g r o u p a n d i n t a c to b t a i n e d g r o u p d i d n o t d i f fe r o n b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s o r p a r e n t a l

c o n f l i c tS i n g l e s o u r c e A m e a s u r e d e s i g n e d t o a s s es s a r e a s o f c o n f l i ct b e t w e e n

p r o v i d e s r a t i n g s s e p a r a t e d p a r e n t s ( c o m p l e te d b y t h e m o t h e r ) c o r r e l a te do f m a r i t a l w i t h m a t e r n a l r a t i n g s o f e x t e r n a l i z i n g p r o b l e m s ( r = . 41 )c o n f li c t a n d c h i l d a n d w i t h i n t e r n a l i z i n g p r o b l e m s ( r = . 2 4) o n th e C B C L ;a d j u s t m e n t h o w e v e r , c o n f l i c t d i d n o t p r e d i c t b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s w h e n

m a t e r n a l d e p r e s s i o n w a s c o n t r o l l e dI n d e p e n d e n t r a t in g s C h i l d r e n ' s e m o t i o n a l a d j u s t m e n t (r a te d b y c l in i c i an s )

o f m a r i t a l c o r r e l a te d w i t h p r e s e p a r a t i o n m a r i t a l c o n f li c t r a t ed b yc o n f li c t a n d c h i l d c l i n i c ia n s a n d p a r e n t s ( r = - . 2 3 ) a n d w i t h p o s t s e p a r a t i o na d j u s t m e n t p a r e n t a l c o n f l ic t r a t ed b y p a r e n t s ( r = - . 2 8 ) ; m a t e r n a lo b t a i n e d r a t i n g s o f b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s c o r r e l a t e d w i t h p r e s e p a r a t i o n

m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t ( r = . 2 0 ) a n d w i t h p o s t s e p a r a t i o n p a r e n t a lc o n f l i c t ( r = . 2 6 ) ; h o w e v e r , p a t h m o d e l s i n d i c a t e d t h a t t h er e l a ti o n b e t w e e n p r e s e p a r a t i o n m a r i t a l c o n f l i ct a n di n d e x e s o f a d j u s t m e n t w e r e m e d i a t e d b y t h e q u a l i t y o f

p a r e n t - c h i l d r e l a t io n s h i p s ; p o s t s e p a r a t i o n c o n f l i c t w a s n o tr e t a i n e d i n t h e p a t h m o d e l s

I n d e p e n d e n t r a t in g s C h i l d r e n ' s p e r c e p t i o n s o f m a r i t a l c o n f li c t c o r r e la t e d w i t ho f m a r i t a l t e a c h e r - r a t e d c o g n i t i v e c o m p e t e n c e ( r = . 2 8) , C D ( r = . 2 5 ),c onf l i c t a nd c h i ld AW ( r = . 32) , a nd GPA ( r = . 27) ; s im i la r c or re la t ion s we rea d j u s t m e n t f o u n d w h e n m o t h e r s ' O P S s c o r es w e r e u s e d , b u t f a t h e rs 'o b t a i n e d O P S s c o r e s w e r e n o t r e l a te d t o t h e m e a s u r e s o f a d j u s t m e n t ;

p e r c e p t i o n s o f m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t al s o p r e d i c t e d s o m eo u t c o m e s t w o y e a r s la t e r

C l i n i c - r e f e r r e d c h i l d r e n

E m e r y & O ' L e a r y(1982)

50 8- to 17-ye a r -o ld c h i l dre n(25 boy s , 25 g i r l s )

S t u d i e s w i t h i n t a c t f a m i l i e s

I n d e p e n d e n t r a t in g so f m a r i t a l

c o n f l i c t a n d c h i l d

a d j u s t m e n to b t a i n e d

B o y s ' p e r c e p t i o n o f m a r i t a l d i s c o r d c o r r e l a t e d w i t h m a t e r n a lr a t i n g s o f C D ( r = . 3 9 ) , I m m a t u r i t y ( r = . 4 1 ) , a n dD e l i n q u e n c y ( r = . 3 5 ) s c a l e s o f B P C ; n o c o r r e l a t i o n s

b e t w e e n g i r l s' r a t i n g o f d i s c o r d a n d B P C s c a l e s



M A R I T A L C O N F L IC T A N D C H I L D R E N 'S A D J U S T M E N T 2 7 1

T a b l e 1 (continued)

S t u d y S a m p l e S o u r c e C o m m e n t

J o u r i l e s , B a r l i n g , &O ' L e a r y ( 1 9 8 7 )

P o r t e r & O ' L e a r y(1980)

N o n - c l i n i c - r e f e r r e d

c h i l d r e n

E . M . C u m m i n g s ,V o g el , C u m m i n g s ,& E l - S h e i k h ( 1 9 8 9)

E m e r y & O ' L e a r y(1984)

F o r e h a n d , L o n g ,B r o d y , & F a u b e r(1986)

J o h n s o n & O ' L e a r y(1987)

J o u r i l e s , M u r p h y , &O ' L e a r y ( 1 9 8 9 )

Jour i l e s , Pf i f fne r , &S . O ' L e a r y ( 1 9 8 8 )

P e t e r s o n & Z i l l(1986)

Rut te r , B . Yule ,Q u i n t o n ,Row la nds , W. Yule,

& B e r g e r ( 1 9 7 4)

4 5 5 - t o 1 3 - y ea r -o l d c h i l d r e n(22 boys, 23 gir ls) referredt o a c e n t e r s p e c i a l i z i n g

i n t r e a t m e n t o f w o m e na n d c h i l d r e n f r o mm a r i t a l l y v i o l e n t f a m i l i es

6 4 5 - t o 1 6 - y e ar - o ld c h i l d r e n(37 boys, 27 gir ls)

6 3 4 - t o 9 - y e a r - o l d c h i l d r e n(34 boys , 29 g i r l s ) a ndt h e i r m o t h e r s

1 3 2 2 n d t o 5 t h g r a d e r s ( 7 1gi r l s , 61 boys ) a nd th e i rm o t h e r s

46 11- to 15-ye a r -o ldc h i l d r e n ( 2 0 b o y s , 2 6 g i r l s)

42 9- to I l -ye a r -o ld g i r l s ; 25r a t e d b y p a r e n t s a s h a v i n gc o n d u c t p r o b l e m s o n

R B P C , 1 7 r a t e d a s n o te x h i b i t i n g c o n d u c tp r o b l e m s

87 5- to 12-ye a r -o ld c h i l dre n(41 boys , 46 g i r l s ) whosep a r e n t s w e r e s e e k in g

m a r i t a l t h e r a p y

6 0 1 8 - t o 3 1 - m o n t h - o l dc hi ld re n (30 boys , 30 g i r ls )

1 ,423 12- to 16-ye a r -o ldc h i l d r e n ( r o u gh l y e q u a ln o . o f b o y s a n d g i rl s )

2 4 9 c h i l d r e n o f u n s p e c i f i e da g e a n d g e n d e r

S i n g l e s o u r c ep r o v i d e s r a t i n g so f m a r i t a lc o n f l i c t a n d c h i l da d j u s t m e n t

S i n g l e s o u r c ep r o v i d e s r a t i n g so f m a r i t a lc o n f l i c t a n d c h i l da d j u s t m e n t

S i n g l e s o u r c ep r o v i d e s r a t i n g so f m a r i t a lc o n f l i c t a n d c h i l d

a d j u s t m e n t

I n d e p e n d e n t r a t in g so f m a r i ta lc o n f l i c t a n d c h i l da d j u s t m e n to b t a i n e d

I n d e p e n d e n t r a t in g so f m a r i t alc o n f l i c t a n d c h i l da d j u s t m e n t

o b t a i n e dI n d e p e n d e n t r a ti n g s

o f m a r i ta lc o n f l i c t a n d c h i l d

a d j u s t m e n to b t a i n e d

S i n g l e s o u r c ep r o v i d e s r a t i n g so f m a r i t a l

c o n f l i c t a n d c h i l da d j u s t m e n t

S i n g l e s o u r c ep r o v i d e s r a t i n g so f m a r i t alc o n f l i c t a n d c h i l da d j u s t m e n t

S i n g l e s o u r c ep r o v i d e s r a t i n g so f m a r i t a l

c o n f l i c t a n d c h i l da d j u s t m e n t

I n d e p e n d e n t r a t in g so f m a r i t a lc o n f l i c t a n d c h i l da d j u s t m e n to b t a i n e d

M a t e r n a l r a t in g s o f f r e q u e n cy w i t h w h i c h c h i l d r e n w i t n e s s e d

p h y s i c a l a g g r e s s i o n b e t w e e n p a r e n t s w a s n o t c o r r e l a t e dw i t h m a t e r n a l r a t i n g s o n t h e B P C

F o r b o y s u n d e r a g e 1 0, m o t h e r - r a t e d O P S w a s c o r r e l a t e d w i t h

m a t e r n a l r a t i n g s o f C D ( r = . 4 0 ) a n d t o t a l p a t h o l o g y( r - - .45) of BP C; for boy s ove r a ge 10 , OP S w a s c or re la te dw i t h t o t a l p a t h o l o g y ( r = . 4 3 ) , s o c i a l iz e d d e l i n q u e n c y( r = . 4 2 ) , p e r s o n a l i t y d i s o r d e r ( r = . 4 5 ) , a n d i n a d e q u a c y /i m m a t u r i t y ( r = . 6 3 ) ; t h e r e w e r e n o s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n sb e t w e e n O P S a n d b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s i n g i rl s

M a t e r n a l r a t i n g s o f t h e d e g r e e o f p h y s i c a l i n t e r p a r e n t a lc o n f l i ct w e r e n o t c o r r e l a t ed w i t h m a t e r n a l r a t i n g s o fC B C L h o w e v e r, c h i l d r e n f r o m f a m i l i es w i t h g r e a t e rp h y s i c a l i n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t a n d t h o s e r a t e d a s

e x p r e s s i n g c l in i c a l l e v el s o f b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s o n t h eC B C L e x h i b i t e d m o r e d i s t r e s s w h e n w a t c h in g v i d e o t a p e di n t e r a c t i o n s i n v o l v i n g a n g e r b e t w e e n t w o a d u l t s

M o t h e r s ' O P S c o r r e l a t e d w i t h m a t e r n a l r a t i n g s o f t o t a lpa th olog y sc a le of BP C: for g i r l s ( r = . 24) ; for boys , (r = . 20) ;n o c o r r e l a t io n b e t w e e n m o t h e r s ' O P S a n d t e a c h e r - r a te d

B P C

O P S ( a v er a g e o f m o t h e r a n d f a t h e r r a ti n g s ) w a s n o t c o r r e l a t e dw i t h t e a c h e r r a t in g s o f C D o n A W o n R B P C

M a t e r n a l O P S s c o re s c o rr e l a te d w i t h o w n r a t in g s o f C D( r = . 3 0 ) a n d p a t e r n a l O P S s c o r e s c o r r e l a t e d w i t h o w n C D

r a t i n g s (r = . 1 9 ); c h i l d 's r a t i n g o f m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t c o r r e l a te d

w i t h m o t h e r s ' r a t i n g s o f C D ( r = . 2 2 ), b u t n o t w i t h f a t h e r s 'C D r a t in g

C o m b i n e d p a r e n t a l r a t i n g s o f i n t e r s p o u s a l ag g r e s s i o n o nC T S p r e d i c t ed p a r e n t a l r a t i n g s o f C D a n d i n a d e q u a c y /i m m a t u r i t y o n t h e B P C f o r b o y s a n d i n a d e q u a c y /i m m a t u r i t y f o r g i r ls a f t e r c o n t r o l l i n g s t a t i s t i c a l ly f o r l e v e l

o f m a r i t a l s a t i s f a c t io n , c h i l d ' s g e n d e r , a n d a g eM a t e r n a l O P S r a t in g s w e re c o r r e la t e d w i t h m a t e r n a l r e p o r t s

o f c o n d u c t p r o b l e m s f o r b o y s ( r = . 2 2 ) a n d g i r l s (r = . 3 2 )

C h i l d r e n f r o m f a m i l i e s w i t h a h i g h e r d e g r e e o f m a r i t a lc o n f l i c t ra t e d b y o n e p a r e n t ( u s u a l ly t h e m o t h e r ) w e r e w e r er a t e d a s m o r e d e p r e s s e d / w i t h d r a w n , a n t i s o c i a l , a n d

h y p e r a c t i v e / i m p u l s i v e t h a n c h i l d r e n w h o s e p a r e n t sr e p o r t e d l e s s c o n f l i c t

A s i g n i f i c a n tl y g r e a t er p e r c e n t a g e o f c h i l d r e n w i t h t e a c h e r o rp a r e n t r e p o r t e d " p s y c h i a t r i c d i s o r d e r " l i ve d i n h o m e sm a r k e d b y s e v e r e m a r i t a l d i s c o r d ( d e f i n e d b y h o s ti l i ty ,t e n s i o n , q u a r r e l so m e n e s s ) t h a n c h i l d r e n n o t e x h i b i t i n gb e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s ; m a r i t a l d i s c o r d r a t in g s w e r e o b t a i n e dd u r i n g s e m i s t r u c t u r e d i n t e r v ie w s w i t h o n e o r b o t h p a r e n t s

Note. L B C = L o u i s v i ll e B e h a v i o r C h e c k l i s t ; C B C L = C h i l d B e h a v i o r C h e c k l i s t; C D = C o n d u c t D i s o r d e r s su b s c a le o f C B C L ; A W = a n x i e t y /w i t h -d r a w a l ; O P S = O ' L e a r y - P o r t e r S c a l e ( o p e n l y e x p r e s s e d c o n f l ic t ) ; B P C = B e h a v i o r P r o b l e m C h e c k l i s t ; R B P C = R e v i s e d B e h a v i o r P r o b l e m

C h e c k l i s t ; G P A = g r a d e p o i n t a v e r a g e ; C T S = C o n f l i c t T a c t i c s S ca l e.



2 7 2 J O H N H . G R Y CH A N D F R A N K D . F I N C H A M

h a v e b e e n f o u n d t o d e c r e a s e w h e n c o n f l i c t d e c r e a s e s a f t e r a

d iv o r c e (H e th e r in g to n e t a l , 1 9 8 2 ; L o n g e t al . , 1 9 8 7 , 19 8 8 ; Wa l -

l e r s t e in & K e l ly , 1 9 8 0 ). F o r e x a m p le , L o n g e t a l . (1 98 8 ) fo u n d

t h a t a d o l e s c e n t s f r o m r e c e n t l y d i v o r c e d f a m i l i e s in w h i c h c o n -

f l i ct c o n t i n u e d a t a h i g h l e v el a f t e r t h e d i v o r c e e x h i b i t e d g r e a t e r

a n x i e t y /w i t h d r a w a l p r o b l e m s a n d c o n d u c t d i s o r d e r s t h a n d i d

y o u t h s f r o m d i v o r c e d f a m i l i e s i n w h i c h c o n f l i c t h a d s u b s t a n -t i a l l y d e c r e a s e d . M o r e o v e r , t h e a d o l e s c e n t s w h o e x p e r i e n c e d a

d e c r e a s e i n c o n f l i c t d i d n o t d i f f e r f r o m a d o l e s c e n t s f r o m i n t a c t

f a m i l i e s i n t h e d e g r e e o f b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s t h e y e x h i b i t ed .

Intensity M a r i t a l c o n f l i c t s d i f f e r w i d e l y i n t h e i r i n t e n s i t y ,

r a n g i n g f r o m c a l m d i s c u s s i o n t o p h y s i c a l v i o l e n c e . I t m a y b e

t h a t e x p o s u r e t o l o w - i n t e n s i t y c o n f l i c t , e v en i f i t is f r e q u e n t, i s

u n r e l a t e d t o c h i l d p r o b l e m s a n d t h a t m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t i s u p s e t -

t i n g t o c h i l d r e n o n l y w h e n i t i n v o lv e s h o s t i l i t y o r p h y s i c a l ag -

g r e s s i o n . I n t e n s i t y o f c o n f l i c t h a s b e e n e x a m i n e d i n a n u m b e r

o f s t u d i e s . J o h n s t o n e t a l. (1 9 8 7) r e p o r t e d t h a t t h e d e g r e e o f

v e r b a l a n d p h y s i c a l a g g r e s s i o n b e t w e e n d i v o r c i n g p a r e n t s w a s

r e l a t e d t o p a r e n t a l r e p o r t s o f b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s a s s e s s e d t w o

y e a r s a f t e r t h e d i v o r c e , a n d m e a s u r e s o f i n t e r p a r e n t a l a g g r e s -

s i o n t w o y e a r s a f t e r d i v o r c e w e r e r e l a t e d t o t h e S o m a t i c C o m -

p l a i n t , W i t h d r a w n / U n c o m m u n i c a t i v e , a n d T o t a l P a t h o l o g y

s c a l e s o f th e C h i l d B e h a v i o r C h e c k l i s t ( A c h e n b a c h & E d e l -

b r o c k , 1 98 3) . S t u d i e s o f m a r i t a l v i o l e n c e h a v e a l s o r e p o r t e d

c o r r e l a t i o n s b e t w e e n t h e s e i n t e n s e t y p e s o f c o n f l i c t a n d c h i l d

b e h a v io r p ro b le m s (e .g ., J o u r i l e s e t a l . , 1 9 89 ; W o l fe , J a ff e , Wi l -

s o n , & Z a k , 1 9 8 5 ) .

I n a s e r i es o f s t u d i e s e x a m i n i n g c h i l d re n ' s i m m e d i a t e r e -

s p o n s e t o a n g e r b e t w e e n o t h e r s , E . M . C u m m i n g s a n d h i s c o l -

l e a g u e s h a v e f o u n d t h a t c h i l d r e n e x h i b i t m o r e d i s t r e s s w h e n

o b s e r v i n g n a t u ra l l y o c c u r r i n g a n g e r b e t w e e n t h e i r p a r e n t s t h a t

in v o lv e s p h y s ic a l a g g r e s s io n (E . M. C u m m in g s e t a l ., 1 9 81 ) , a n d

c h i l d r e n w a t c h i n g v i d e o t a p e s o f a n g r y e x c h a n g e s b e t w e e n

a d u l t s t h a t i n c l u d e d p h y s i c a l a g g r e s s i o n e x p r e s s e d m o r e d i s -

t r e s s t h a n w h e n w a t c h i n g t a p e s t h a t e x h i b i t e d o n l y v e r b a l a n g e r

( E . M . C u m m i n g s , V o g el , C u m m i n g s , & E l - S h e i k h , 19 8 9) . C h i l -

d r e n w h o r e p o r t a h i s t o r y o f p h y s i c a l c o n f l i c t b e t w e e n t h e i r

p a r e n t s a l s o e x h i b i t g r e a t e r d i s t r e s s ( E . M . C u m m i n g s e t a l . ,

1 9 8 9) a n d i n c r e a s e d e f fo r t s t o c o m f o r t t h e i r m o t h e r w h e n s h e i s

a n g r i l y c o n f r o n t e d d u r i n g a n e x p e r i m e n t a l s e s s io n (J. S . C u m -

m i n g s , P e l l e g r i n i , N o t a r i o u s , & C u m m i n g s , 1 9 8 9 ) t h a n c h i l -

d r e n n o t r e p o r t i n g s u c h c o n f li c t s . H o w e v e r , E. M . C u m m i n g s

e t a l. ( 19 8 9) d i d n o t f i n d a d i r e c t a s s o c i a t i o n b e t w e e n h i s t o r y o f

p h y s i c a l i n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t a n d c l i n i c a l l e v el s o f b e h a v i o r

p r o b l e m s .

T h i s e v i d e n c e i n d i c a t e s t h a t c o n f l i c t i n v o l v i n g p h y s i c a l a g -

g r e s s i o n is m o r e u p s e t t i n g t o c h i l d r e n a n d m a y b e m o r e c l o se l yl i n k e d t o b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s t h a n l e s s i n t e n s e f o r m s o f c o n fl i c t .

H o w e v e r , a s s e s s i n g t h e d e g r e e o f p h y s i c a l a g g r e s s i o n p r e s e n t

d u r i n g c o n f l i c t i s o n l y o n e p o s s i b l e o p e r a t i o n a l i z a t i o n o f i n t e n -

s it y. I n t e n s i t y o f m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t c a n a l s o b e c o n c e p t u a l i z e d a s

t h e d e g r e e o f n e g a t i v e a f f ec t o r h o s t i l i t y e x p r e s s e d b y p a r e n t s .

B e c a u s e b o t h v e r b a l a n d n o n v e r b a l f o r m s o f a n g e r h a v e b e e n

s h o w n t o c a u s e d i s t r e s s i n c h i l d r e n ( E . M . C u m m i n g s e t a l . ,

1 9 89 ) , i t i s i m p o r t a n t t o c o n s i d e r o t h e r a s p e c t s o f i n t e n s i t y t o

g a i n a m o r e c o m p l e t e u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f t h e r e l a ti o n b e tw e e n

c o n f l i c t i n t e n s i t y a n d c h i l d p r o b l e m s .

Content. T h e c o n t e n t o f i n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t m a y a l s o af -

f e c t c h il d r e n ' s r e s p o n s e s . H o w e v e r , n o n e o f t h e s t u d i e s l i s t e d i n

T a b l e 1 d i r e c t l y a ss e s s e d t h i s d i m e n s i o n . O t h e r r e s e a r c h p r o -

v i d e s s o m e e v i d e n c e c o n c e r n i n g t h e r o l e o f c o n t e n t i n c h i l d r e n ' s

r e s p o n s e t o c o n f l i c t . D u n n a n d M u n n ( 1 9 8 5 ) s t u d i e d c o n f l i c t

i n t h e f a m i l i e s o f 2 - y e a r - o ld s a n d f o u n d t h a t t h e c h i l d r e n r e -

s p o n d e d d i f fe r e nt l y to m o t h e r - s i b l i n g c o n f l i c t d e p e n d i n g o n

t h e t o p i c o f t h e c o n f l ic t . C o n f l i c t s p e r t a i n i n g t o t h e s i b l i n g s '

a g g r e s si v e b e h a v i o r l e d t o n e g a t i v e a f f ec t i n c h i l d r e n , w h e r e a sc o n f l i c t s o v e r f a m i l y r u l e s w e r e m o r e l i k e l y t o b e m e t w i t h

l a u g ht e r. T h e s e r e s u l t s w e r e n o t s i m p l y d u e t o t h e e m o t i o n e x -

p r e s s e d b y t h e p a r t i c i p a n t s i n t h e c o n f l i c t ; c h i l d r e n a l s o r e -

s p o n d e d d i f f er e n t ly to v a r i o u s t o p i c s t h a t w e r e e m o t i o n a l l y

n e u t ra l . A l t h o u g h t h i s s t u d y e x a m i n e s m o t h e r - s i b l i n g c o n -

f l ic t s, i t s u g g e st s t h a t c h i l d r e n a s y o u n g a s 2 y e a r s o f a g e a r e

s e n s it i v e to t h e c o n t e n t o f c o n f l i c ts .

O n e m i g h t s p e c u l a t e t h a t c o n f l i ct c o n c e r n i n g t h e c h i l d m a y

b e m o r e d i s t r e s s i n g t o t h e c h i l d a n d t h u s m a y b e m o r e c lo s e l y

r e l a t e d t o b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s . T w o s t u d i e s s u p p o r t t h i s i d e a .

B l o c k , B l o c k , a n d M o r r i s o n ( 1 98 1 ) f o u n d t h a t p a r e n t a l d i s a g r e e -

m e n t o n c h i l d - re a r i n g v a l ue s p r e d i c t e d a d j u s t m e n t p r o b l e m s i n

c h i l d r e n o n e t o f o u r y e a r s la t e r, a n d S n y d e r, K l e i n , G d o w s k i ,

F a u l s t i c h , a n d L a C o m b e ( 1 9 88 ) r e p o r t e d t h a t a m e a s u r e o f c o n -

f l ic t o v e r c h i l d r e a r i n g w a s r e l a t e d t o a r a n g e o f b e h a v i o r p r o b -

l e m s i n c h i l d r e n . A l t h o u g h t h e s e s t u d i e s s u g g e s t t h a t c h i l d - r e -

l a t e d c o n f l i c t i s r e l a t e d t o c h i l d r e n ' s a d j u s t m e n t , n e i t h e r s t u d y

a s s e s s e d c h i l d r e n ' s e x p o s u r e t o p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t o r c o m p a r e d

t h i s t y p e o f c o n f l i c t w i t h o t h e r t o p i c s o f c o n f li c t . M o r e i m p o r -

t a n t , p a r e n t a l d i s a g r e e m e n t a b o u t c h i l d r e a r i n g m a y b e a s s o -

c i a t e d w i t h b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s i n c h i l d r e n b e c a u s e i t l e a d s t o

i n c o n s i s t e n t d i s c i p l i n e , w h i c h i s a l so r e l a t e d t o c h i l d p r o b l e m s

(see Mechanisms).Resolution. H o w c o n f l i c t s a r e r e s o l v e d m a y m o d e r a t e t h e i r

i m p a c t o n c h i l d r e n . P a r e n t s w h o s u c c e s sf u l l y r e s o lv e t h e i r c o n -

f l i ct s p r o v i d e p o s i ti v e m o d e l s o f p r o b l e m s o l v i n g f o r t h e i r c h i l -

d r e n , w h i c h m a y l e a d t o i n c r e a s e d s o c i a l c o m p e t e n c e a n d c o p -

i n g s k i l l s , w h e r e a s p o o r c o n f l i c t r e s o l u t i o n m a y p r o d u c e c o n -

t i n u e d t e n s i o n i n t h e f a m i l y a n d l e a d t o m o r e f r e q u e n t e p i s o d e s

o f c o n f l i c t. V e r y l i t t le r e s e a r c h h a s e x a m i n e d t h e e f f e ct o f c o n -

f l i ct r e s o l u t i o n o n c h i l d r e n ' s r e s p o n s e t o m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t , a n d

n o n e o f t h e s t u d i e s i n T a b l e 1 a s s e s s e d t h i s d i m e n s i o n . H o w -

e v er , a r e c e n t s t u d y s u p p o r t s t h e i n f l u e n c e o f c o n f l ic t r e s o lu -

t i o n o n c h i l d r e n ' s i m m e d i a t e r e s p o n s e t o c o n f l i c t b e t w e e n

o t h e r s . E . M . C u m m i n g s e t a l. (1 9 89 ) f o u n d t h a t 6 - t o 9 - y e a r - o l d

c h i l d r e n , b u t n o t 4 - a n d 5 - y e a r- o l d s, r e p o r t e d l e ss n e g at i v e a f -

f e c t w h e n a n g r y i n t e r a c t i o n s b e t w e e n a d u l t s r e s u l t e d i n c l e a r

r e s o l u t i o n o f t h e c o n f l i c t t h a n w h e n t h e c o n f l i c t w a s l e f t u n r e -

s o l ve d . T h i s s t u d y s u g g e s ts t h a t i n v e s t i g a t i o n o f t h e r o l e o f r e s o -

l u t i o n i s a p r o m i s i n g a v e n u e f o r f u t u r e r e s e a r c h .

Demographic Variables

I n a d d i t i o n t o i n v e s t i g a ti n g s p e c i fi c d i m e n s i o n s o f m a r i t a l

c o n f l i c t , a n u m b e r o f d e m o g r a p h i c v a r i a b l e s t h a t m a y i n f l u -

e n c e t h e s t r e n g t h o f t h e a s s o c i a t i o n b e t w e e n c o n f l i c t a n d a d -

j u s t m e n t h a ve b e e n e x a m i n e d . T h e v a r i a b le s c o n s i d e re d m o s t

o f t e n a r e c h i l d r e n 's g en d e r , w h e t h e r t h e y h a v e b e e n r e f e r r e d f o r

t r e a t m e n t , a n d t h e i r a g e. W e c o n s i d e r e a c h o f t h e s e f a ct o r s i n

t u r n .

Gender. E a r l y s t u d i e s e x a m i n i n g m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a n d c h i l d

a d j u s t m e n t f o u n d t h a t c o n f l i c t w a s m o r e c l o s e l y l i n k e d t o b e -



M A R I T A L C O N F L I C T A N D C H I L D R E N ' S A D J U S T M E N T 2 7 3

h a v i o r p r o b l e m s i n b o y s t h a n i n g i r l s ( E m e r y & O ' L e a r y , 1 98 2 ;

H e t h e r i n g t o n e t a l . , 1 9 8 2 ; P o r t e r & O ' L e a r y , 1 9 8 0 ) , a f i n d i n g

c o n s i s t e n t w i t h s t u d i e s o f c h i l d r e n 's a d j u s t m e n t t o d i v o r c e a n d

o th e r p s y c h o s o c ia l s t r e s s o r s (E m e ry , 1 9 8 8 ; Z a s lo w , 1 98 9 ; Z a s lo w

& H a y e s , 1 9 86 ) . O n e e x p l a n a t i o n o f f e r e d f o r t h i s d i f f e r e n c e is

t h a t g i r l s a r e m o r e l i k e l y t o b e s h i e l d e d f r o m c o n f l i c t t h a n b o y s .

H o w e v e r , i t a p p e a r s t h a t b o y s a n d g i r l s a r e e q u a l l y l i k e l y t o b e

e x p o s e d t o a n d a r e e q u a l l y a w a r e o f m a r i t a l c o n f li c t (E m e r y &

O ' L e a r y , 1 9 8 2 ; P o r t e r & O ' L e a r y , 1 9 8 0 ) . C o n s i s t e n t w i t h t h i s

f i n d i n g , m o r e r e c e n t i n v e s t i g a t i o n s h a v e r e p o r t e d s i g n i f i c a n t

a s s o c i a t i o n s b e t w e e n m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a n d g i r ls ' a d j u s t m e n t ,

s u g g e s t i n g t h a t b o t h b o y s a n d g i r l s a r e a d v e r s e l y a f f e ct e d b y

e x p o s u r e t o i n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t ( E m e r y & O ' L e a r y , 1 9 8 4 ;

J o h n s o n & O ' L e a ry , 1 9 8 7 ; J o u r i l e s , P f i f fn e r , & O ' L e a ry , 1 9 8 8 ;

L o n g e t a l . , 1 9 8 7 ; P e te r s o n & Z i l l , 1 9 8 6 ).

O t h e r s t u d i e s u s i n g m e a s u r e s o f m a r i t a l s a t i s f a c t i o n r a t h e r

t h a n m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t h a v e f o u n d t h a t m a r i t a l d i s t r e s s i s m o s t

c l o s e ly r e l a t e d t o e x t e r n a l i z i n g p r o b l e m s i n b o y s a n d i n t e r n a l i z -

i n g p r o b l e m s i n g i r l s ( B l o c k e t a l. , 1 9 81 ; H e s s & C a m a r a , 1 9 7 9;

W h i t e h e a d , 1 9 79 ). W h e n m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t i s a s s e s s e d , h o w e v e r ,

t h e s e g e n d e r d i f f e r e n c e s a r e n o t o b t a i n e d . S e v e r a l s t u d i e s h a v e

r e p o r t e d s i g n i fi c a n t r e l a t i o n s b e t w e e n i n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t

a n d i n t e r n a l i zi n g a n d e x t e r n a l i z i n g p r o b l e m s i n b o t h b o y s a n d

g i r l s (e .g ., J o h n s o n & O ' L e a ry , 1 9 8 7 ; L o n g e t a l . , 1 9 8 8 ). T h u s ,

g e n d e r d i f f e r e n c e s f o u n d i n r e s e a r c h i n v e s t i g a t in g m a r i t a l d i s -

s a t i s f a c ti o n a n d d i v o r c e d o n o t a p p e a r t o e x t e n d t o s t u d i e s sp e -

c i f i c a ll y e x a m i n i n g m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a n d c h i l d r e n ' s a d j u s t m e n t .

I t i s l i ke l y, t h e n , t h a t g e n d e r d i f f e r e n c e s i n t h e f o r m o r i n c i -

d e n c e o f b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s a r e d u e t o s o m e f a c to r a s s o ci a t e d

w i t h m a r i t a l d i s t r e ss o r d i v o r ce o t h e r t h a n i n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n -

f l i c t ?

A l t h o u g h t h e r e i s e v i d e n c e f o r s e x d i f f er e n c e s i n c h i l d r e n ' s

r e s p o n s e t o p s y c h o s o c i a l s t r e ss ( Z a s l o w & H a y e s , 1 98 6 ), s t u d i e s

e x a m i n i n g b o y s ' a n d g i rl s ' r e s p o n se s t o b a c k g r o u n d a n g e r h a v ep r o d u c e d i n c o n s i s t e n t r e s u l t s . N o s e x d i f f e r e n c e s w e r e o b -

t a i n e d i n t h r e e o f t h e s t u d i e s c o n d u c t e d b y C u m m i n g s a n d h i s

c o l l e a g u e s ( E . M . C u m m i n g s e t al ., 1 9 81 ; E . M . C u m m i n g s ,

Z a h n - W e x l e r , & R a d k e - Y a r r o w , 1 98 4 ; J. S. C u m m i n g s , e t a l. ,

1 9 89 ) , b u t i n t w o o t h e r s t h e y f o u n d t h a t b o y s w e r e m o r e l i k e l y

t o r e s p o n d t o a d u l t a n g e r w i t h a g g r e s s i o n a n d a n g e r t h a n w e r e

g i r ls , a n d g i r l s t e n d e d t o e x h i b i t g r e a t e r d i s t r e s s t h a n b o y s

( E . M . C u m m i n g s e t a l. , 1 9 85 , 1 9 8 9) . C o n s i s t e n t w i t h t h e s e

l a t t e r st u d i e s , F e s h b a c h ( 1 97 0 ) a r g u e d t h a t b o y s t e n d t o r e s p o n d

t o a s t r e s s o r w i t h a g g r e s s i o n , w h e r e a s g i r l s a r e m o r e l i k e l y t o

in h ib i t t h e i r b e h a v io r ( s e e a l s o B lo c k e t a l . , 1 98 1 ) .

Clinic versus nonclinic samples. S t r o n g e r p a t t e r n s o f a s s o c i a -

t i o n s b e t w e e n m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a n d c h i l d b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m st e n d t o b e f o u n d i n f a m i l i e s o f c l i n i c - r e f e r r e d c h i l d r e n t h a n i n

c o m m u n i t y v o l u nt e er s . F o r e x a m p l e , P o r t e r a n d O ' L e a r y ( 19 80 )

a n d E m e r y a n d O ' L e a r y 0 9 8 2 ) r e p o r t e d s ev e r al c o r r e l a ti o n s

g r e a t e r t h a n . 4 0 b e t w e e n m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a n d s u b s c a l e s o f t h e

B e h a v i o r P r o b l e m C h e c k l i s t ( Q u a y, 1 97 7 ) i n s a m p l e s o f c l i n i c -

r e f e r r e d c h i l d r e n , w h e r e a s c o r r e l a t i o n s b e t w e e n s i m i l a r m e a -

s u re s r e p o r t e d i n s t u d i e s u s i n g c o m m u n i t y s a m p l e s r a r e ly e x -

c e e d e d . 3 5 ( e .g ., E m e ry & O ' L e a ry , 1 9 8 4 ; W ie r s o n e t a l ., 1 98 8) .

T h e m a g n i t u d e o f a s so c i a t io n s f o u n d i n t h e t w o p o p u l a t i o n s

m a y b e d u e t o a n u m b e r o f f ac t o r s, i n c l u d i n g t h e e x i s t e n c e o f

m o r e s e v e r e b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s i n c l i n i c a l s a m p l e s a n d a g r e a t e r

r a n g e o f s c o re s o n m e a s u r e s o f a d j u s t m e n t i n c h i l d r e n r e f e r r ed

f o r t r e a t m e n t . D e c r e a s e d v a r i a n c e i n m e a s u r e s o f b e h a v i o r

p r o b l e m s i n n o n c l i n i c a l g r o u p s m a y a t t e n u a t e t h e m a g n i t u d e o f

c o r r e l a t i o n s o b t a i n e d w i t h t h i s p o p u l a t i o n . 2 S t r o n g e r a s s o c i a -

t i o n s b e t w e e n m e a s u r e s o f c o n f l ic t a n d a d j u s t m e n t i n c l i n ic a l

s a m p l e s m i g h t a l s o b e d u e t o a t e n d e n c y f o r c l i n i c p a r e n t s t o

p e r c e i v e t h e i r c h i l d r e n a s m o r e d i s t u r b e d . S e v e r a l s t u d i e s h a v e

s h o w n t h a t p e r c e p t i o n s o f c h i l d m a l a d j u s t m e n t a r e i n f l u e n ce d

b y p a r e n t a l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s ( e . g . , B r o d y & F o r e h a n d , 1 9 8 6 ;

G r i e s t , W e l l s, & F o r e h a n d , 1 9 7 9 ; W e b s t e r - S t r a t t o n , 1 98 8 ), a n d

w h e n a p a r e n t p r o v i d e s i n f o r m a t i o n o n b o t h m a r i t a l co n f l ic t

a n d c h i l d p r o b l e m s i t r a i s e s t h e p o s s i b i l i t y t h a t s o m e t h i r d f a c-

t o r , s u c h a s m a r i t a l d i s s a t i s f a c t i o n o r d e p r e s s i o n , m a y i n f l a t e

t h e c o r r e l a t i o n b e t w e e n m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a n d c h i l d b e h a v i o r. A

r e c e n t s t u d y e x a m i n i n g t h i s i s s u e f o u n d t h a t c h i l d r e n ' s s e l f- r e -

p o r t s o f b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s a n d p a r e n t s ' p s y c h o lo g i c a l s y m p -

t o m s e a c h a c c o u n t e d f o r s i g n i f i c an t u n i q u e v a r i a n c e i n p a r e n -

t a l r e p o r t s o f c h i ld p r o b l e m s ( P h a r e s, C o m p a s , & H o w e l l ,

1 9 89 ) . T h u s , i t i s l ik e l y t h a t t h e r e p o r t s o f p a r e n t s w h o r e f e r

t h e i r c h i l d r e n f o r t r e a t m e n t a r e a f u n c t i o n o f b o t h t h e c h i l d ' s

a c t u a l b e h a v i o r a n d t h e p a r e n t ' s o w n c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s .

W h e t h e r c l i n ic o r n o n c l i n i c s a m p l e s a r e u s e d a l s o h a s i m p l i -

c a t i o n s f o r w h e t h e r s e x d i f f e r e n c e s a r e f o u n d i n t h e a s s o c i a t i o n

b e t w e e n i n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n f li c t a n d b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s . S t u d i es

t h a t h a v e f o u n d n o r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n c o n f l i c t a n d b e h a v i o r

p r o b l e m s i n g i r l s h a v e u s e d c l i n i c s a m p l e s ( E m e r y & O ' L e a r y ,

1 9 82 ; P o r t e r & O ' L e a r y , 1 98 0 ), w h e r e a s s t u d i e s u s i n g c o m m u -

n i t y v o l u n t e e r s g e n e r a l l y d i d n o t u n c o v e r s e x d i f f e r e n c e s (e .g .,

E m e r y & O ' L e a r y , 1 9 8 4 , W i e r s o n e t a l . , 1 9 8 8 ) . A l t h o u g h t h i s

d i f f e r e n c e c o u l d b e d u e t o a l a r g e r n u m b e r o f b o y s t h a n g i r l s i n

c l i n i c s a m p l e s o r t o a h i g h e r i n c i d e n c e o f e x t e r n a l i z i n g t h a n

i n t e r n a l i z i n g p r o b l e m s i n c l i n i c s a m p l e s , b o t h E m e r y a n d

O ' L e a r y ( 1 98 2 ) a n d P o r t e r a n d O ' L e a r y ( 1 98 0 ) s t u d i e d r o u g h l y

e q u a l n u m b e r s o f b o y s a n d g i r l s w h o d i d n o t d i f f e r s i g n i f ic a n t l y

i n m a t e r n a l r e p o r t s o f i n t e r n a l i z i n g o r e x t e r n a l i z i n g p r o b le m s .Age of the child. I n t e r es t i ng l y , o n e p a r a m e t e r t h a t h a s n o t

b e e n c o n s i s t e n t l y re l a t e d t o b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s i s t h e a g e o f t h e

c h i l d . T h e r e h a s b e e n l i t t le s y s t e m a t i c r e s e a r c h o n a g e d i f fe r -

e n c e s , b u t e x i s t i n g d a t a s u g g e s t t h a t n o o n e a g e g r o u p i s p a r t i c u -

l a r l y v u l n e r a b l e t o t h e e f f e c t s o f m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t . P o r t e r a n d

O ' L e a r y ( 1 9 8 0) f o u n d t h a t s p e c i f i c b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s w e r e a s -

s o c i a t e d d i f f e r e n t i a l l y w i t h m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a t d i f f e re n t a g e s f o r

t h e b o y s i n t h e i r s a m p l e , b u t d i d n o t t e s t t h e d i f f e r e n c e s b e -

t w e e n t h e c o r r e l a t i o n s f o r s t a t i s t i c a l s i g n i fi c a n c e. H e t h e r i n g t o n

(1 9 7 9, 1 9 8 4 ) s u g g e s t e d th a t c h i ld r e n o f d i f f e re n t a g e s d i f f e r i n

t h e i r a w a r e n es s o f a n d a b i l i ty t o c o p e w i t h i n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n -

f l ic t , b u t t h a t n o o n e p a r t i c u l a r a g e g r o u p i s l i k e l y t o b e m o r e

a f f e c te d t h a n a n o t h e r . A l t h o u g h y o u n g c h i l d r e n m a y b e l e ssa b l e t o c o p e w i t h c o n f l i c t , t h e y a r e l e s s l i k e l y t o b e a w a r e o f

c o n f l i c t a n d i ts i m p l i c a t i o n s , w h e r e a s o l d e r c h i l d r e n h a v e a

l a r g e r r e p e r t o i r e o f c o p i n g r e s p o n s e s b u t a r e l i k e l y t o b e m o r e

a w a r e o f t h e c a u s e s a n d c o n s e q u e n c e s o f c o n f li c t ( H e t h e r i n g -

t Recent research ind icates that a num ber o f factors influence boys '

and g ir ls ' ad jus tment to d ivorce . Mos t im portan t , the fo rm of the pos t-divorce family, especially which paren t has custody and w hether andwhen the cus tod ia l pa ren t remarr ies , appears to be c r i t ica l in under-

stan din g gend er differences (see Zaslow, 1988, 1989).2 We are grateful to an an onym ous reviewer for suggesting this possi-

bility.



2 7 4 J O H N H . G R YC H A N D F R A N K D . F I N C H A M

t o n , 1 9 8 4 ; H e t h e r i n g t o n , S t a n l e y - H a g e n , & A n d e r s o n , 1 9 8 9) .

T h i s i d e a h a s b e e n s u p p o r t e d b y w o r k o n c h i l d r e n ' s r e s p o n s e t o

a n g e r b e t w e e n a d u l t s , w h i c h s h o w s t h a t 4 - t o 5 - y e a r - o l d c h i l -

d r e n e v i d e n c e m o r e d i s t re s s , b u t a l so m o r e a d a p t i v e c o p i n g

r e s p o n s e s , t h a n 2 - to 3 - y e a r - o l d s ( E . M . C u m m i n g s , 1 9 87 ) .

S u m m a r y a n d C r it iq u e

M a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a p p e a r s t o b e m o r e h i g h l y r e l a t e d t o c h i l d

p r o b l e m s t h a n m e a s u r e s o f m a r i t a l s a ti s fa c t io n . R e s e a rc h o n

t h e a s s o c i a t io n b e t w e e n m a r i t a l c o n f l ic t a n d c h i l d b e h a v i o r

p r o b l e m s i n d i c a t e s t h a t (a ) e x p o s u r e t o m o r e f r e q u e n t e p i s o d e s

o f i n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t l e a d s t o g r e a t e r d i s t r e s s i n c h i l d r e n

a n d a g r e a t e r i n c i d e n c e o f b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s , a n d c o n v e r s e ly

t h e c e s s a t i o n o f c o n f l i c t is a s s o c i a t e d w i t h a r e d u c t i o n o f p r o b -

l e m b e h a v i o r s ; ( b ) e x p o s u r e t o m o r e i n t e n s e f o r m s o f m a r i t a l

c o n f l i c t , s u c h a s c o n f l i c t i n v o l v i n g p h y s i c a l a g g r e s s i o n , i s a l s o

r e l a t e d t o c h i l d p r o b l e m s a n d i s m o r e u p s e t t i n g t o c h i l d r e n

t h a n l e s s i n t e n s e c o n f l i c t ; (c ) c h i l d r e n a s y o u n g a s 2 y e a r s m a y

b e s e n s i t i v e t o t h e c o n t e n t o f c o n f l i c t ; (d ) i n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t

i s a s s o c i a t e d w i t h a d j u s t m e n t p r o b l e m s i n b o t h b o y s a n d g i rl s ;

(e ) c o r r e l a t i o n s b e t w e e n c o n f l i c t a n d b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s a p p e a r

t o b e h i g h e r i n c l i n i c s a m p l e s t h a n n o n c l i n i c s a m p l e s ; ( f) a g e is

r e l a te d t o i m m e d i a t e r e s p o n s e s t o c o n f l ic t b u t a p p e a r s t o b e

u n r e l a t e d t o t h e i n c i d e n c e o r s e v e r i t y o f b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s .

A l t h o u g h t h e s e st u d i e s h a ve b e g u n t o d o c u m e n t t h e a s s o c ia -

t i o n b e t w e e n m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a n d c h i l d r en ' s a d j u s t m e n t , m o s t

r e s e a r c h h a s f o c u s e d o n t h e f r e q u e n c y a n d t o a l e s s e r e x t e n t t h e

i n t e n s i t y o f m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t , l e a v i n g la r g e l y u n e x p l o r e d t h e i n -

f l u e n ce o f o t h e r d i m e n s i o n s o f c o n f l i c t ( e .g ., r e s o l u t i o n , c o n -

t e n t) . T h u s, t h e r e l a t i v e i m p o r t a n c e o f t h e v a r i o u s d i m e n s i o n s

o f c o n f l i c t i s u n k n o w n . S i m i l a r ly , a s s e s s m e n t o f c h i l d a d j u s t -

m e n t h a s e m p h a s i z e d m e a s u r e s o f b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s a n d

r a r e ly h a s i n c l u d e d o t h e r i n d e x es o f a d j u s t m e n t . F i n d i n g t h a tc o n f l i c t i s r e l a t e d t o b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s c l e a r l y i s i m p o r t a n t ,

b u t i t is a l s o p o s s i b l e t h a t e x p o s u r e t o m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t m a y h a v e

l e s s n o t i c e a b l e e f f e ct s t h a t n e v e r t h e l e s s a r e p r o b l e m a t i c f o r t h e

c h i l d , s u c h a s l o w s e l f - e s te e m a n d p o o r p e e r r e l a t i o n s . S t u d i e s

s h o w in g th a t c o n f l i c t i s r e l a t e d to s o c ia l ( e .g ., L o n g e t a l . , 1 9 8 7 )

a n d c o g n i t iv e ( e. g. , W ie r s o n e t a l . , 1 9 8 8 ) c o m p e t e n c e in d ic a t e

t h a t e x p o s u r e t o c o n f l i c t m a y a f f e c t c h i l d r e n ' s f u n c t i o n i n g

m o r e b r o a d l y a n d s u g g es t t h a t a d d i t i o n a l e x p l o r a t i o n o f th e s e

d o m a i n s m a y b e f r u i tf u l .

D e s p i t e t h e s e l i m i t a t io n s , a s se s s m e n t o f i n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n -

f l ic t r a t h e r t h a n m a r i t a l s a t i s f a c ti o n p r o v i d e s a m o r e p r e c i s e

p i c t u r e o f t h e a s s o c ia t i o n b e tw e e n m a r i t a l a n d c h i l d p r o b l e m s

t h a n r e s e a r c h a v a i l a b l e a t t h e t i m e o f E m e r y ' s (1 9 82 ) r e vi ew .M o r e o v e r , t h e f i n d i n g s f r o m t h i s l i t e r a t u r e p r o v i d e a s t a r t i n g

p o i n t f o r i n v e s t ig a t i n g f a m i l i a l p r o c e s s e s t h a t m a y g i v e r i s e to

c h i l d b e h a v i o r p ro b l e m s . W e n e x t d i s c u s s t h e m e c h a n i s m s p r o -

p o s e d t o a c c o u n t f o r t h i s r e l a t i o n a n d e x a m i n e r e s e a r c h r e l e -

v a n t t o t h e m .

Mechan is m s Accoun t ing fo r the As s oc ia t ion Be tween

Ma ri ta l Conf lic t and Ch i ld Problems

M o s t o f t h e h y p o t h e s e s a d v a n c e d t o e x p l a i n t h e r e l a t io n s h i p

b e t w e e n m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a n d c h i l d r e n ' s a d j u s t m e n t h a v e p r e -

s u m e d t h a t m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a ff e c ts c h i l d r e n . T h i s i s a r e a s o n -

a b l e v i e w p o i n t b e c a u s e e v e n t h o u g h c h i l d r e n ' s b e h a v i o r i s a l s o

l ik e ly to in f lu e n c e m a r i t a l i n t e ra c t io n (B e l l , 19 7 9 ) , t h e re i s r e a -

s o n t o b e l i e v e t h a t t h i s a s s o c i a t i o n d o e s n o t s i m p l y r e f l e ct c h i l d

e f fe c ts . F o r e x a m p l e , O ' L e a r y a n d E m e r y ( 1 9 84 ) r e p o r t e d t h a t

t h e p r o b a b i l i t y o f h a v i n g a p r o b l e m c h i l d g i v e n t h e e x i s t e n c e o f

m a r i t a l d i s t r e s s i s g r e a t e r t h a n t h e p r o b a b i l i t y o f e x p e r i e n c i n g

m a r i t a l d i s t r e s s g iv e n t h e p r e s e n c e o f a p r o b l e m c h i l d , a n di m p r o v e m e n t o f a c h i l d' s p r o b l e m b e h a v i o r d oe s n o t s e e m t o

r e s u l t in t h e a l l e v i a t i o n o f m a r i t a l p r o b l e m s ( O l t m a n n s , B r o -

d e r i c k , & O ' L e a ry , 1 9 7 7 ). I t i s l i k e ly th a t t h e r e l a t io n b e tw e e n

m a r i t a l a n d c h i l d p r o b l e m s i s r e c i p r o c a l , b u t g i v e n t h e g o a l o f

u n d e r s t a n d i n g t h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f a d j u s t m e n t p r o b l e m s in

c h i l d r e n , a n d c o n s i s t e n t w i t h c u r r e n t t h e o r i z i n g , w e f o c u s o n

h o w m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t m a y a f f ec t c h i l d r e n . H y p o t h e s e s o f f e r e d

t o a c c o u n t f o r t h e a s s o c i a t i o n b e t w e e n m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a n d

c h i l d b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s c a n b e d i v i d e d i n t o t h o s e p o s i t i n g d i -

r e c t e f f ec t s o f c o n f l i c t o n c h i l d r e n ' s a d j u s t m e n t a n d t h o s e a r g u -

i n g t h a t t h e i m p a c t o f m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t i s i n d i r e c t a n d i s m e -

d i a t e d b y p a r e n t - c h i l d r e l a t i o n s h i p s . T h e m o s t f r e q u e n t l y d i s -

c u s s e d d i r e c t m e c h a n i s m s a r e m o d e l i n g a n d s t r e s s , w h e r e a s

h y p o t h e s e s p r o p o s i n g i n d i r e c t e f f ec t s f o c u s o n c h a n g e s i n t h e

c h a r a c t e r o f p a r e n t - c h i l d i n t e r a ct i o n a n d d i s c i p l in e p r a c ti c e s.

W e c o n s i d e r e a c h o f t h e s e h y p o t h e s e s i n t u r n .

Model ing

M o d e l i n g i s p e r h a p s t h e m o s t a p p e a l i n g m e c h a n i s m p r e -

s u m e d t o u n d e r l i e t h e m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t - c h i l d b e h a v i o r a s s o c i a -

t i o n b e c a u s e i t is w e l l d o c u m e n t e d t h a t c h i l d r e n t e n d t o i m i t a t e

th e i r p a re n t s (B a n d u ra , 1 9 73 , 1 9 7 7 ). B e c a u s e o f t h e i r s a l i e n c e ,

a f f ec t iv e r e l a t i o n s h ip , a n d i m p o r t a n c e t o t h e i r c h i l d r e n , p a r e n t s

c a n b e p o w e r f u l m o d e l s , p a r t i c u l a r l y f or t h e s a m e - s e x ch i l d .

C h i l d r e n l e a r n a g r e a t d e a l a b o u t i n t e r p e r s o n a l r e la t i o n s h i p s

f r o m w a t c h i n g t h e i r p a r e n t s ( B e l sk y , 1 9 81 ) , a n d i t m a y b e t h a t

e n g a g i n g i n a g g r e s s i v e o r h o s t i l e b e h a v i o r s d u r i n g c o n f l i c t s

p r o v i d e s c h i l d r e n w i t h m a l a d a p t i v e m o d e l s o f p r o b l e m s o l vi n g

o r c o n f l i c t r e s o l u t i o n .

O n e s t u d y t h a t h a s a t t e m p t e d t o r e l a te p a r e n t s ' c o n f l i c t b e -

h a v i o r s t o c h il d r e n ' s b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s p r o v i d e s s o m e s u p p o r t

f o r t h e m o d e l i n g h y p o t h e s i s . J o h n s o n a n d O ' L e a r y (1 9 87 )

f o u n d t h a t t h e m o t h e r s o f g i r l s w i t h c o n d u c t d i s o r d e r s w e r e

m o r e h o s t i l e a n d t h e f a t h er s m o r e a g g r e s s i v e t h a n t h e m o t h e r s

a n d f a t h e r s o f g i rl s w i t h o u t c o n d u c t d i s o r d e r s . T h e t w o g r o u p s

o f p a r e n t s d i d n o t d i f f e r in m a r i t a l s a t i s f ac t i o n , s u g g e s t i n g t h a t

t h e b e h a v i o r s e x h i b i t e d b y p a r e n t s d u r i n g c o n f l i c t h a v e g r e a t e r

i m p a c t t h a n m a r i t a l d i s tr e s s. A l t h o u g h J o h n s o n a n d O ' L e a r y ' s

s t u d y d o e s n o t i n c l u d e b o y s , i t n e v e r t h e l e s s in d i c a t e s s i m i l a r i -t i e s i n t h e b e h a v i o r o f p a r e n t s a n d t h e i r c h i l d r e n .

I t i s i m p o r t a n t t o n o t e t h a t m o d e l i n g d o e s n o t s i m p l y c o n s is t

o f t h e m i m i c r y o f b e h a v i o r ( B a n d u r a , 1 9 8 9 ). T w o f u r t h e r

a s p e c t s o f m o d e l i n g a r e b r i e f l y n o t e d . F i r s t , m o d e l i n g i n v o l v e s

t h e a c q u i s i t i o n o f i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t b e h a v i o r. I f p a r e n t s a r e

h o s t i l e a n d a g g r e s si v e d u r i n g c o n f l i ct s , c h i l d r e n m a y l e a r n t h a t

a g g r e s s i o n i s a n a c c e p t a b l e w a y t o d e a l w i t h d i s a g r e e m e n t s .

H o w e v e r , t h i s b e l i e f i s l i k e l y t o b e e x p r e s s e d i n a g e - a p p r o p r i a t e

w a y s . C h i l d r e n w h o l e a r n t o b e a g g r e s s i v e i n c o n f l i c t u a l s it u a -

t i o n s m i g h t n o t a g g r e s s a g a i n s t t h e i r l ar g e r a n d m o r e p o w e r f u l

p a r e n t s , b u t m a y i n s t e a d a c t a g g r e ss i v e l y w h e n i n t e r a c t i n g w i t h

p e e r s o r y o u n g e r c h i l d r e n . E . M . C u m m i n g s e t al .'s ( 1 98 5 ) s tu d y




o f c h i l d r e n ' s a g g r e s s i o n f o l l o w i n g e x p o s u r e t o a n g r y i n t e r a c -

t i o n s b e t w e e n a d u l t s s u p p o r t s t h i s v i e w . A f t e r w i t n e s s i n g t h e

e x p e r i m e n t e r s e n g a g e i n a n a n g r y v e r b a l e x c h a n g e , c h i l d r e n

e x h i b i t e d i n c r e a s e d p h y s i c a l a n d a g e - a p p r o p r i a t e a g g r e s si o n t o -

w a r d a p l a y m a t e .

S e c o n d , m o d e l i n g m a y a l s o h a v e a d i s i n h i b i t o r y ef f ec t o n

c h i l d r e n ' s b e h a v i o r . E x p o s i n g c h i l d r e n t o a g g r e s s i v e m o d e l s

m a y g i v e c h i l d r e n p e r m i s s i o n t o b e a g g r e s s iv e . T h e E . M . C u m -

m i n g s e t a l . ( 1 98 5 ) s t u d y c a n b e i n t e r p r e t e d a s i n d i c a t i n g t h a t

c h i l d r e n c e a s e d t o i n h i b i t t h e i r a g g r e s s iv e i m p u l s e s : C h i l d r e n

w h o w e r e r a t e d h i g h o n a g g r e s s i o n b e f o r e e x p o s u r e t o a n g e r

e x h i b i t e d m o r e i n t e n s e a n d l o n g e r l a s t i n g e p i s o d e s o f c o n f li c t

t h a n c h i l d r e n c o n s i d e r e d m o d e r a t e o r l o w i n a g g r e s s i v e n e s s .

T h i s s u g g e s t s t h a t w i t n e s s i n g a n g r y i n t e r a c t i o n s m a y r e s u l t i n

c h i l d r e n p e r c e i v i n g a g g r e s s i o n a s a c c e p t a b l e , a n d t h a t c h i l d r e n

w h o h a v e a t e n d e n c y t o b e a g g r e s s i v e m a y b e p a r t i c u l a r l y l i k e l y

t o b e c o m e d i s r u p t i v e .

T h e m o d e l i n g h y p o t h e s i s th u s c a n a c c o u n t f o r s o m e o f t h e

f i n d i n g s d i s c u s s e d e a rl i e r . C h i l d r e n n e e d t o o b s e r v e t h e i r p a r -

e n t s i n c o n f l i c t f o r m o d e l i n g t o o c c u r , a n d h e n c e m e a s u r e s o f

o p e n l y e x p r e s s e d c o n f l i c t s h o u l d b e m o r e c l o s e l y r e l a t e d t o b e -

h a v i o r p r o b l e m s t h a n m e a s u r e s o f m a r i t a l d i s s a ti s f a ct i o n o r

e n c a p s u l a t e d c o n f l i c t . S i m i l a r l y , m o r e f r e q u e n t e x p o s u r e t o

c o n f l i c t s h o u l d l e a d t o g r e a t e r b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s a s c h i l d r e n

h a v e m o r e o p p o r t u n i t i e s t o o b s e r v e t h e i r p a r e n t s ' b e h a v i o r .

M o d e l i n g i s a p r o m i s i n g m e c h a n i s m f o r u n d e r s t a n d i n g t h e r e -

l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a n d c h i l d b e h a v i o r , b u t

m o d e l i n g e x p l a n a t i o n s t e n d t o b e o f f er e d p o s t h o c a n d n e e d t o

b e t e s t e d d i r e c t l y b e f o r e c o n c l u s i o n s c a n b e d r a w n r e g a r d i n g

th e i r v a l id i ty .

k n o w n a b o u t c h i l d r e n 's c o p i n g m e c h a n i s m s , p a r t i c u l a rl y h o w

t h e y a p p r a i s e s t r e s sf u l s i t u a t io n s ( C o m p a s , 1 9 87 ).

E x p e r i e n c i n g i n t e n s e s t r e s s c a n l e a d i n d i v i d u a l s t o r e l y o n

d o m i n a n t , w e l l - l e a r n e d c o p i n g r e s p o n s e s t h at m a y b e l es s m a -

t u r e o r a d a p t i v e ( S p i e l b e r g e r , 1 9 79 ) . A m o n g c h i l d r e n , t h i s m a y

r e s u l t i n r e l i a n c e o n b e h a v i o r s s u c h a s a g g r e s s i o n o r w i t h -

d r a w a l . C h i l d r e n w h o h a v e t e n d e d t o u s e t h e s e c o p i n g r e -

s p o n s e s w h e n t h e y w e r e y o u n g e r m i g h t b e e x p e c t e d t o t u r n t o

t h e m w h e n t h r e a t e n e d . E . M . C u m m i n g s e t a l . ( 19 85 ) f o u n d

t h a t c h i l d r e n w h o w e r e j u d g e d a s h i g h o n a g g r e s s i v e n e s s

r e a c t e d m o s t a g g r e s si v e l y ( m o r e i n t e n s e l y a n d f o r a l o n g e r p e -

r i o d o f t im e ) t o a n g e r b e t w e e n t w o a d u l t s . I n c o m p a r i s o n , c h i l -

d r e n w h o w e r e r a t e d a s lo w o n a g g r e s s i v e n e s s w e r e m o r e l i k e l y

t o e x h i b i t d i s t r e s s . M o r e o v e r , c h i l d r e n ' s r e s p o n s e s t o b a c k -

g ro u n d a n g e r a t a g e 1 to 2 1/2 y e a r s w e re r e l a t e d to th e i r r e a c t io n 5

y e a r s l at e r , i n d i c a t i n g t h a t c h i l d r e n e x h i b i t s o m e c o n s i s t e n c y i n

t h e i r r e s p o n s e t o s t r e s s o r s (E . M . C u m m i n g s e t a l. , 1 9 84 ) .

E x a m i n i n g c h i l d r e n 's r e s p o n s e t o m a r i t a l c o n f l ic t f r o m a

s t r e s s a n d c o p i n g p e r s p e c t i v e i s u s ef u l f o r e x p l o r i n g t h e p r o -

c e s s es t h a t m a y o c c u r d u r i n g e x p o s u r e t o c o n f l i c t . E . M . C u m -

m i n g s a n d h i s co l le a g u es " r e s e a r c h o n h o w c h i l d r e n c o p e w i t h

t h r e a t e n i n g s i t u a t i o n s h a s s h e d l i g h t o n t h e i r i m m e d i a t e r e -

s p o n s e t o c o n f l i c t , b u t h a s e x a m i n e d t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n

t h e s e r e s p o n s e s a n d c h i l d r e n ' s a d j u s t m e n t i n o n l y a s i n g l e s t ud y .

E . M . C u m m i n g s e t a l . (1 98 9) f o u n d t h a t c h i l d r e n r a t e d b y t h e i r

m o t h e r s a s d i s p l a y i n g c l i n i c a l le v e ls o f b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s r e -

p o r t e d m o r e d i s t r e s s i n r e s p o n s e to a n g e r b e t w e e n o t h e r s t h a n

d i d c h i l d r e n w i t h s u b c l i n i c a l s c o re s , p r o v i d i n g p r e l i m i n a r y

s u p p o r t f o r a l i n k b e t w e e n i m m e d i a t e r e s p o n s e s t o c o n f li c t a n d

m o r e g e n e r al a d j u s t m e n t p r o b l e m s .

M a r i t a l C o n f l i c t a s a S t r e s s o r

M a r i t a l c o n f l i c t m a y a l s o a f f e c t c h i l d r e n b y e x p o s i n g t h e m

t o a p o t e n t i a l l y i n t e n s e s t r e s so r . R e s e a r c h o n c h i l d r e n ' s r e a c -

t i o n s t o a n g r y i n t e r a c t i o n s b e t w e e n a d u l t s ( b a c k g r o u n d a n g e r )

i n d i c a t e s t h a t e x p o s u r e t o p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t is s tr e s s f ul f o r m o s t

c h i l d r e n ; e v e n c h i l d r e n a s y o u n g a s 1 a n d 2 y e a r s e x h i b i t d i s t r e s s

w h e n o b s e r v i n g h o s t i l e p a r e n t a l i n t e r a c t i o n ( C r o c k e n b e r g ,

1 9 85 ; E . M . C u m m i n g s e t al ., 1 9 81 ; D u n n & M u n n , 1 9 85 ) .

A l t h o u g h m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a p p e a r s t o b e s t r e s s f u l f o r c h i l -

d r e n , f e w r e s e a r c h e r s h av e i n v e s t i g a t e d t h e s t r e ss a n d c o p i n g

p r o c e s se s t h a t m a y e x p l a in t h e m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t - c h i l d b e h av i o r

l i n k . A n e x c e p t i o n i s a s e r i e s o f s t u d i e s e x a m i n i n g c h i l d r e n ' s

o b s e r v a t io n o f b a c k g r o u n d a n g e r c o n d u c t e d b y C u m m i n g s a n d

h i s c o l l e ag u e s (f o r a r e vi e w , s e e E . M . C u m m i n g s & C u m m i n g s ,1 9 88 ) . B e c a u s e m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t i s o f t e n c h a r a c t e r i z e d b y a n g e r ,

t h i s w o r k i s r e l e v a n t f o r u n d e r s t a n d i n g t h e r e l a t i o n b e t w e e n

m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a n d c h i l d r e n ' s a d j u s t m e n t . I n a d d i t i o n t o d e m -

o n s t r a t i n g t h a t c h i l d r e n e x h i b i t m o r e d i s t r e s s w h e n a n g r y i n t e r -

c h a n g e s a re m o re f r e q u e n t ( e. g. , E . M. C u m m in g s e t a l . , 1 9 8 5 ),

i n v o lv e p h y s i c a l a g g r e s s i o n ( E . M . C u m m i n g s e t a l , 1 9 8 9 ), a n d

a r e u n r e s o l v e d ( E. M . C u m m i n g s e t al ., 1 9 89 ) , E. M . C u m m i n g s

e t a l . (19 8 4) r e p o r t e d in d iv id u a l d i f f e re n c e s in c h i ld re n ' s r e -

s p o n s e s t o c o n f l i c t t h a t s h o w s o m e c o n s i s t e n c y o v e r t i m e , a n d

s u g g e s t t h a t c h i l d r e n m a y b e c h a r a c t e r i z e d b y g e n e r a l c o p i n g

s t y l es t h a t d i f f e r i n t h e i r u t i l i t y f o r d e a l i n g w i t h p a r e n t a l a n g e r .

H o w e v e r , c o m p a r e d w i t h t h e l i t e r a t u r e o n a d u l t c o p i n g , l i t t l e i s

P a r e n t - C h i l d R e l a t i o n s h i p s

I n t e r p a r e n t a i c o n f l i c t m a y a l s o b e r e l a t e d t o b e h a v i o r a l p r o b -l e m s b e c a u s e i t l e a d s t o a d e t e r i o r a t i o n i n p a r e n t - c h i l d r e l a t i o n -

s h i p s ( H e s s & C a m e r a , 1 9 79 ; J o u r i l e s et a l , 1 9 87 ; O ' L e a r y &

E m e r y , 1 9 84 ; P e t e r s o n & Z i l l , 1 98 8 ). P a r e n t - c h i l d r e l a t i o n s h i p s

m a y b e a f f e c te d i n a n u m b e r o f w ay s . F o r e x a m p l e , p a r e n t s

m i g h t b e c o m e w i t h d r a w n o r h o s t i l e t o w a r d t h e i r c h i ld r e n o r

m i g h t a t t e m p t t o a l l y t h e c h i l d w i t h t h e m i n a c o a l i t i o n a g a i n s t

t h e o t h e r p a r e n t , t h u s c r e a t i n g l o y a l t y c o n f l i c t s f o r t h e c h i l d

(E m e ry , J o y c e , & F in c h a m , 1 9 8 7 ; Ma rg o l in , 1 9 8 1 ) .

I n s u p p o r t o f t h e m e d i a t i n g r o l e o f p a r e n t - c h i l d r e l a ti o n -

s h i p s , T s c h a n n e t a l . ( 1 9 8 9 ) r e p o r t e d t h a t p r e d i v o r c e m a r i t a l

c o n f l i c t w a s r e l a t e d t o p o s t s e p a r a t i o n b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s a n d

e m o t i o n a l a d j u s t m e n t o n l y i n d i r e c t ly t h r o u g h i ts a ss o c i a t io n

w i t h t h e q u a l i t y o f p a r e n t - c h i l d r e l a t i o n s h i p s . I n c o n t r a s t , P e -t e r s o n a n d Z i l l (1 9 86 ) f o u n d t h a t c h i l d r e n l i v i n g i n i n t a c t f a m i -

l i e s m a r k e d b y m o d e r a t e o r h i g h l e v e l s o f c o n f l i c t e x h i b i t e d

h i g h e r l e v e ls o f b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s t h a n c h i l d r e n i n l o w - c o n -

f l ic t f a m i l i e s a f t e r a d j u s t i n g f o r p a r e n t - c h i l d r e l a t i o n s h i p s . A l -

t h o u g h P e t e r s o n a n d Z i l l (1 9 86 ) r e p o r t e d t h a t h i g h e r q u a l i t y

p a r e n t - c h i l d r e l a t i o n s h i p s w e r e r e l a t e d t o l o w e r l e v e ls o f m a r i -

t a l c o n f l i c t , t h e y c o n c l u d e d t h a t c o n f l i c t i s a s i g n i f i c a n t p r e d i c -

t o r o f b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s i n d e p e n d e n t o f p a r e n t - c h i l d r e l a t io n -

s h i ps . I t i s d i f f i c u lt t o r e s o l ve t h e d i s c r e p a n c y i n t h e f i n d i n g s

f r o m t h e s e t w o s t u d i e s b e c a u s e t h e s t u d i e s d i f f e r e d o n a n u m -

b e r o f i m p o r t a n t d i m e n s i o n s , i n c l u d i n g th e t y p e o f s a m p l e ,

i n s t r u m e n t s u s e d t o m e a s u r e t h e c o n s t r u c t s , w h o r a t e d c o n f l i c t




a n d p a r e n t - c h i l d r e l a t i o n sh i p s , a n d d a t a - a n a l y t i c s t r a te g i e s.

M o r e r e s e a r c h c l e a r l y i s n e e d e d b e f o r e c o n c l u s i o n s c a n b e

d r a w n r e g a r d i n g t h e r o l e o f p a r e n t - c h i l d r e l a ti o n s h i ps i n m e -

d i a t i n g t h e a s s o c i a t i o n b e t w e e n m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a n d c h i l d r e n ' s

a d j u s t m e n t .

S e v e r al s t u d i e s i n v e s t ig a t i n g th e r e l a t io n b e t w e e n m a r i t a l

d i s c o r d , p a r e n t - c h i l d r e l a t i o n s , a n d c h i l d r e n ' s a d j u s t m e n t h a v ea s s e s s e d m a r i t a l s a t i s f a c t i o n r a t h e r t h a n m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t . F o r

e x a m p l e , H e s s a n d C a m a r a ( 19 79 ) a s se s s ed m a r i t a l h a r m o n y

a n d p a r e n t - c h i l d r e l a t io n s h i p s t h r o u g h i n t e r vi e w s w i t h d i -

v o r c e d a n d n o n d i v o r c e d f a m i l i e s , a n d f o u n d t h a t p a r e n t - c h i l d

r e l a t i o n s h i p s a c c o u n t e d f o r m o r e v a r i a n c e i n c h i l d b e h a v i o r

p r o b l e m s t h a n d i d m a r i t a l h a r m o n y . H o w e v e r , th e c r i t e r i a H e s s

a n d C a m a r a ( 19 79 ) u s e d t o e v al u a te m a r i t a l h a r m o n y a r e u n -

c l e ar , a n d s o i t i s d i f f i c u lt to d e t e r m i n e t h e e x t e n t t o w h i c h t h i s

v a r i a b l e a s s e s s e d p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t v e r su s m a r i t a l s a t i s f a c t io n .

S t u d i e s a s s e s s i n g m a r i t a l s a t i s f a c t i o n p r o v i d e o n l y i n d i r e c t t e s t s

o f t h e r e l a t io n s h i p b e t w e e n c o n f l ic t , p a r e n t - c h i l d r e l at i o n -

s h i ps , a n d c h i l d b e h a v i o r . H o w e v e r , d e c r e a s e d m a r i t a l s a t i sf a c -

t i o n i s a s s o c i a t e d w i t h b o t h i n c r e a s e d c o n f l i c t a n d p o o r e r p a r -e n t - c h i l d r e l a t i o n s (B r o d y, P i l l e g r i n i , & S i e g a l, 1 98 6 ; G o l d b e r g

& E a s t e r b r o o k s , 1 9 84 ; J o h n s o n & L o b i t z , 1 97 4 ) a n d t h u s t h e s e

s t u d i e s h i g h li g h t th e i m p o r t a n c e o f t h e p a r e n t - c h i l d r e l a t io n -

s h i p f o r u n d e r s t a n d i n g t h e a s s o c i a ti o n b e t w e e n m a r i t a l c o n -

f l ic t a n d c h i l d b e h a v i o r . F o r e x a m p l e , f r e q u e n t l y o c c u r r i n g

m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t m a y l e a d t o g r e a t e r d e t e r io r a t i o n i n p a r e n t -

c h i l d r e l a ti o n s h ip s a s c h i l d r e n b e c o m e m o r e a w a r e o f a n d p o s s i -

b l y m o r e i n v o l v e d i n p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t . C h i l d r e n m a y f e el t h e y

n e e d t o c h o o s e s i d e s i n t h e c o n f l ic t o r a p a r e n t m a y c o m e t o

r e s e n t a c h i l d i f h e o r s h e i s p e r c e i v e d a s a c a u s e o f c o n f l i c t

(O ' L e a ry & E m e ry , 1 9 8 4 ) .

M a r i t a l c o n f l i ct a n d p a r e n t - c h i l d r e l a t i o n s a l so m a y b e

l i n k e d b e c a u s e t h e h o s t i l i t y a n d a g g r e s s i o n e x p r e s s e d d u r i n gm a r i t a l c o n f l i ct m a y b e r e p r o d u c e d i n t h e p a r e n t - c h i l d r e l a-

t i o n s h i p , l n t e r s p o u s a l a g g r e s s i o n h a s b e e n f o u n d t o b e r e l a t e d

to p a re n t - c h i ld a g g re s s io n ( e .g ., J o u r i l e s e t al . , 1 9 8 7 ) , a n d p a r -

e n t - c h i l d a g g r e s s io n i s r e la t e d t o m a n y o f t h e s a m e p r o b l e m s a s

m a r i t a l c o n f li c t: c o n d u c t p r o b l e m s , a n x i e t y / w i t h d r a w a l , a n d

m o t o r e x c e s s i n b o y s a n d a n x i e t y / w i t h d r a w a l i n g i r l s (e .g ., J o u -

r i le s e t a l . , 1987, 1989; W olfe e t a l . , 1985) .

F i n a l ly , i t h as b e e n p r o p o s e d t h a t t h e i m p a c t o f m a r i t a l c o n -

f l i c t m a y b e m e d i a t e d b y c h a n g e s i n a p a r t i c u l a r a s p e c t o f

p a r e n t - c h i l d r e l a t i o n s , d i s c i p l i n e p r a c t i c e s ( E m e r y , 19 8 2) . M a r -

i t a l c o n f l i c t h a s b e e n a s s o c i a t e d w i t h w i t h i n - a n d b e t w e e n - p a r -

e n t i n c o n s i s t e n c y i n d i s c i p l i n i n g d a u g h t e r s ( S t o n e m a n , B r o d y ,

& B u r k e , 1 9 89 ) , a n d i n c o n s i s t e n t d i s c i p l i n e h a s b e e n l i n k e d t oc o n d u c t p r o b l e m s a n d a g g r e s s i o n a s w e l l a s t o ju v e n i l e d e l i n -

q u e n c y ( P a t t e r s o n , 1 9 7 7 ,1 9 8 6 ; P a t t e r s o n & S t o u t h a m e r - L o e b e r ,

1 9 8 4 ). In a l o n g i tu d in a l s tu d y , B lo c k e t al . (1 9 8 1 ) fo u n d th a t

p a r e n t a l d i s a g r e e m e n t a b o u t d i s c i p l i n e w a s r e l at e d t o b o t h s u b -

s e q u e n t d i v o r c e a n d l a t e r e x t e r n a l i z i n g p r o b l e m s i n b o y s a n d

i n t e r n a l i z i n g p r o b l e m s i n g i r ls . D i s c i p l i n e m a y a l s o p l a y a r o l e

b y b e i n g t h e s o u r c e o f s o m e p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t s . S i n c e s u ch c o n -

f l ic t s c o n c e r n t h e c h i l d d i r e c t l y , h e o r s h e i s p a r t i c u l a r l y l i k e l y

t o b e e x p o s e d t o t h e m .

A l t h o u g h c h a n g e s i n d i s c i p l i n e p r a c t i c e s c a n a f f e ct c h i l d r e n ' s

b e h a v i o r , m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t d o e s n o t i n v a r i a b l y l e a d t o i n c o n s i s -

t e n t d i s c i p l i n e . T o d e t e r m i n e i f c h a n g e s i n d i s c i p l i n e a c c o u n t

f o r t h e a s s o c i a t i o n b e t w e e n c h i l d b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s a n d m a r i -

t a l c o n f l i c t , i t i s n e c e s s a ry to s h o w th a t c o n f l i c t f i r s t l e a d s to

i n c o n s i s t e n t d i s c i p l i n e , w h i c h t h e n c a u s e s b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s .

I f m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a n d c h a n g e s i n d i s c i p l i n e s i m p l y c o - o c c u r , it

m a y b e t h a t c o n f l i c t l e a d s t o b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s , w h i c h t h e n

c a u s e p a r e n t s t o c h a n g e o r b e c o m e l e s s e f fe c ti v e i n t h e i r d i s c i -p l i n e p r a c t i c e s . A d d i t i o n a l l y , t h e h y p o t h e s i s t h a t c h a n g e s i n

d i s c i p l i n e u n d e r l i e t h e m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t - c h i l d b e h a v i o r a s s o c i a -

t i o n d o e s n o t e x p l a i n w h y e x p o s u r e t o p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t i s m o r e

c l o s el y r e l a t e d t o c h i l d b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s t h a n i s e n c a p s u l a t e d

c o n f l ic t . I t m a y b e t h a t a s c o n f l i c t b e c o m e s i n c r e a s i n g l y in -

t e n s e a n d m o r e f r e q u e n t , c h i l d r e n a r e m o r e l i k e l y t o b e e x p o s e d

t o i t a n d d i s c i p l i n e p r a c t i c e s a r e a l s o m o r e l i k e l y t o b e a f f ec t e d ,

b u t t h i s p o s s i b i l i t y h a s n o t b e e n i n v e s ti g a t e d .

Summary and Critique

S e v e r a l m e c h a n i s m s t h a t m a y a c c o u n t f o r t h e a s s o c i a t i o n b e -t w e e n m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a n d c h i l d b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s h a v e b e e n

i d e n t i f i ed . I t i s p l a u s i b l e t h a t m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t i n f lu e n c e s c h i l d

b e h a v i o r b o t h d i r e c t l y v i a m o d e l i n g a n d e x p o s u r e t o s tr e s s,

p a r t i c u l a rl y as c h i l d r e n g e t o l d e r a n d b e c o m e m o r e a w a r e o f t h e

n a t u r e o f t h e i r p a r e n t s ' r e l a t i o n s h i p ( B e ls k y, 1 9 81 ; E . M . C u m -

m i n g s & C u m m i n g s , 1 9 88 ) a n d i n d i r e c t l y t h r o u g h c h a n g e s i n

p a r e n t - c h i l d r e l a t i o n s h i p s . H o w e v e r , s u p p o r t f o r m e c h a n i s m s

p r o p o s e d t o l i n k m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a n d c h i l d r e n ' s a d j u s t m e n t i s

l a r g e l y i n d i r e c t . H y p o t h e s e s c o n c e r n i n g t h e r o l e o f m o d e l i n g i n

p a r t i c u l a r h a v e n o t b e e n t h e s u b j e c t o f e m p i r i c a l i n v e s t ig a t i o n .

E . M . C u m m i n g s a n d h i s c o l le a g u e s h a ve m a d e i m p o r t a n t a d -

v a n c e s in u n d e r s t a n d i n g h o w c h i l d r e n c o p e w i t h a n g e r b e-

t w e e n a d u l t s , b u t o n l y a f e w o f t h e i r s t u d i e s h a v e i n v o l v e d c h i l -d r e n ' s e x p o s u r e t o p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t , a n d f i n d i n g s o b t a i n e d

w i t h n o n f a m i l y m e m b e r s m a y n o t b e d i r e c t l y a p p l i c a b l e t o c h i l-

d r e n 's e x p e r i e n c e s i n t h e f a m i ly . A d d i t i o n a l l y , w i t h t h e e x c e p -

t i o n o f o n e s t u d y t h e y h a v e n o t a t t e m p t e d t o l i n k m a r i t a l c o n -

f l ic t to c h i l d r e n ' s a d j u s t m e n t . F i n a l ly , t h e r e h a v e b e e n a t t e m p t s

t o a s s e s s t h e r e l a t i v e e f fe c ts o f m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a n d p a r e n t - c h i l d

r e l a t i o n s h i p s o n c h i l d r e n ' s a d j u s t m e n t ( e.g ., P e t e r s o n & Z i l l ,

1 9 8 6 ; T s c h a n n e t a l . , 1 9 8 9 ) , b u t t h e s e s tu d ie s h a v e p ro d u c e d

i n c o n s i s t e n t r e s u lt s .

I n s u m m a r y , p r o g r e s s h a s b e e n m a d e s i n c e E m e r y ' s ( 1 98 2 )

r e v i e w i n d o c u m e n t i n g t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n m a r i t a l c o n -

f l ic t a n d c h i l d b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s a n d , t o a l e s s e r e x t e n t , i n

e x p l o r i n g m e c h a n i s m s t h a t m a y a c c o u n t f o r t h i s a s s o c i a t i o n .H o w e v e r , t h e c o n c l u s i o n s t h a t c a n b e d r a w n a b o u t t h e c o n d i -

t i o n s u n d e r w h i c h m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t l e a d s t o a d j u s t m e n t p r o b -

l e m s a r e s t i ll q u i t e l i m i t e d . I n p a r t , o u r l i m i t e d u n d e r s t a n d i n g

o f t h i s a s s o c i a t i o n i s d u e t o a r e l a t i ve l y n a r r o w f o c u s o n t h e

fa c to r s t h a t m a y p o te n t i a l ly af f e c t i t . Mo re o v e r , f e w s tu d ie s h a v e

e x a m i n e d t h e p r o c e s s e s t h a t o c c u r w h e n c h i l d r e n o b s e r v e i n t e r -

p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t . T h e r e f o r e , i n t h e n e x t s e c t i o n w e e x a m i n e

t w o c l a s s e s o f v a r i a b l e s - - t h e c o n t e x t o f c o n f l i c t a n d c h i l d r e n 's

c o g n i t i o n s - - t h a t h a v e r e c e i v e d l it t l e a t t e n t i o n i n t h e l i t e r a t u r e

b u t w h i c h a r e l i k e l y t o b e p a r t i c u l a r l y i m p o r t a n t f o r u n d e r -

s t a n d i n g h o w m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t af f ec t s c h i l d r e n .




T o w a r d a M o r e C o m p l e t e U n d e r s t a n d i n g o f t h e

R e l a t i o n s h ip B e t w e e n M a r i t a l C o n f l i c t

a n d C h i l d r e n ' s A d j u s t m e n t

T o u n d e r s t a n d t h e m e c h a n i s m s l i n k i n g m a r i t a l c o n f li c t a n d

c h i l d b e h a v i o r i t is i m p o r t a n t t o e x a m i n e p r o c e s se s t h a t o c c u r

d u r i n g e x p o s u r e t o m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t t h a t m a y m e d i a t e t h i s r el a -t i o n s h i p . W e b e l i e v e t h a t s u c h a f o c u s m a y r e v e a l f a c t o rs t h a t

i n f l u e n c e t h e s t r e s s f u l n e s s o f c o n f l i c t f o r c h i l d r e n a n d a f f e c t

t h e i r a b i l i t y t o c o p e e f fe c ti v e ly w i t h i t. I n r e v i e w i n g r e s e a r c h o n

h o w c h i l d r e n r e s p o n d t o a n g e r b e t w e e n o t h e r s , E . M . C u m -

m i n g s a n d C u m m i n g s ( 19 88 ) s im i l a r l y s t r es s e d t he i m p o r t a n c e

o f d e v e l o p i n g d e t a i l e d , m i c r o a n a l y t i c m o d e l s t h a t s p e c i f y t h e

p r o c e s s e s b y w h i c h s t r e s s f u l ev e n t s a ff e c t c h i l d r e n . R e s e a r c h o n

s t r e s s a n d c o p i n g s u g g e s t s t h a t t w o f a c t o r s a r e l i k e l y t o b e p a r t i c -

u l a r l y i m p o r t a n t f o r u n d e r s t a n d i n g h o w c h i l d r e n r e s p o n d t o

m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t : t h e c o n t e x t i n w h i c h c o n f l i c t o c c u r s a n d c h i l -

d r e n ' s i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f c o n f l ic t . F u r t h e r , e a c h o f t h e s e c l a s s e s

o f v a r i a b l e s i s l i k e l y to b e a f f e ct e d b y c h i l d r e n ' s l e v el o f d e v e l o p -

m e n t .

T h e i m p a c t o f a p a r t i c u l a r e p i s o d e o f m a r i t a l c o n f li c t d e -

p e n d s i n p a r t o n t h e b r o a d e r c o n t e x t i n w h i c h i t o c c u r s . F a c t o r s

s u c h a s t h e c h i l d ' s p r e v i o u s e x p e r i e n c e w i t h m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t

m a y s e r v e t o a l t e r t h e s t r e s s fu l n e s s o f t h e c o n f l i c t a n d t h u s

m o d e r a t e t h e r e l a t io n b e t w e e n c o n f l i c t a n d a d j u s t m e n t p r o b -

l e m s . C o n t e x t u a l f a c t o r s a r e p o t e n t i a l l y i m p o r t a n t b e c a u s e t h e y

p r o v i d e a b a c k d r o p a g a i n s t w h i c h e p i s o d e s o f c o n f l i ct a r e p e r -

c e i v e d , a n d a r e t h e r e f o r e l i k e l y t o a f f ec t t h e c h i l d ' s u n d e r s t a n d -

i n g o f a n d r e s p o n s e t o c o n f l i c t .

H o w c h i l d r e n i n t e r p r e t i n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t is a l s o l i k e l y t o

i n f lu e n c e c h il d r e n' s r e s p o n s es ( E . M . C u m m i n g s & C u m m i n g s ,

1 9 88 ; H e t h e r i n g t o n , 1 9 84 ) . A s s e v e r al w r i t e r s h av e e m p h a s i z e d ,

t h e e f f ec t o f a p o t e n t i a l l y st r e s s fu l e v e n t i s b e s t u n d e r s t o o d b y

c o n s i d e r i n g t h e c h i l d 's i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f t h e e v e n t ( C o m p a s ,

1 9 8 7 ; K a g a n , 1 9 8 3 ; R u t t e r , 1 9 8 3) , a n d c h i ld re n ' s c o g n i t io n s h a v e

b e e n d e m o n s t r a t e d t o i n f l u e n c e t h e i r a f fe c t a n d b e h a v i o r i n a

n u m b e r o f c o n t e x t s , fo r e x a m p l e , a c h i e v e m e n t s i t u a t i o n s

( D w e c k & L e g g e t t , 1 9 88 ) a n d c o p i n g w i t h i l l n e s s ( T e n n e n , A f -

f l ec k , A l l e n , M c G r a d e , & R a t z a n , 1 9 84 ) . I n t h e f a m i ly , f o r e x -

a m p l e , H e r z b e r g e r a n d T e n n e n ( 1 98 6 ) a r g u e d t h a t m a l t r e a t e d

c h i l d r e n ' s in t e r p r e t a t i o n o f t h e i r p a r e n t s ' a b u s i v e a c t s a f f ec t s

t h e i r b e h a v i o r , e m o t i o n a l d e v e l o p m e n t , a n d l a t e r i n t e r a c t i o n

w i t h t h e p a r e n t . D e s p i t e t h e p o t e n t i a l s i g n i f i c an c e o f c o g n i ti v e

v a r i a b l e s , f ew s t u d i e s h a v e a s s e s s ed c h i l d r e n ' s p e r c e p t i o n s o f

i n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t ( f o r e x c e p t i o n s , s e e E m e r y & O ' L e a r y ,

1 9 8 2 ; J o h n s o n & O ' L e a ry , 1 98 7 ; Wie r s o n e t a l. , 1 9 8 8 ), a n d n o n e

h a v e i n v e s t ig a t e d h o w c h i l d r e n ' s u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f t h e c a u s e s

a n d c o n s e q u e n c e s o f c o n f l i c t m a y a f f ec t t h e i r r e s p o n s e s .

B o t h t h e c o n t e x t o f c o n f l i c t a n d c h i l d r e n ' s i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f

c o n f l i c t a r e l i k e l y t o c h a n g e d e v e l o p m e n t a l l y . A s c h i l d r e n m a -

t u r e, t h e y b e c o m e b e t t e r a b l e t o u n d e r s t a n d a n d c o p e w i t h

s t r e s sf u l e v e n t s a n d m o r e a d e p t a t r e g u l a t i n g t h e i r e m o t i o n s a n d

b e h a v i o r . P a r e n t s a l s o t r e a t c h i l d r e n d i f f e r e n tl y a s t h e y g e t

o l d e r , a n d i t is p o s s i b l e t h a t t h e d e g r e e o f c o n f l i c t t o w h i c h

c h i l d r e n a r e e x p o s e d a n d p a r e n t s ' r e s p o n s e s t o t h e i r c h i l d r e n 's

a t t e m p t s a t i n t e r v e n t i o n c h a n g e w i t h a g e . A l t h o u g h n o a g e

g r o u p a p p e a r s t o b e p a r t i c u l a r l y v u l n e r a b l e t o t h e e f fe c ts o f

i n t e r p a r e n t a l d i s c o r d , c h i l d r e n ' s a f f e ct i v e a n d b e h a v i o r a l r e -

s p o n s e s t o c o n f l i c t d o c h a n g e w i t h a g e (E . M . C u m m i n g s e t al .,

1 9 84 , 1 9 8 5) ; t h e r e f o r e, a c o m p r e h e n s i v e m o d e l o f t h e r e l a t i o n

b e t w e e n m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a n d c h i l d r e n ' s b e h a v i o r n e e d s t o c o n -

s i d e r t h e v a r i e t y o f w a y s t h a t c h i l d r e n ' s d e v e l o p m e n t m a y a f f e ct

t h i s r e l a t i o n s h ip .

A F R A M E W O R K F O R I N V E S T I G A T I N G

C H I L D R E N ' S R E S P O N S E T O

M A R I T A L C O N F L I C T

O v e r v i e w

T h e s t u d i e s r e v i e w e d e a r l i e r d o c u m e n t a r e l i a b l e a s s o c i a t i o n

b e t w e e n m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a n d c h i l d p r o b l e m s , b u t t h e r e i s l i t t l e

d a t a e x a m i n i n g w h y t h i s a s s o c i a t i o n e x i s t s . T o u n d e r s t a n d

m o r e f u l l y t h e r e l a t i o n b e t w e e n i n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t a n d c h i l d

a d j u s t m e n t , e x p l a n a t o r y m o d e l s n e e d t o b e d e v e l o p ed . T o w a r d

t h a t e n d , w e p r e s e n t a f r a m e w o r k t h a t o r g a n i z e s e x i s t in g r e-

s e a r c h a n d i d e n t i f ie s n e w d i r e c t i o n s f o r e x p l o r i n g t h e p r o c e s s e st h a t g i v e r i s e t o t h i s a s s o c i a t i o n . W e p r e s e n t a n o v e r v i e w o f t h e

f r a m e w o r k , d e s c r i b e i t s c o m p o n e n t s , p r o v i d e a n i l l u s t r a t i o n o f

h o w a c h i l d p r o c e s s e s c o n f l i c t b e h a v i o r , a n d d i s c u s s t h e i m p l i -

c a t i o n s a n d f u t u r e r e s e a r c h d i r e c t i o n s s u g g e s t e d b y t h e f r a m e -

w o r k .

T h e f r a m e w o r k w e o f f er d r a w s o n m o d e l s p r o p o s e d b y E . M .

C u m m i n g s a n d C u m m i n g s ( 19 88 ) a n d b y B r a d b u r y a n d

F i n c h a m ( 1 98 7 , 1 9 89 ). E . M . C u m m i n g s a n d C u m m i n g s ( 1 9 88 )

d e s c r i b e d a n u m b e r o f i n fl u e n ce s o n h o w c h i l d r e n c o p e w i t h

a n g e r b e t w e e n a d u l t s , i n c l u d i n g t h e s t i m u l u s c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s o f

t h e a n g e r e p i s o d e a n d c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s o f t h e c h i ld . B e c a u s e

m o s t m a r i t a l c o n f l i c ts a r e c h a r a c t e r i z e d b y s o m e d e g r e e o f

a n g e r o r h o s ti l it y , t h e C u m m i n g s a n d C u m m i n g s m o d e l c a n

p r o v i d e i n s i g h t i n t o f a c t o r s t h a t i n f l u e n c e h o w c h i l d r e n c o p e

w i t h t h i s t y p e o f s tr e s so r . H o w e v e r , e v e n t h o u g h C u m m i n g s

a n d C u m m i n g s n o t e d t h e i m p o r t a n c e o f c o g ni t iv e a p p r a i s a l,

t h e r o l e o f c o g n i t i o n i s l a r g e ly u n d e v e l o p e d i n t h e i r m o d e l . O u r

e l a b o r a t i o n o f c o g n it i v e p r o c e s s i n g d r aw s o n B r a d b u r y a n d

F i n c h a m ' s (1 9 87 , 1 9 8 9) a t t e m p t t o a r t i c u l a t e t h e r o l e o f c o v e r t

f a c t o rs i n b e h a v i o r e x c h a n g e s b e t w e e n i n t i m a t e s . A l t h o u g h d e -

s i g ne d t o e x a m i n e a d u l t i n t e r a c t i o n , t h e b r o a d d i s t i n c t i o n s

d r a w n i n t h a t m o d e l a r e l i k e l y t o p r o v e u s e f u l f o r u n d e r s t a n d -

i n g c h i l d r e n 's r e s p o n s e t o i n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t .

O u r f r a m e w o r k t r i e s t o a d d r e s s t h e l i m i t a t i o n s o f e x i st i n g

r e s e a r c h i d e n t i f i e d e a r l i e r a n d f o c u s e s o n t h e c h i l d ' s a t t e m p t t o

u n d e r s t a n d a n d r e s p o n d t o a n e p i s o d e o f m a r i t a l co n f l ic t . T h e

f r a m e w o r k o u t l i n e s p r o c e s s e s t h a t m a y m o d e r a t e t h e s t r e ss f u l -

n e s s o f c o n f l i c t f o r t h e c h i l d ( s e e F i g u r e 1 ) a n d h i g h l i g h t s th e

i m p o r t a n c e o f t h e c o n t e x t o f p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t , c h il d r e n ' s c o g n i -

t i o n s , a n d t h e i r l e v e l o f d e v e l o p m e n t . O u r e m p h a s i s o n c o g n i -

t i o n s h o u l d n o t b e c o n s t r u e d a s a d i m i n u a t i o n o f t h e r o l e o f

a f fe c t iv e p ro c e s s e s in c h i ld re n ' s r e s p o n s e to c o n f l i c t . In s t e a d

o u r f o c u s o n t h e r o l e o f c o g n i t i v e f a c t o rs i n m e d i a t i n g t h e r e l a -

t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n m a r i t a l c o n f li c t a n d m a l a d j u s t m e n t i s du e i n

p a r t t o t h e r e l a ti v e n e g le c t o f c h i l d r e n ' s c o g n i t i o n i n t h i s a r e a o f

r e s e a r c h . H o w e v e r , i t m u s t b e r e c o g n i z e d t h a t c o g n i t i o n a n d

e m o t i o n a r e i n t i m a t e l y c o n n e c t e d ( e . g. , C a m p o s , C a m p o s , &

B a r re t t , 1 9 8 9 ) ; i n f a c t , S ro u fe (1 9 7 9 ) e v e n a rg u e d th a t t h e y a re



278 JOHN H. GRYCH AND FRANK D FINCHAM

Contex t

Distal - Past exper ie nce with conf l ict

Emot ional c l imate

T e m p e r a m e n t

Ge n d e r

Proximal - Expectat ions

Mood

Mar i t a l Con f l i c t

In tens i ty

C o n t e n t

Dura t ion

Re so lu t i o n

1r , a r , I - - ' 1 rrocess ing Process ing

Co p in g

B e h a v io r

Figure1. A cognitive-contextual framework for understanding children's responses to marital conflict.

"two aspects of the same process" (p. 491). Cop ing with mari tal

conflict may be unders tood as a task involving he regulation of

emot iona l arousal and ena ctm ent of effective behavioral strate-

gies in which cogn ition plays a central role. In the framework we

attem pt to id entify factors that affect this process and to ou tline

some of the ways that cognition and emo tion may interact.Interparental conflict is conceptualized as a stressor that

leads to an attempt by the child to unde rstan d and cope with

the conflict. Consistent with recent conceptuali zations of emo-

tiona l re gulation (Bret herton, Fritz, Zahn-Waxler, & Ridgeway,

1986; Cam pos et al., 1989), we propose that both cognit ion and

affect serve appraisal funct ions and guide the child's copin g

behavior. Through prima ry processing the child first becomes

aware that a stressful event is occurring and experiences an

initial affective reaction. C haracter istics of the conflict episode

and contextual factors are proposed to influence this initial

stage of appraisal. P rima ry processing may then lead to second-

ary processing, a more elaborated stage of processing, during

which the child attempts to understand why the conflict is oc-curring and what he or she should do in response. Secondary

processing involves makin g an attribution for the cause of the

event, ascribing responsibility and blame if relevant, and gener-

ating expectations for the efficacy of potential coping re-

sponses. In addition to being affected by characteristics of the

conflict episode and contextual factors, secondary processing

is influenced by the child's initial level of emotion al arousal,

and in turn serves to modulate affect aroused by the conflict.

Both affect and secondary processing then guide the child's

attempt to cope with the conflict. Successful coping leads to a

reduct ion of negative affect, whereas unsucces sful coping may

main tain or increase the child's distress.

This framework necessarily presents a simplified accou nt of

children's understan ding of and response to interparental con-

flict. Although we focus on t he child's initial response to con-

flict, changes in parental behavior or the child's understa nding

of the conflict may result in the process being repeate d) For

example, attributions for the cause of conflict may change asnew informat ion is acquired, and a child may engage in coping

strategies that alter the course of the conflict. Moreover, the

child may b ecome directly involved in the conflict, effectively

tur nin g marital conflict into family conflict. Thus, a complete

model of family conflict would account for the interaction of

the cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses o f all of the

particip ants over the course of the episode, but such a mo del is

beyond the scope of this article. We hope the framework will

serve as a heuristic device for delinea ting some o f the processes

that occur when a child observes marital conflict, and is in

principl e applicable to other family membe rs as well.

Components of the Framework

Properties of C onflict Episode s

As seen in our earlier review, several characteristics of con-

flict have been ass ociated with children's response to conflict.

The features of a conflict episode that are proposed to have the

greatest impa ct on ch ildren are its intensity, content, dura tion,

and resolution.

3 The appraisal process need not only occur during the conflict epi-sode. Children may continue to try to understand the causes and im-plications of marital conflict after the conflict episode has ended.



M A R I T A L C O N F L IC T A N D C H I L D R E N ' S A D J U S T M E N T 279

C o n f l i c t s o f g r e a t e r i n t e n s i t y a r e l i k e l y t o c a u s e g r e a t e r d i s -

t r e s s in c h i l d r e n . T h e i n t e n s i t y o f c o n f l ic t m a y b e d e t e r m i n e d

b y a n u m b e r o f f a c t o r s, i n c l u d i n g t h e d e g r e e o f n e g a t i v e a f f ec t

o r h o s t i l i t y e x p r e s s e d a n d t h e o c c u r r e n c e o f p h y s i c a l a g g r e s -

s i o n . T h e c o n t e n t o f c o n f li c t s c a n v a r y w i d e l y b u t c e r t a i n c o n -

f l ic t s, s u c h a s t h o s e c o n c e r n i n g t h e c h i l d o r t h e s t a t e o f t h e

m a r r i a g e , m a y b e m o r e u p s e t t i n g t o c h i l d r e n t h a n o t h e r l e s st h r e a t e n i n g t o p i c s . C o n f l i c t s i n v o l v i n g c h i l d r e n m a y b e p a r t i c u -

l a r l y s t r e s sf u l b e c a u s e t h e y m a y l e a d c h i l d r e n t o q u e s t i o n t h e i r

p l a c e i n t h e f a m i ly , t h e i r p a r e n t s ' f e e l i n g s a b o u t t h e m o r t o

b l a m e t h e m s e l ve s f or f a m i l y t u r m o i l . A l t h o u g h t h e d u r a t i o n o f

c o n f l i c t e p i s o d e s h a s n o t r e c e i v e d a t t e n t i o n i n t h e l i t e r a t u r e ,

l o n g e r l a s t i n g e p i s o d e s m a y l e a d t o g r e a t e r d i s t r e s s f o r c h i l d r e n

b e c a u s e t h e y i n c r e a s e t h e l e n g t h o f t i m e c h i l d r e n a r e e x p o s e d t o

a s t r e ss o r . It s h o u l d n o t b e a s s u m e d , h o w e v e r , t h a t t h e s t r e s s

e x p e r i e n c e d b y c h i l d r e n i n c r e a s e s l i n e a r l y w i t h e x p o s u r e t o

c o n f l i c t , b e c a u s e c h i l d r e n m a y h a b i t u a t e t o t h e c o n f l i c t w i t h

t i m e . A l t e r n a t iv e l y , c h i l d r e n m a y b e o v e r w h e l m e d b y l e n g t h y

c o n f l i c t e p i s o d e s , p a r t i c u l a r l y i f t h e y a r e i n t e n se . F i n a l l y , c o n -

f l ic t s t h a t l a c k s a t i s f a c t o r y r e s o l u t i o n m a y u p s e t c h i l d r e n m o r et h a n c o n f l i c t s t h a t a r e s u c c e s s f u l l y r e s o l v ed . A s n o t e d e a r l i e r ,

p a r e n t s w h o c o n s i s t e n t l y r e s ol v e co n f l i c t s in a c o n s t r u c t i v e f a s h-

i o n p r o v i d e m o d e l s o f e f fe c ti v e p r o b l e m s o l v i n g a n d c o n f l i c t

r e s o l u t i o n f o r t h e i r c h i l d r e n , w h i c h m a y f a c i l i t a t e t h e i r c h i l d ' s

i n t e r a c t i o n w i t h o t h e r s. W h e t h e r s u c h b e n e f i t s o c c u r m a y d e -

p e n d l a r g e l y o n t h e o t h e r f e a t u r e s o f c o n f l ic t d i s c u s s e d

p r e v i o u s l y h e r e . F o r e x a m p l e , f r e q u e n t v i o l e n t c o n f l i c t s m a y

h a v e a d e l e t e r i o u s e f f ec t o n c h i l d r e n e v e n i f t h e y a r e s u c c e s s-

fu l ly r e s o lv e d .

C h i l d r e n ' s l ev e l o f d e v e l o p m e n t m a y e x e r t a n i n d i r e c t e f fe c t

o n t h e i r p e r c e p t i o n o f c o n f l i c t b y i n f l u e n c i n g p a r e n t s ' c o n f l i c t

b e h a v i o r . F o r e x a m p l e , p a r e n t s ' b e l i e f s a b o u t d e v e l o p m e n t m a y

l e a d t h e m t o t r e a t c h i l d r e n d i f f e r e n t l y a s t h e y g e t o ld e r . S o m e

p a r e n t s m a y a r g u e l e s s f r e q u e n t l y o r l e ss i n t e n s e l y i n f r o n t o f

y o u n g e r c h i l d r e n b e c a u s e t h e y p e r c e iv e t h e m a s m o r e v u l n e r a -

b l e t h a n o l d e r c h i l d r e n . P a r e n t s ' u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f c o g n i t i v e

d e v e l o p m e n t i s a l s o l i k e l y t o a f f e c t t h e e x p l a n a t i o n s t h e y g i v e

t h e i r c h i l d r e n a b o u t t h e c a u s e a n d m e a n i n g o f m a r i t a l c o n f l ic t ,

w h i c h m a y i n t u r n s h a p e c h i l d r e n ' s p r o c e s s i n g o f c o n f l i c t. P a r -

e n t s m a y b e l i e v e , f o r i n s t a n c e , t h a t y o u n g c h i l d r e n c a n n o t u n -

d e r s t a n d m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t a n d s o d o n o t d i s c u s s it w i t h t h e m .

A l t h o u g h p a r e n t s ' a w a r e n e s s o f t h e i r c h i l d r e n 's d e v e l o p i n g c a -

p a c i t i e s m a y a f f e c t t h e i r c o n f l i c t b e h a v i o r , c h i l d r e n ' s d e v e l o p -

m e n t i s l i k e l y t o h a v e g r e a t e r a n d m o r e d i r e c t e f f ec t s o n o t h e r

c o m p o n e n t s o f t h e m o d e l .

T h e r e la t iv e i m p o r t a n c e o f t h e d i m e n s i o n s o f m a r i t a l c o n -

f l i ct i s n o t k n o w n , b u t i t m a y b e t h a t t h e i r e f f e ct is c u m u l a t i v e :

C h i l d r e n w h o w i t n e s s i n t e n s e , d r a w n - o u t , a n d p o o r l y r es o l v e d

c o n f l i c t s a r e l i k e l y t o e x p e r i e n c e m o r e s t r e s s t h a n c h i l d r e n w h o

o b s e r v e l e s s - in t e n s e , sh o r t - l i v e d c o n f l i c ts t h a t a r e r e s o l v e d s a ti s -

f a c to r i ly . H o w e v e r , t h e c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s o f c o n f l i c t e p i s o d e s a r e

n o t t h e o n l y f a c t o rs t h a t i n f l u e n c e c h i l d r en ' s r e s p o n s e t o c o n -

f l ic t . W e t u r n n o w t o c o n s i d e r c o n t e x t u a l f a c t o r s th a t a r e l i k e l y

t o a f f e c t h o w c h i l d r e n i n t e r p r e t a n d c o p e w i t h i n t e r p a r e n t a l

c o n f l i c t .

Th e Co n t e x t o f Co n f li c t

A l t h o u g h c o n t e x t m a y e n c o m p a s s a b r o a d r a n g e o f fa c to r s,

i n c l u d i n g t h e p h y s i c a l s e t t i n g o f t h e c o n f l ic t , w e p r o p o s e t h a t

t h e p s y c h o l o g i c a l a sp e c t s o f c o n t e x t ( e .g , c h i l d r e n ' s m e m o r y o f

p a s t c o n f l ic t s ) m a y b e t h e m o s t i m p o r t a n t i n f l u e n c e s o n c h i l -

d r e n ' s r e s p o n s e t o m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t . T h e r e f o r e , a s in B r a d b u r y

a n d F i n c h a m ' s ( 1 98 7 ) m o d e l , c o n t e x t u a l f a c t o r s a r e c o n s i d e r e d

t o b e " p r o p e r t i e s o f t h e p a r t i c i p a n t s i n a n i n t e r a c t i o n , r a t h e r

t h a n . . . o b j e c t i v e a s p e c t s o f t h e i n t e r a c t i o n i t s e l f " (p . 77 ) . A s

s h o w n i n F i g u r e 1, a d i s t i n c t i o n i s d r a w n b e t w e e n d i s t a l a n dp r o x i m a l c o n t e x t . D i s t a l c o n t e x t r e f e rs t o r e l a t i v e ly s t a b l e o r

s l ow l y c h a n g i n g f a c t o r s a n d i n c l u d e s s u c h e l e m e n t s a s c h i l d r e n 's

m e m o r y o f p r e v i o u s e p i s o d e s o f i n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n f l ic t a n d

t h e i r t e m p e r a m e n t . P r o x i m a l c o n t e x t , in c o n t r a s t , r e fe r s t o t h e

t h o u g h ts a n d f e el i ng s e x p e r ie n c e d b y t h e c h i l d r e n i m m e d i a t e l y

b e f o r e t h e i r p r o c e s s i n g o f t h e c o n f l i c t e p i s o d e . T h i s d i s t i n c t i o n

i s r o u g h l y a n a l o g o u s t o t h a t b e t w e e n t r a i t s a n d s t a te s . W e n o w

c o n s i d e r h o w d i s t a l a n d p r o x i m a l c o n t e x t c a n i n f l u e n c e c h i l -

d r e n ' s i n t e r p r e t a t i o n a n d r e s p o n s e t o m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t.

D i s t a l Co n t e x t

A n u m b e r o f d i s t a l c o n t e x t f a c t o r s m a y a f f ec t c h i l d r e n ' s r e -

s p o n s e t o m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t. O u r g o a l i s n o t t o p r o d u c e a n e x -

h a u s t i v e l i s t o f t h e s e b u t t o i d e n t i f y f e a t u r e s o f t h e d i s t a l c o n -

t e x t t h a t a r e l i k e l y t o b e p a r t i c u l a r ly i m p o r t a n t f o r u n d e r s t a n d -

i n g w h y s o m e e p i s o d e s o f c o n f l i c t a r e e x p e r i e n c e d a s m o r e

s t r e ss f u l t h a n o t h e r s . C h i l d r e n ' s p a s t e x p e r i e n c e w i t h c o n f l i c t ,

t h e i r c o n s t r u a l o f t h e f a m i ly ' s e m o t i o n a l c l i m a t e, t e m p e r a m e n t ,

a n d g e n d e r a r e p r o p o s e d t o a f f e c t c h i l d r e n ' s p r o c e s s i n g a n d

b e h a v i o r . E a c h o f t h e s e f a c t o r s i s b r i ef l y d e s c r i b e d .

Previous experience with conflict. I t i s h y p o t h e s i z e d t h a t

p a s t e x p e r i e n c e w i t h i n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t a f f e c t s c h i l d r e n ' s

s e n s i ti v i t y t o c o n f l i c t a n d c r e a t e s e x p e c t a t i o n s a b o u t t h e c o u r s e

o f c o n f l ic t e p i s o d e s . A l t h o u g h w e p r o p o s e t h a t e x p e r i e n c e w i t h

m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t i s m o s t r e l e v a n t f o r c h i l d r e n ' s e x p e c t a t i o n s

a b o u t f u t u r e c o n f l i c t e p i so d e s , o t h e r t y p e s o f c o n f li c t m a y a l s o

a f f ec t c h i l d r e n . I n p a r t i c u l a r , p r e v i o u s c o n f l i c ts b e t w e e n p a r -

e n t s a n d t h e c h i l d a n d h i s o r h e r s i b l i n g s m i g h t a l s o i n f l u e n c e

c h i l d r e n ' s p r o c e s s i n g o f m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t . T h e i n f l u e n c e o f c h i l-

d r e n ' s p r e v i o u s e x p e r i e n c e w i t h c o n f l i c t i s d e p e n d e n t o n c h i l -

d r e n ' s m e m o r y ; t h e r e f o r e , i t m i g h t b e e x p e c t e d t h a t m e m o r i e s

o f p a s t c o n f l i c t w o u l d e x e r t m o r e o f a n e f f e ct o n c h i l d r e n a s

t h e i r m e m o r y c a p a b i l i t i e s i n c r e a s e w i t h a g e ( f or a r ev i ew , se e

B r o w n , B r a n s f o r d , F e r r a r a , & C a m p i o n e , 1 9 83 ) .

T h e d i m e n s i o n s o f c o n f l ic t e p i s o d e s t h a t i n f l u en c e c h i l -

d r e n ' s i m m e d i a t e r e s p o n s e t o c o n f l i c t a r e a l s o p r o p o s e d t o b e

s i g n i f i c a n t a s p e c t s o f c h i l d r e n ' s m e m o r y o f p a s t c o n f l i c t s . T o

t h e e x t e n t t h a t p r e v i o u s c o n f l i c t s h a v e b e e n f r e q u e n t , i n t e n se ,

a n d p o o r l y r e so l v e d a n d t h e c o n t e n t h a s c o n c e r n e d t h e c h i l d o rt h e m a r r i a g e , c h i l d r e n a r e l i k e l y t o a n t i c i p a t e s i m i l a r l y u p s e t -

t i n g s i t u a t i o n s w h e n c o n f l i c t s r e c u r i n t h e f u t u r e . I n a d d i t i o n ,

p a r e n t s ' e x p l a n at i o n s o f co n f l ic t s in t h e p a s t m a y b e i m p o r t a n t .

I n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t i s l i k e l y t o b e c o n f u s i n g , e s p e c i a l l y f o r

y o u n g e r c h i l d r e n w h o m a y n o t u n d e r s t a n d t h a t a p e r s o n c a n

h a v e b o t h p o s i t i v e a n d n e g a t i v e f e e l in g s fo r s o m e o n e . B e c a u s e

y o u n g c h i l d r e n e v i d e n c e a t e n d e n c y t o b l a m e t h e m s e l v e s f o r

m a t e r n a l a n g e r ( C o v el i & A b r a m o v i t c h , 1 9 87 ) a n d m a r i t a l d i s -

s o l u t i o n ( K u r d e k , 1 9 8 6 ), p a r e n t s ' e x p l a n a t i o n s f o r c o n f l i c t a r e

l i k e l y t o b e c r i t i c a l in h e l p i n g c h i l d r e n u n d e r s t a n d t h e s e s t r es s -

f u l e v e n ts . H o w w e l l c h i l d r e n u n d e r s t a n d t h e i r p a r e n t s ' e x p l a n a -

t i o n w i l l d e p e n d . o n t h e i r l e v e l o f c o g n i ti v e d e v e l o p m e n t , a n d




t h u s , p a r e n t s ' s e n s i t i v i t y t o t h e i r c h i l d r e n ' s l e ve l o f u n d e r s t a n d -

i n g i s a n i m p o r t a n t f a c to r i n d e t e r m i n i n g t h e i m p a c t o f t h e i r

e x p l a n a t i o n s .

Perceived emotional climate. P e r c ei v e d e m o t i o n a l c l i m a t e

r e f e r s t o t h e c h i l d ' s p e r c e p t i o n o f f a m i l y r e l a t i o n s h i p s , w h i c h i s

b a s e d o n b u t n o t n e c e s s a r i l y v e r i d i c a l w i t h t h e i r e x p e r i e n c e s i n

t h e f a m i l y , G a r m e z y ( 1 9 8 3) a r g u e d t h a t a w a r m , s u p p o r t i v ef a m i l y e n v i r o n m e n t s e r v e s a s a p r o t e c t i v e f a c to r a g a i n s t s t r e ss

f o r c h i l d r e n ; t h u s , o n e w o u l d e x p e c t t h a t c o n f l i c t o c c u r r i n g i n a

s u c h a f a m i l y i s l i k e l y t o b e e x p e r i e n c e d a s l e s s u p s e t t i n g t h a n

c o n f l ic t in a f a m i l y th a t i s u n c o m m u n i c a t i v e a n d e m o t i o n a l l y

d i s t a n t . C h i l d r e n m a y f e el m o r e s e c u r e i n a f a m i l y t h at t h e y

p e r c e i v e a s w a r m a n d c o h e s i v e a n d f e et le s s t h r e a t e n e d w h e n

c o n f l i c t o c c u r s .

T h e q u a l i ty o f p a r e n t - c h i l d r e l a t i o n s h ip s is a m a j o r c o m p o -

n e n t o f t h e c h i l d 's p e r c e p t i o n o f t h e f a m i l y 's e m o t i o n a l c l i m a t e.

G o o d p a r e n t - c h i l d r e l a ti o n s h i p s p r o v i d e s e c u r it y f o r c h il d r e n

a n d m a y s e r v e t o b u f f e r t h e m f r o m a r a n g e o f s t r e s s o r s , i n c l u d -

in g m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t (E m e ry , 1 9 8 2 ; R u t t e r , 1 9 7 9 ) . T h u s , i n a d d i -

t i o n t o h a v i n g d i r e c t e f f e ct s o n c h i l d r e n ' s a d j u s t m e n t , t h e n a -

t u r e o f p a r e n t - c h i l d r e l a t i o n s h i p s m a y h a v e a n i n d i r e c t e ff e c t

o n c h i ld r e n 's c o p i n g w i t h m a r i t a l c o n f l i ct b y m o d e r a t i n g t h e

s t r e s s fu l n e s s o f p a r t i c u l a r e p i s o d e s o f c o n f l i c t .

Temperament. A l t h o u g h t h e r e i s l i t tl e d i r e c t e v i d e n c e p e r -

t a i n i n g t o t h e e f fe c ts o f t e m p e r a m e n t o n c h i l d r e n ' s r e a c t i o n t o

s t r e s s ( R u t t e r, 1 9 8 3 ), c h i l d r e n ' s t e m p e r a m e n t m a y a f f e ct t h e r e -

l a t i o n sh i p b e t w e e n m a r i t a l c o n f li c t a n d c h i ld r e n 's a d j u s t m e n t

i n t h r e e w a y s. F i r s t , s o m e c h i l d r e n a r e m o r e r e a c t i v e t o st r e s s-

o r s o f a l l k i n d s ( C o m p a s , 1 9 8 7 ; K a g a n , 1 9 83 ) , a n d t h u s m a y

e x h i b i t g r e a t e r s e n s i ti v i t y t o t h e o c c u r r e n c e o f c o n f li c t a n d p e r -

h a p s m o r e i n t e n s e a f f ec t iv e r e a c t i o n s . S e c o n d , t e m p e r a m e n t

a l s o m a y i n f l u e n c e c h il d r e n ' s b e h a v i o r a l r e s p o n s e s ( C o m p a s ,

1 9 87 ) . F o r e x a m p l e , c h i l d r e n w h o h a v e a t e n d e n c y t o a c t a g g r e s -

s i ve l y m a y b e m o r e l i k e l y t o e n g a g e i n a g g r e s s i v e b e h a v i o r sw h e n t h e y e x p e r i e n c e s t r e ss . F i n a l ly , c h i l d r e n ' s t e m p e r a m e n t

a f f ec t s t h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f p a r e n t - c h i l d r e l a t i o n s h i p s ( R u t t e r,

1 9 79 , 1 9 83 ) , a n d t h u s m a y h a v e a n e f f ec t o n p a r e n t - c h i l d c o n -

f l ic t a n d t h e e m o t i o n a l c l i m a t e o f t h e f a m il y ,

H e t h e r i n g t o n ( 19 89 ) r e c e n tl y r e p o r t e d d a t a p e r t a i n i n g t o t h e

r o l e o f t e m p e r a m e n t i n c h i l d r e n' s a d j u s t m e n t t o d i v o rc e . S h e

f o u n d t h a t t h e e f fe c t o f t e m p e r a m e n t d e p e n d s o n a n u m b e r o f

f a c t o rs , i n c l u d i n g t h e p e r s o n a l i t y o f t h e m o t h e r , a v a i l a b i l i t y o f

s o c i al s u p p o r t , a n d d e g r e e o f st r e ss e x p e r i e n ce d . T e m p e r a m e n -

t a l l y d i ff i c u l t c h i l d r e n t e n d e d t o e x h i b i t l e s s a d a p t i v e b e h a v i o r

t h a n t e m p e r a m e n t a l l y e a sy c h i l d re n o n l y u n d e r c o n d i t i o n s o f

h i g h s t r e s s o r l o w s o c i a l a n d m a t e r n a l s u p p o r t ; w h e n s t r e s s w a s

l o w a n d s u p p o r t w a s a d e q u a t e , " d i f f i c u lt " a n d " e a s y " c h i l d r e nd i d n o t d i f f e r i n t h e i r a d j u s t m e n t t o d i v o r c e .

T h e i n f lu e n c e o f t e m p e r a m e n t o n c h i l d r e n 's c o p i n g w i t h

m a r i t a l c o n f l ic t m a y b e b e s t u n d e r s t o o d f r o m a " g o o d n e s s o f

f i t" p e r s p e c t i v e ( C h e s s & T h o m a s , 1 9 84 ) , w h i c h c o n s i d e r s b o t h

t h e c h i l d ' s t e m p e r a m e n t a n d t h e p a r e n t s ' r e s p o n s i v e n e s s t o t h e

c h i l d . F o r e x a m p l e , a c h i l d w h o i s v e r y s e n si t i v e t o e n v i r o n m e n -

t a l s t r e s s o r s m i g h t n o t b e u n d u l y u p s e t b y s t r e ss f u l e v e n ts i f hi s

o r h e r p a r e n t s r e s p o n d q u i c k l y a n d e f f ec t iv e l y w h e n s u c h e v e n t s

o c c u r , w h e r e a s t h e s a m e c h i l d w i t h l e s s r e s p o n s i v e p a r e n t s

m i g h t e x p e r i e n c e g r e a t e r d i s t r e s s w h e n u p s e t t i n g e v e n t s o c c u r .

T h u s , t h e " f it " b e t w e e n p a r e n t s a n d c h i l d m a y b e a m o r e i m -

p o r t a n t p r e d i c t o r o f t h e c h i l d ' s r e s p o n s e t o i n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n -

f l i ct t h a n e i t h e r p a r e n t o r c h i l d c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s a l o n e .

Gender. I t i s p l a u s i b l e t h a t d i f f e r e n t s o c i a l i z a t i o n e x p e r i -

e n c e s m a y l e a d t o d i f f e r e n t af f e ct i ve a n d b e h a v i o r a l r e s p o n s e s

t o c o n f l i c t i n b o y s a n d g i r ls . B o y s m a y b e l e s s l i k e l y t o c r y o r

e x h i b i t d i s t r e s s t h a n g i r l s a n d m o r e l i k e l y t o a c t a g g r e s si v e ly . A s

a g g r e s s i o n i s l e s s t o l e r a t e d i n g i r ls , t h e y m a y d e v e l o p a l t e r n a t i v e

a p p r o a c h e s t o c o p i n g w i t h s t r e s s f u l s i t u a t io n s . O u r r e v i e w i n d i -

c a t e s t h a t m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t is a s s o c i a t e d w i t h a d j u s t m e n t p r o b -

l e m s i n b o t h b o y s a n d g i r ls , b u t t h a t s o m e s t u d i e s h a v e f o u n d

g e n d e r d i f f e r e n c e s i n c h i l d r en ' s i m m e d i a t e r e s p o n s e t o m a r i t a l

c o n f l i c t . T h e r e i s e v i d e n c e t h a t b o y s a r e m o r e l i k e l y t o r e s p o n d

t o c o n f l i c t b e t w e e n s t r a n g e r s w i t h a g g r e s s i v e b e h a v i o r a n d g i r l s

w i t h d i s t r e s s ( E . M . C u m m i n g s e t a l , 1 9 8 5 ,1 9 8 9 ) , a n d t h a t g i r l s

g e n e r a t e m o r e c o m p e t e n t s o l u t i o n s f o r s u c h c o n f l i c t s ( E . M .

C u m m i n g s e t a l ., 1 98 9 ); h o w e v e r , n o s e x d i f f e re n c e s h a v e b e e n

f o u n d i n s t u d i e s i n v e s t i g a ti n g c h i l d r e n ' s b e h a v i o r a l r e s p o n s e t o

in t e r p a re n ta l c o n f l i c t (E . M. C u m m in g s e t a l. , 1 98 1 , 1 98 4 ). In -

t e re s t in g ly , V u c h in ic h , E m e ry , a n d C a s s id y (19 8 8 ) r e p o r t e d th a t

g i r l s t e n d t o i n t e r v e n e m o r e f r e q u e n t l y t h a n b o y s i n a l l t y p e s o f

f a m i l y c o n f l i c t e x c e p t m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t .

A l t h o u g h c a u t i o n m u s t b e e x e r c i s e d i n i n t e r p r e t i n g n u l l f i n d -

i n g s, t h e s e s t u d i e s s u g g e s t t h a t g e n d e r d i f f e r e n c e s i n c h i l d r e n ' s

r e s p o n s e t o c o n f l i c t a r e c o m p l e x , G e n d e r m a y b e r e l a t e d to t h e

a f f ec t g e n e r a t e d d u r i n g a c o n f l i c t e p i s o d e a n d t o t h e s t r a t e g i e s

g e n e r a t e d t o c o p e w i t h m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t , b u t m a y n o t b e r e l a t e d

t o a c t u a l b e h a v i o r .

P r o x i m a l C o n t e xt

I n c o n t r a s t t o d i s t a l c o n t e x t , p r o x i m a l c o n t e x t c a n c h a n g e

r a p i d l y a s a n e p i s o d e o f c o n f l i ct u n f o l d s b e c a u s e i t c o n s i s t s o f

t r a n s i e n t t h o u g h t s a n d f e e l in g s e x p e r i e n c e d b y t h e c h i l d i m m e -

d i a t e l y b e f o r e h i s o r h e r p r o c e s s i n g o f p a r e n t a l b e h a v io r . T w o

p r o x i m a l f a c t or s a r e h y p o t h e s i z e d t o b e p a r t i c u la r l y i m p o r t a n t

i n f l u e n c e s o n p r o c e s s i n g : e x p e c t a t i o n s f o r t h e c o u r s e o f c o n -

f l ic t a n d c h i l d r e n ' s c u r r e n t m o o d .

Exp ectat ion s for the course o f confl ic t . E x p e c t a t i o n s a r e

p r o p o s e d t o b e a f u n c t i on o f b o t h p a s t e x p e r i e n c e w i t h c o n f li c t

a n d t h e c u r r e n t s i t u a t i o n . F o r e x a m p l e , i f a c h i l d h e a r s h i s

m o t h e r s l a m t h e d o o r w h e n s h e g e t s h o m e f r o m w o r k , h e m a y

i n f e r t h a t s h e i s a n g r y a n d a n t i c i p a t e t h a t s o m e s o r t o f c o n f l i c t

i s i m m i n e n t . I f p re v i o u s m a r i t a l c o n f l ic t h a s b e e n h o s t i l e a n d

p o o r l y r e s o lv e d , t h e c h i l d m a y r e c a l l t h i s a n d e x p e c t a n i n t e n s e

a n d d r a w n - o u t d i s a g r e e m e n t , a n d m i g h t t h e re f o r e b e p r i m e d t o

e x p e r i e n c e g r e a t e r n e g a t iv e a f fe c t w h e n t h e c o n f l i c t o c c u r s

th a n a c h i ld w h o e x p e c t s l e s s i n t e n s e c o n f l i c t . C o n v e r s e ly , i fs i t u a t i o n a l f a c t o r s o r t h e c h i l d ' s e x p e r i e n c e w i t h c o n f l i c t l e a d s

h i m o r h e r t o b e l i e v e t h a t p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t is l ik e l y t o b e m i n o r ,

t h e c h i l d m a y e x p e r i e n c e l o w e r l e ve l s o f d i s t r e s s d u r i n g t h e

c o u r s e o f t h e c o n f l i c t.

Current mood. I t i s l i k e l y t h a t c h i l d r e n ' s m o o d a l s o m a y

a f f ec t t h e i r p r o c e s s i n g o f m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t (F o r g a s , B u r n h a m , &

T r i m b o l i , 1 9 8 8 ; M a s t e r s , B a r d e n , & F o r d , 1 9 79 ; M a s t e r s , F e l l e -

m a n , & B a rd e n , 1 98 1 ). F o r e x a m p le , a g i r l h a v in g d i f f i c u l ty

w i t h h o m e w o r k m a y f e el s a d o r f r u s t r a t e d , w h i c h m a y l e a d h e r

t o r e a c t m o r e i n t e n s e l y t o c o n f l i c t t h a n i f s h e h a d b e e n e n j o y i n g

a t e l e v i s i o n s ho w . I f c h i l d r e n a r e i n a s a d o r a n g r y m o o d w h e n



M A R I T A L C O N F L I C T A N D C H I L D R E N ' S A D J U S T M E N T 281

i n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t o c c u r s , t h e y m a y b e m o r e l i k e l y t o a t t e n d

t o o r r e m e m b e r n e g a ti v e a s p e ct s o f t he p a r e n t a l i n t e r a c t i o n

(B a r t l e t t , B u r l e s o n , & S a n t ro c k , ! 9 8 2 ; F o rg a s e t a l. , 1 9 8 8 ; N a s b y

& Y a n d o , 1 9 82 ) . A d d i t i o n a l l y , n e g a t i v e m o o d s t a t e s m a y f a c i l i -

t a t e t h e r e c a l l o f p r e v i o u s u n p l e a s a n t e v e n t s ( s ee F o r g a s e t a l ,

1 9 8 8 ) . T h e re fo re , e x p e r i e n c in g n e g a t iv e a f f e c t b e fo re w i tn e s s -

i n g i n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t m a y e x a c e r b a t e t h e s t r e s s f u l n e s s o ft h e c o n f l i c t , w h i l e p o s i t i v e a ff e c t m a y r e d u c e i t. H o w e v e r , i f t h e

c o n f l i c t i s v e r y i n t e n s e o r l o n g l a s t i n g , t h e e f f e ct o f c h i l d r e n ' s

c u r r e n t m o o d m a y b e n e g l i gi b le .

A s w i t h t h e p r o p e r t i e s o f m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t , t h e s e c o n t e x t u a l

f a c t o r s a r e p r e s e n t s i m u l t a n e o u s l y , a n d t h e r e f o r e t h e i m p a c t o f

a n y o n e f a c t o r m u s t b e c o n s i d e r e d i n r e l a t i o n t o t h e o t h e r s .

M o r e o v e r , c o n t e x t u a l f a c t o r s m a y b e i n t e r r e l a t e d . F o r e x a m p l e ,

t h e c h i l d ' s c o n s t r u a l o f t h e f a m i l y c l i m a t e i s l i k e l y t o r e f l e c t t h e

f r e q u e n c y a n d i n t e n s i t y o f c o n f l i c t a s w e l l a s t h e t e m p e r a m e n t

o f t h e c h i l d .

W e t u r n n o w t o c o n s i d e r c h i l d r e n ' s p r o c e s s i n g o f t h e c o n f l i c t

e p i s o d e , f o c u s i n g o n h o w c h i l d r e n ' s u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f c o n f l i c t

m a y m e d i a t e t h e i r a f f e ct i ve r e sp o n s e a n d c o p i n g b e h a v i o r , a n dh o w c o n t e x t u a l f a c t o r s i n f l u e n c e p r o c e s s in g .

Children's Processing o f Conflict

I n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n fl i c t c a n b e v i e w e d a s p r o m p t i n g t h r e e q u e s-

t i o n s f o r c h i l d r e n : " W h a t i s h a p p e n i n g ? ; ' " W h y i s i t h a p p e n -

i n g ? ; ' " W h a t c a n I d o a b o u t i t ? " C h i l d r e n ' s a n s w e r s t o t h e s e

q u e s t i o n s e m e r g e f r o m t w o p r o p o s e d s t a g e s o f p r o c e ss i n g ,

t e r m e d p r i m a r y a n d s e c o n d a r y p r o c e s s i n g ( B r a d b u r y &

F i n c h a m , 1 9 87 ) . A l t h o u g h a n u m b e r o f w r i t e r s h av e n o t e d t h e

i m p o r t a n c e o f c o n s i d e r i n g c h i ld r e n 's p e r c e p t i o n s o f s t r es s fu l

e v e n t s ( C o m p a s , 1 9 87 ; H e r z b e r g e r & T e n n e n , 1 9 8 6 ; K a g a n ,

1 9 8 3 ) , v e ry l i t t l e r e s e a rc h h a s a c tu a l ly in v e s t ig a t e d c h i ld re n ' s

c o g n i t i v e p r o c e s s i n g o f s u c h e v e n t s . T h e c o g n i t i v e f ac t o r s w e

i n c l u d e i n t h e f r a m e w o r k a r e d e r i v e d f r o m r e s e a r c h o n a d u l t s

a n d s t u d i e s e x a m i n i n g c h i ld r e n 's u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f d i v o rc e . B e-

c a u s e c h i l d r e n ' s c o g n i t i o n s a r e a r e l a t i v e ly u n e x p l o r e d a s p e c t o f

t h e i r c o p i n g w i t h m a r i t a l c o n f l ic t , w e d i sc u s s p r i m a r y a n d s e c-

o n d a r y p r o c e s s in g i n s o m e d e t a i l .

Prim ary Processing

I n p r i m a r y p r o c e s s i n g t h e c h i l d a t t e n d s to t h e c o n f l i c t a n d

e x t r a c t s i n f o r m a t i o n r e g a r d i n g i t s n eg a t iv i t y, t h r e a t , a n d s e l f- r e -

l e v a n ce . T h e c h i l d ' s p e r c e p t i o n o f c o n f l i c t t h u s l e a d s t o a n a f -

f e c ti v e e v a l u a t i o n o f t h e e v e n t a s t h r e a t e n i n g o r b e n i g n ( B r e t h -

e r t o n e t a l ., 1 98 6 ). 4 T h e d i s t r e s s o b s e r v e d i n c h i l d r e n w i t n e s s i n g

a n g e r b e tw e e n a d u l t s ( E . M . C u m m i n g s & C u m m i n g s , 1 9 8 8)

a n d t h e f i n d i n g t h a t a m a j o r i t y o f c h i l d r e n r e p o r t f e e li n g a f r a i d

w h e n t h e i r p a r e n t s a r g u e ( P e t e r s o n & Z i l l , 1 9 8 6) i n d i c a t e t h a t

t h e y p e r c e i v e p o t e n t i a l h a r m t o t h e m s e l v e s o r o t h e r s w h e n c o n -

f l i ct o c c u r s. M a r i t a l c o n f l i c t , p a r t i c u l a r l y i f i t i s i n te n s e , m a y

p r o d u c e a r a n g e o f f e a r s i n c h i l d r e n , i n c l u d i n g t h e c o n c e r n t h a t

t h e y w i l l b e c o m e i n v o l v e d in t h e c o n f l i c t , t h a t m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t

m a y p o r t e n d d e g e n e r a t i o n i n p a r e n t - c h i l d r e l a t io n s h i p s ( W a l -

l e r s t e i n & K e l ly , 1 9 8 0) , o r t h a t c o n f l i c t m a y l e a d t o d i s s o l u t i o n

o f t h e m a r r i a g e ( B o w lb y , 1 9 73 ) . P r i m a r y p r o c e s s i n g t h u s i s a n -

a l g o u s t o w h a t L a z a r u s a n d F o l k m a n ( 1 98 4) t e r m e d p r i m a r y

a p p r a i s a l , w h i c h i n v o lv e s a n e s t i m a t i o n o f t h e t h r e a t o r c h a l -

l e n g e p r e s e n t e d b y a s t r e s s o r.

T h e r e a r e l i k e l y t o b e i n d i v i d u a l d i ff e r e n c e s in t h e a f fe c ti v e

r e s p o n s e t h a t o c c u r s a s a f u n c t i o n o f p r i m a r y p r o c e s s i n g . A l -

t h o u g h m o s t c h i l d r e n e x h i b i t si g n s o f d i s t r es s w h e n e x p o s e d t o

c o n f l i c t , t h e r e i s c o n s i d e r a b l e v a r i a t i o n i n t h e i n t e n s i t y o f e x -

p re s s e d n e g a t iv e a f f e c t (E . M. C u m m in g s e t a l . , 1 9 81 ) . T h i s m a yr e f l ec t d i f f er e n c e s i n t h r e s h o l d s f o r a t t e n d i n g t o c o n f l i c t r e s u l t-

i n g f r o m e i t h er t e m p e r a m e n t a l o r e x p e r i e n t i a l f a ct o rs . S o m e

c h i l d r e n a p p e a r t o b e m o r e s e n si t iv e t o t h e e n v i r o n m e n t i n

g e n e r a l , d i s p l a y i n g si g n s o f d i s t r e s s t o a w i d e v a r i e t y o f s t i m u l i

( C o m p a s , 1 9 8 7 ; K a g a n , 1 9 8 3 ), a n d c h i l d r e n w h o h a v e b e e n e x -

p o s e d t o m o r e f r e q u e n t c o n f l ic t a r e m o r e r e a c t i ve w h e n c o n -

f l i c t o c c u r s (E . M. C u m m in g s e t a l . , 1 9 8 1 , 19 8 5 ) .

C h i l d r e n 's p r i m a r y p r o c e s si n g m a y b e i n f l u e n c e d b y t h e i r

d e v e l o p m e n t a l l e v e l . E . M . C u m m i n g s ' s ( 1 9 8 7 ) f i n d i n g t h a t

p r e s c h o o l e r s a r e m o r e l i k e l y t h a n t o d d l e r s t o a t t e n d t o a n g r y

i n t e r c h a n g e s b e t w e e n o t h e r s a n d t o r e a c t e m o t i o n a l l y s u g g e s t s

t h a t t h e r e m a y b e a g e d i f f e r e n c e s in c h i l d r e n ' s a w a r e n e s s o f

i n t e r p a r e n ta l c o n fl i ct . E . M . C u m m i n g s a n d C u m m i n g s ( 19 88 )a r g u e d t h a t " r e l a t iv e e m o t i o n a l a n d c o g n it i v e i m m a t u r i t y m a y

i n t e r fe r e w i t h t o d d l e r s ' a b i l i t y t o p r o c e s s a n g e r " ( p . 3 0 0 ). A l -

t h o u g h y o u n g c h i l d r e n m a y f e e l t h r e a t e n e d b y a n u p s e t t i n g

e v e n t l i k e o b v i o u s i n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t , a s c h i l d r e n g e t o l d e r

t h e y a r e m o r e a b l e t o d i s c e r n s u b t l e f o r m s o f c o n f li c t a n d b e -

c o m e m o r e a w a r e o f th e p a r t i c u l a r t h r e a t s p o s e d b y m a r i t a l

d i s c o r d . F o r e x a m p l e , o l d e r c h i l d r e n a r e m o r e a b l e t o c o n c e i v e

o f t h e p o s s i b i l i t y o f d i v o r c e a n d a p p e a r t o b e m o r e s e n s it i v e t o

h o w c o n f l i c t s a r e r e s o l v e d ( E . M . C u m m i n g s e t a l , 1 9 8 9) . B e -

c a u s e s e c o n d a r y p r o c e s s i n g r e q u i r e s r e l a t iv e l y s o p h i s t i c a t e d

c o g n i t i v e c a p a b i l i t i e s , t h e r e s p o n s e s o f v e r y y o u n g c h i l d r e n

m a y r e f l ec t o n l y p r i m a r y p r o c e s s i n g .

I f c o n f l ic t i s n o t e v a l u a t e d n e g a t iv e l y o r c o n s i d e r e d i m p o r -

t a n t , a t t e n t i o n m a y s h i f t a w a y f r o m t h e c o n f l i c t a n d i t m a y

c e a s e to a f f e c t t h e c h i ld . I f t h e c o n f l i c t i s p e rc e iv e d a s n e g a t iv e ,

s i g n i f ic a n t , o r s e l f - r e l ev a n t , f u r t h e r p r o c e s s i n g u s u a l l y w i l l o c -

c u r. H o w e v e r, t h e r e m a y b e c i r c u m s t a n c e s w h e n p r i m a r y p r o -

c e s s i n g l e a d s d i r e c t l y t o o v e r t b e h a v i o r . F o r e x a m p l e , v e r y

y o u n g c h i l d r e n w h o h a v e n o t d e v e l o p e d t h e c o g n i t iv e c a p a c i t i e s

i n t e g r a l t o s e c o n d a r y p r o c e s s i n g w i l l b e g u i d e d b y p r i m a r y

p r o c e s s i n g . A d d i t i o n a l l y , t h e a r o u s a l r e s u l t i n g f r o m p r i m a r y

p r o c e s s i n g m a y p r e c l u d e o r i n t e r f er e w i t h f u r t h e r c o g n i t i v e p r o -

c e s s i n g ( F i n c h a m , B r a d b u r y , & G r y c h , 1 9 9 0) , a l t h o u g h a t -

t e m p t s t o u n d e r s t a n d t h e c o n f l ic t m a y c o n t i n u e o n c e a r o u s a l

h a s d e c r e a s e d .

Seconda ry Processing

I n s e c o n d a r y p r o c e s s in g f u r t h e r i n f o r m a t i o n i s e x t r a c te d

f r o m t h e s i t u a t i o n i n a n e f f o rt t o u n d e r s t a n d a n d c o p e w i h t h e

4 In the te rm s of the re la t iona l v iew of em otion advanced by Campose t a l . (1989) , p r im ary p rocess ing de te rmines the s ign if icance o f m ari-tal conflict to the child. A ccording o this persp ective, events are s ignif-

ic an t- an d thus emotiona l ly a rous ing--w hen (a) they a re re levant tothe goa ls o r s t r iv ings o f the ind iv idua l , (b ) the re is emotiona l comm uni-cation from significant others , or (c) the event int rinsically produ ces

pain or pleasure.



28 2 JOHN H. GRYCH AND FRANK D. FINCHAM

conflict (Bradbury & Fincham, 1987). During this stage it is

hypothesized tha t chil dren will try to discover why the conflict

is occurring (causal attribution), who is responsible for it (re-

sponsibility attribution), and whether they have adequate skills

for successfully coping with the conflict (efficacy expectation).

Secondary processing is influenced by affect aroused during

prima ry processing (see Affect), and i n turn serves to modulatethe child's init ial affective response.

Causal attributions. Children's causal attributions have

been proposed to be important in coping with divorce (Kur-

dek, 1986) and abusive treatment by parents (Herzberger &

Tennen, 1986), and they play an important role in children's

relations with their peers (e.g., Dodge, 1986; Dodge & Frame,

1982). Causal attributi ons serve an adaptive function (Fincha m

& Cain, 1986). For example, Comp as (1987) no ted tha t analyz-

ing the cause of a stressful event may help children cope with

stressors because it helps the child anticipate and prepare for

similar episodes in the future. Whether anticipation of future

conflict is beneficial, however, will probably depend upon

whether children believe that they can cope with the stressor

when it occurs.

Causes can be classified on a nu mber of dimensions , but the

most widely studi ed are locus (the degree to which the cause is

something about the self, other people, or external ci rcum-

stances), stability (the degree to which the cause is likely to be

present in the future), and globality (the degree to which the

cause is seen as affecting other areas of one's life). Attrib uting

negative events to inte rnal, stable, and global factors has bee n

shown to increase their impact (Bradbury & Fincham, 1990;

Peterson & Seligman, 1984). This suggests that a child who

views him or herself as the cause of pa rental c onflict is likely to

experience more distress than a child who attributes the cause

of conflict to one or both parents or to outside circumstances.

Similarly, a child who views conflict as caused by a stable and

global fac tor (e.g., the parents do n ot love each other) is likely to

be more upset by conflict than a child who makes an unstable,

specific attrib utio n (e.g., mothe r is in a bad mood), b ecause it

implies that the causes of the conflict are more likely to recur in

the future and to affect man y areas of family life. The expecta-

tion of future family turmoil or dissolution may lead to fear,

sadness, or feelings of hopelessness in the child.

Children's attributions for the cause of marital conflict are

likely to change developmentally.5 Research on the develop-

ment of causal att ributions indicates that preschoolers make

causal inferences about events, but that their causal reasoning is

limite d (see Miller & Atoise, 1989). The y are more ad ept w hen

reasoning from cause to effect than vice versa, and have littleawareness of distal causes of events, such as past behavior or

personality. Moreover, even though young children may make

stable or global attributions, several studies suggest that they

may not realize such at tributions have implications for the fu-

tur e (e.g., All en, Walker, Schroeder, & Joh nson, 1987; Rholes &

Ruble, 1984; Roten berg, 1980). Thus, if young children do not

directly observe the proximal cause of conflict, they are likely

to have trouble un ders tand ing why the conflict is occurring,

particularly if the cause involves past events and personality

traits. Consequently, they may conc lude that some mo re proxi-

mal event, possibly their own behavior, caused the conflict. As

children get older, their causal inferences get more sophisti-

cated, and they make i ncreas ing reference to intent ions,

thoughts, an d dis positions (Shantz, 1983). Olde r childre n there-

fore are more likely to unde rst and the varie d factors that lead to

marital conflict and make more appropriate causal attribu-

tions than are preschoolers.

Children's developing ability to take another's perspective

may influence their attributions for marital conflict. Childrenat an egocentric level of thought may not unders tand that the

conflict could have little to do with the m, an d may assume that

they somehow caused the conflict. One of the few studies in-

vestigating children's attributions for parental behavior sup-

ports this hypothesis. Covell and Abramovitch (1987) found

that 5- and 6-year-old child ren believed that they were the sole

cause of m ater nal anger, whereas 7- to 9-year-old childre n were

able to identify factors other than themselves, such as other

family member s and intrafa mily events, that could cause anger.

Research on children's reason ing about divorce also reveals an

age-related increase in children's awareness of causal factors

other than themselves (Kurdek, 1986; Wallerstein & Kelly,

1980). Three - to 5-year-old child ren ten d to believe that they are

the cause of their parents' divorce, but older children realize

that factors such as parental incomp atibilitycan lead to divorce

(Kurdek, 1986). Thus, research on the development of causal

attributions suggests that young children may tend to make

internal attributions for family events, and may not evidence

the association between stable a ttributions and expectations

discusse d previously.

Attributions of responsibility and b lam e When they have

identified the cause of conflict, children may also make judg-

ments regarding whether the causal agent is responsible and

should be blamed for the conflict. Responsibility attributions

occur once the cause of an event has been established and

center on the issue of accountability (Fincham & Bradbury, in

press; see Shaver, 1985). 6 Attri buti ons of respons ibility and

blame re st on a nu mb er of criteria (e.g., intent ion, motivation,

5 Although the literature on social cognitive development is exten-

sive, very little research has examined the development of children'sperception o f family interactions. Most studies in this domain use

novel stimuli that are far removed from interactions with parents orsiblings, and the extent to which one can generalize from this researchto children's perception of interactions that are familiar, often re-

peated, and affectively charged is open to question. Some circum-

stances (e.g., the complexity and familiarity of the event to the child)make it easier for children to make these inferences than others. Be-cause of their familiarity with family members, children may exhibitmore sophisticated processing within the family than that reported instudies using novel laboratory stimuli. However, the few studies on

children's reasoning about divorce tend to support the conclusions ofbasic research (see Kurdek, 1986), increasing confidence that thesefindings are relevant to understandingchildren's processing of maritalconflict.

6 Although responsibility and blame can be distinguished concep-tually (see Fincham & Bradbury, in press; Shaver, 1985), it is not clearthat such distinctionsare relevant to children or to attributions in inti-mate relationships. However, children as young as 6 years do distin-

guish between cause and blame (see Fincham & Jaspars, 1979). Thus,the distinction between attribut ionsof responsibility and blame is not

maintained, but these attribut ions are distinguished from causal attri-butions.




c a p a c i ty , v o lu n ta r in e s s , a n d c o n t ro l ) ( s e e S h a v e r , 1 9 8 5 ) . H o w -

e v e r, s o m e o f t h e c r i t e r i a u s e d b y a d u l t s w i l l n o t b e r e l e v a n t f o r

c h i l d r e n . B e c a u s e t h e y g e n e r a l l y v i e w t h e i r p a r e n t s a s p o w e r f u l ,

c h i l d r e n a r e u n l i k e l y t o q u e s t i o n w h e t h e r t h e i r p a r e n t s h a v e t h e

c a p a c i t i e s r e q u i r e d t o b e h e l d a c c o u n t a b l e f o r t h e i r a c t io n s ,

w h e t h e r t h e i r b e h a v i o r w a s v o l u n t a r y o r u n d e r t h e i r c o n tr o l .

I n t e nt a n d m o t i v a t i o n m a y b e m o r e r e l e v a n t d i m e n s i o n s . F o re x a m p l e , w h e n a g i r l i n t e r v e n e s i n p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t a n d i s a n -

g r i l y t o l d t o l ea v e t h e r o o m , t h e i m p a c t o n t h e c h i l d m a y v a r y

d e p e n d i n g o n w h e t h e r o r n o t s h e b e l i e v e s t h e a n g e r w a s i n t e n -

t i o n a l l y t a r g e t e d a t h e r o r w a s u n i n t e n t i o n a l .

J u d g m e n t s o f b l a m e a r e p r o p o s e d t o g i v e r i s e t o s p e c if i c e m o -

t i o n s ( F i n c h a m e t a l. , 1 9 90 ) . C h i l d r e n w h o b l a m e t h e m s e l v e s f o r

c o n f l i c t m a y f e el g u i l t y o r a s h a m e d , w h i c h m a y a l s o a f f ec t t h e i r

s e l f - e s te e m . I f t h e p a r e n t i s b l a m e d f o r t h e c o n f l i c t , a n g e r m a y

r e s u l t. F e e l i n g a n g r y a t a p a r e n t m a y i t s e l f c r e a t e p r o b l e m s f o r a

c h i l d b e c a u s e a n g e r m a y c o n f l i c t w i t h p o s i t i v e f e e l i n g s t h e

c h i l d h a s fo r t h e p a r e n t . C h i l d r e n w h o d o n o t y e t u n d e r s t a n d

t h a t o n e c a n f e el b o t h p o s i t i v e a n d n e g a t i v e e m o t i o n s a b o u t

a n o t h e r p e r s o n m a y b e c o n f u s e d o r f e el g u i l t y a b o u t e x p e r i e n c -

i n g s u c h c o n f l i c t i n g f e e l i ng s .

A t t r i b u t i o n s o f r e s p o n s i b i l i t y an d b l a m e a l s o h av e b e e n

s h o w n t o c h a n g e w i t h a g e . C h i l d r e n a s y o u n g a s 4 y e a r s o f a g e

c a n i d e n t i f y a d u l t s ' i n t e n t i o n s f o r t h e i r b e h a v i o r ( L i v e s l e y &

B r o m l e y , 1 9 7 3 ) , b u t p r e s c h o o l e r s t e n d t o o v e r a t t r i b u t e i n t e n -

t i o n a l it y , s e e i n g a l l h u m a n b e h a v i o r a s i n t e n d e d ( M i l l e r &

A l o i s e , 19 8 9) . T h u s , p r e s c h o o l e r s m a y b e l i e v e t h a t p a r e n t s i n -

t e n d t o u p s e t t h e m b y a r g u i n g . B y 5 y e a r s o f a g e , c h i l d r e n c a n

d i s t i n g u i s h b e t w e e n i n t e n d e d a n d u n i n t e n d e d o u t c o m e s , a l -

t h o u g h i n a l es s s o p h i s t i c a t e d w a y t h a n o l d e r c h i l d r e n , a n d t e n d

t o j u d g e o n l y v o l u n t a r y a c t s a s i n t e n t i o n a l ( S h a n t z , 1 9 8 3 ) .

Y o u n g c h i l d r e n a l s o e x h i b i t a p o s i t i v it y b i a s i n m a k i n g i n f e r -

e n c e s a b o u t i n t e n t i o n a li t y , w h i c h s e e m s t o w a n e i n e a r l y e l e m e n -

t a r y s c h o o l ( S h a n t z , 1 9 8 3 ): P r e s c h o o l e r s h a v e a t e n d e n c y t o s e e

p e o p l e a s in t e n d i n g t o d o g o o d t h in g s , a n d n o t i n t e n d i n g t o d o

b a d t h i n g s ( R h o l e s & R u b l e , 1 98 6 ; S m i t h , 1 9 7 8 ) a n d a t t e m p t t o

m a i n t a i n t h i s b e l i e f e v e n i n t h e f a c e o f c o n f l i c ti n g e v i d e n c e .

B e c a u s e p a r e n t s a r e l i k e l y t o b e v i e w e d p o s i t iv e l y b y t h e i r c h i l -

d r e n , t h i s b i a s m a y m a k e i t e sp e c i a l l y d i f f ic u l t f o r y o u n g c h i l -

d r e n t o b l a m e t h e i r p a r e n t s f o r u p s e t t i n g e v e n t s s u c h a s m a r i t a l

c o n f l i c t . R e l u c t a n c e t o h o l d p a r e n t s r e s p o n s i b l e f o r n e g a t i v e

c o n s e q u e n c e s m a y t u r n t h e f o c u s o f b l a m e o n t h e c h i l d , a n d

S e l m a n ' s ( 1 9 8 0 ) w o r k o n p a r e n t - c h i l d r e l a t i o n s s u g g e s t s t h a t

c h i l d r e n ' s o b j e c t o f b l a m e m a y c h a n g e w i t h a g e . V e ry y o u n g

c h i l d r e n t e n d t o b l a m e t h e i r p a r e n t s fo r p u n i s h in g t h e m , b u t

w h e n t h e y a r e s l i g h tl y o l d e r t h e y c o m e t o b e l i e v e t h a t t h e i r

p a r e n t s a r e a l w a y s r i g h t , a n d t h u s b l a m e t h e m s e l v e s i f t h e i rp a r e n t s p u n i s h t h e m . L a t e r , c h i l d r e n a c q u i r e a m o r e s o p h i s t i -

c a t e d v i e w o f th e p a r e n t - c h i l d r e l a t i o n s h ip a n d u n d e r s t a n d t h a t

o n e p e r s o n r a r e l y is w h o l l y t o b l a m e f o r d i f fi c u l ti e s . T h u s , c h i l -

d r e n w h o a r e a t a n a g e a t w h i c h t h e y d o n o t b l a m e t h e i r p a r e n t s

f o r n e g at i v e e v e n t s m a y b e p a r t i c u l a r l y l i k e l y t o b l a m e t h e m -

se lves .

R e s e a r c h o n c h i l d r e n ' s u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f d i v o r c e h a s i n v e s t i-

g a t e d a g e d i f fe r e n c e s in c h i l d r e n ' s p e r c e p t i o n o f b l a m e , b u t h a s

p r o d u c e d i n c o n s i s t e n t r e s u l t s. T w o s t u d i e s t h a t d i r e c t l y as -

s e s s e d c h il d r e n ' s b l a m e f o r t h e d i v o r c e f o u n d t h a t c h i l d r e n o f a l l

a g e s g e n e r a l l y d i d n o t a s s u m e r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f or t h e d i v o r c e

(K u rd e k , B l i s k , & S ie s k y , 1 9 8 1 ; Wa rs h a k & S a n t ro c k , 1 9 8 3) . In

c o n t r a s t , W a l l e r s t e i n a n d K e l l y (1 9 80 ) f o u n d t h a t 3 - t o 5 - y e a r -

o l d c h i l d r e n t e n d e d t o b l a m e t h e m s e l v e s f o r t h e d i v o r c e , a n d

N e a l ( 1 9 8 3) r e p o r t e d t h a t 5 - t o 8 - y e a r - o l d c h i l d r e n w e r e m o r e

l i k e l y t h a n 9 - t o 1 2 - y e a r -o l d c h i l d r e n t o v i e w t h e d i v o r c e i n

p e r s o n a l a n d e g o c e n t r i c t e r m s a n d t o b e l i e v e t h a t c h i l d r e n

c o u l d c a u s e p a r t i c u l a r m o t h e r - f a t h e r i n t er a c ti o n s .

Efficacy expectations. C h i l d r e n ' s r e s p o n s e s t o i n t e r p a r e n t a lc o n f l i c t a r e a l s o l i k e l y t o b e i n f l u e n c e d b y t h e i r b e l i e f s i n t h e i r

a b i l i t y to c o p e w i t h t h e c o n f l i c t ( C o m p a s , 1 9 8 7) . W e d i s t i n -

g u i s h t h e c h i l d ' s e x p e c t a t i o n s a b o u t t h e c o u r s e o f c o n f l ic t f r o m

h i s o r h e r e f f ic a c y e x p e c t a t i o n s . W h e t h e r a c h i l d b e l i e v e s a

c o n f l i c t w i l l b e i n t e n s e v e r s u s m i l d o r h a p p i l y r e s o l v e d v e r s u s

u n h a p p i l y r e s o l v e d i s d i s t i n c t f r o m t h e c h i l d ' s b e l i e f s a b o u t

w h e t h e r h e o r s h e c a n c o p e w i t h t h e c o n f l i ct . U n l i k e e x p e c t a -

t i o n s r e g a r d i n g t h e c o n f l i c t , ef f i ca c y b e l i e f s a r e p r o p o s e d t o b e

d i r e c t l y l i n k e d t o c h i l d r e n ' s a f f ec t a n d b e h a v i o r . I f e f fi c ac y ex -

p e c t a t i o n s a r e h i g h , c h i l d r e n a r e l i k e l y to f e e l h o p e f u l a n d t o

e n g a g e i n e f f e ct i ve c o p i n g b e h a v i o r s . O n t h e o t h e r h a n d , i f e f fi -

c a c y e x p e c t a t i o n s a r e l o w , h o p e l e s s n e s s o r h e l p l e s s n e s s m a y r e -

s u l t , a n d c o p i n g e f f o r ts m a y b e d i m i n i s h e d .

E f f i ca c y e x p e c t a t i o n s ( B a n d u r a , 1 9 8 2 ) a r e p r o p o s e d t o b e

a f f e ct e d b y c h i l d r e n ' s a t t r i b u t i o n s , p a s t c o p i n g e f fo r t s, a n d t h e i r

a f fe c ti v e a r o u s a l . F o r e x a m p l e , a t t r i b u t i n g t h e c a u s e o f c o n f l i c t

t o e x t e r n a l f a c t o r s m a y l e a d t o l o w e r e f f ic a c y e x p e c t a t i o n s b e -

c a u s e i t r e fl e c ts t h e b e l i e f t h a t t h e c a u s e i s o u t s i d e o f t h e c h i l d ' s

c o n t r o l . I f c h i l d r e n h a v e b e e n s u c c e s s f u l i n d e c r e a s i n g t h e d i s -

t r e s s c a u s e d b y m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t , e i t h e r b y s t o p p i n g t h e c o n f l i c t

o r b y r e g u l a t i n g t h e i r a f f e ct i ve r e a c t i o n , t h e y m a y b e m o r e

l i k e l y t o b e l i e v e t h a t t h e y c a n c o p e w i t h c o n f l i ct . A l t h o u g h

r e s e a r c h s u g g e s ts t h a t c h i l d r e n w h o c a n g e n e r a t e m o r e n u m e r -

o u s c o p i n g s t r a t e g i e s a r e m o r e s o c i a l l y c o m p e t e n t ( S p i v a k &

S h u r e , 1 9 8 2) , c h i l d r e n w h o h a v e o n e s t r a t e g y t h a t i s c o n s i s t e n t l y

e f fe c ti v e m i g h t a l s o h a v e p o s i t i v e e x p e c t a t i o n s a b o u t t h e i r a b i l -

i t y to c o p e w i t h c o n f l i c t . F i n a ll y , c h i l d r e n w h o p e r c e i v e g r e a t e r

t h r e a t a n d e x p e r i e n c e m o r e i n t e n s e n e g a t i v e a f f ec t m a y f e e l l e s s

a b l e t o c o p e e f f ec t iv e l y w i t h t h e c o n f l i c t t h a n c h i l d r e n w h o f e el

l e ss t h r e a t e n e d b y t h e c o n f l i c t.

E f f ic a cy e x p e c t a t i o n s r e g a r d i n g p e r c e i v e d a b i l i t y t o c o p e

w i t h p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t a r e a l s o l i k e l y t o b e a g e r e l a t e d . Y o u n g

c h i l d r e n o f t e n e x h i b i t " m a g i c a l t h i n k i n g , " s u c h a s t h e b e l i e f

t h a t t h e y h a v e e x t r a o r d i n a r y p o w e r s . S u c h c h i l d r e n m a y b e l i e v e

t h a t t h e y c a n s t o p t h e i r p a r e n t s ' c o n f l i c ts e v e n t h o u g h t h e y m a y

h a v e l i t t l e a c t u a l s u c c es s . A s c h i l d r e n g e t o l d e r , t h e y a r e l i k e l y to

h a v e a m o r e r e a l i s t i c a p p r a i s a l o f t h e i r a b i l i t y t o a f f ec t e p i s o d e s

o f i n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t . C h i l d r e n a l s o d e v e l o p m o r e a d v a n c e d

p r o b l e m - s o l v i n g s k i l l s t h a t m a y l e a d t o m o r e o p t i m i s t i c e x p e c -

t a t i o n s a b o u t c o p i n g s u c c e s sf u l l y w i t h p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t . M o r e -o v e r, i n c r e a s i n g c o g n it i v e m a t u r i t y w i l l e n a b l e c h i l d r e n t o t a k e

b e t t e r a d v a n t ag e o f t h e i r c o p i n g r e p e r t o i r e a n d a d a p t t h e i r

s k i l l s t o s i t u a t i o n a l d e m a n d s . H o w e v e r , c h i l d r e n ' s ef f ic a c y e x -

p e c t a t i o n s m a y b e m o r e s t r o n g l y in f l u e n c e d b y t h e i r p a s t e x p e -

r i e n c e w i t h m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t t h a n t h e i r l e v e l o f c o g n i t iv e d ev e l -

o p m e n t . P r e v i o u s a t t e m p t s a t i n t e r v e n t i o n m a y l e a d t o g r e a t e r

o r l e s s e r o p t i m i s m i n c h i l d r e n ' s a b i l i t y to c h a n g e t h e c o u r s e o f

i n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t.

T h u s f a r , w e h a v e c o n s i d e r e d t h e c o n t e x t a n d p r o c e s s i n g

a s p e c t s o f t h e f r a m e w o r k . N e x t , w e h i g h l i g h t i m p o r t a n t a s p e c t s

o f t h e f in a l t w o c o m p o n e n t s i n c l u d e d i n t h e f r a m e w o r k , a f f e ct

a n d c o p i n g b e h a v i o r .



2 8 4 J O H N H . G R Y CH A N D F R A N K D . F I N C H A M

Affect

I n t h e p r o p o s e d f r a m e w o r k a f f e c t i s i n v o l v e d i n e v a l u a t i n g

t h e s i g n i f i c a n c e o f t h e c o n f l i c t a n d i n g u i d i n g s u b s e q u e n t b e -

h a v i or . O b s e r v i n g m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t i s l i k e l y t o p r o d u c e s o m e

d e g r e e o f n e g a t i v e a f f ec t in c h i l d r e n . A l t h o u g h c h i l d r e n e x h i b i t

a v a r i e t y o f e m o t i o n a l r e s p o n s e s t o a n g e r b e t w e e n o t h e r s , d i s -

t r e ss a n d a n g e r a r e th e m o s t c o m m o n ( se e E . M . C u m m i n g s &

C u m m i n g s , 1 9 88 ) . F o r e x a m p l e , 1 0- t o 2 0 - m o n t h - o l d c h i l d r e n

r e s p o n d e d t o a n g e r b e t w e e n f a m i l y m e m b e r s b y e x p r e ss i n g

a n g e r i n 2 4 % o f t h e i n c i d e n t s , b y s h o w i n g d i s t r e s s i n 4 7 % o f al l

i n c i d e n t s , a n d w i t h n o a f f e c ti v e r e a c t i o n i n 2 3 % o f a l l i n c i d e n t s

( E . M . C u m m i n g s e t al ., 19 8 1) .

A f f e c t g e n e r a t e d b y p r i m a r y p r o c e s s i n g m a y i n f l u e n c e c h il -

d r e n ' s f u r t h e r p r o c e s s i n g a n d b e h a v i o r a l r e s p o n s e i n a n u m b e r

o f w a y s . A f f e ct h a s b e e n s h o w n t o i n f l u e n c e c h i l d r e n ' s e x p e c t a -

t i o n s a b o u t f u t u r e e v e n t s , a t t r i b u t i o n s , a n d t h e g e n e r a t i o n o f

c o p in g s t r a t e g ie s ( s e e Ma s te r s e t a l . , 1 9 8 1 ) . In a d u l t s , n e g a t iv e

a f f ec t h a s b e e n s h o w n t o l e a d t o a t t r i b u t i o n s t h a t i n c r e a s e t h e

n e g a t i v e i m p a c t o f l i fe ev e n t s ( B a u m g a r d n e r & A r k i n , 1 9 88 ).

N e g a t i v e a f f e c t a l s o m a y i n t e r f e r e w i t h m e m o r y f o r p o s i t i v ee v e n t s , m a k i n g i t d i f f i c u l t f o r c h i l d r e n t o r e g u l a t e t h e i r e m o -

t i o n a l r e s p o n s e s ( N a s b y & Y a n d o , 1 9 8 2) . F u r t h e r , s o m e c h i l -

d r e n m a y b e o v e r w h e l m e d b y t h e i r e m o t i o n a l r e a c t i o n a n d n o t

e n g a g e i n s e c o n d a r y p r o c e s s i n g ; i n s u c h c a s e s , a f f e c t s h o u l d

l e a d d i r e c t l y to b e h a v i o r a l e x p r e s s i o n o f e m o t i o n , s u c h a s

c r y i n g .

C h i l d r e n ' s c o g n i t i v e p r o c e s s i n g o f t h e c o n f l i c t i s a l so l i k e l y t o

a f fe c t t h e p a r t i c u l a r e m o t i o n c h i l d r e n e x p e r i e n ce . W e i n e r

( 1 98 6 ) f o u n d t h a t s o m e a t t r i b u t i o n s r e l i a b l y e v o k e c e r t a i n e m o -

t i o n s . F o r e x a m p l e , a t t r i b u t i n g f a i l u r e a t a ta s k t o i n t e r n a l ,

s t a b l e c a u s e s l e a d s t o t h e e x p e r i e n c e o f g u i l t o r s h a m e . A l -

t h o u g h s i m p l y o b s e r v i n g m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t i s l i k e l y t o p r o d u c e

n e g at iv e e m o t i o n s - - w h a t W e i n e r t e r m s o u t c o m e - d e p e n d e n te m o t i o n s - - t h e t y p e o f a t tr i b u t i o n m a d e b y c h i l d r e n m a y a l so

s h a p e t h e i r e m o t i o n a l r e s p o n s e . F o r e x a m p l e , i f a b o y f e el s u p -

s e t w h e n c o n f l i c t o c c u r s a n d p e r c e i v e s h i s f a t h e r as t h e c a u s e ,

h e m a y f e e l a n g r y a t h i s f a t h er .

S o m e d a t a d o s u g g e s t t h a t t h e n a t u r e a n d i n t e n s i t y o f c h il -

d r e n ' s af f e ct i v e r e s p o n s e t o i n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t c h a n g e s w i t h

a g e . E . M. C u m m in g s e t a l . (1 9 8 4 ) r e p o r t e d th a t 1 - t o 2 1 h -y e a r

o l d c h i l d r e n w e r e m o r e l i k e l y t o c r y a n d e x p r e s s a n g e r a n d

e x c i t e m e n t w h e n e x p o s e d t o a n g r y i n t e r a ct i o n s b e t w e e n f a m i l y

m e m b e r s t h a n w e r e 6 - t o 7 - y e a r- o l d s , a f i n d i n g t h a t m a y r e f l e ct

t h e i n c r e a s e d a b i l i t y o f t h e o l d e r c h i l d r e n t o r e g u l a t e t h e i r e m o -

t i o n a l r e s p o n s e s . E x a m i n i n g c h i l d r e n ' s r e a c t i o n s t o v i d e o t a p e d

a n g r y i n t e r a c t i o n s b e t w e e n s t r a n g e r s , E . M . C u m m i n g s e t a l.( 19 89 ) r e p o r t e d t h a t t h e d o m i n a n t e m o t i o n a l e x p e r i e n c e d b y 6 -

t o 7 - y e a r - o l d c h i l d r e n w a s a n g e r , w h e r e a s 8 - t o 9 - y e a r - o l d s w e r e

m o r e l i k e l y t o e x p e r i e n c e d i s t r e s s . A l t h o u g h a g e m a y b e r e l a t e d

t o c h i l d r e n ' s a f f ec t , i t i s l i k e ly t h a t c h i l d r e n ' s e m o t i o n a l r e s p o n s e

t o m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t w i l l b e i n f l u e n c e d b y a n u m b e r o f fa c t o rs ,

i n c l u d i n g t h e i r e f fo r t s t o c o p e w i t h t h e c o n f l i c t .

Coping Behavior

C h i l d r e n 's c o p i n g b e h a v i o r m a y t a k e a v a r i e t y o f f o rm s . F o l k -

m a n a n d L a z a r u s ( 1 98 0) d i s t i n g u i s h e d b e t w e e n t w o g e n e r al

c l as s e s o f c o p i n g r e s p on s e s : p r o b l e m - f o c u s e d a n d e m o t i o n - fo -

c u s e d s t r a t e g ie s . B o th ty p e s o f s t r a t e g ie s , i f s u c c e s s fu l , se rv e to

d e c r e a s e t h e e m o t i o n a l a r o u s a l c a u s e d b y t h e s t r e s s f u l s i t u a -

t i o n . P r o b l e m - f o c u s e d s t r a t e g i e s a r e d i r e c t a t t e m p t s t o a l t e r a

s t r e ss f u l e v e n t, s u c h a s c h i l d r e n 's a t t e m p t s t o i n t e r v e n e i n p a r e n -

t a l c o n f l i ct . E m o t i o n - f o c u s e d s t r a t e g i e s a r e a t t e m p t s t o r e g u l a t e

o n e ' s e m o t i o n a l r e s p o n s e i n s t e a d o f a t t e m p t i n g t o c h a n g e t h e

s i t u a t i o n . I f a c h i l d f i n d s th a t d i r e c t i n t e r v e n t i o n s a r e n o t s u c -c e s sf u l , h e o r s h e m a y t r y t o c h a n g e t h e i r e m o t i o n a l r e s p o n s e t o

p a r e n t a l c o n f l i ct . H e r z b e r g e r a n d T e n n e n ( 19 86 ) d i s c u s s e d a

n u m b e r o f c o g n i t iv e st r a t e g i e s c h i l d r e n m i g h t u s e t o r e g u l a t e

e m o t i o n , i n c l u d i n g a t t e m p t i n g t o c h a n g e o n e 's i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f

t h e e v e n t , f o c u s i n g o n p o s i t iv e a s p e c t s o f t h e s i t u a t io n , a n d r e t r o -

s p e c t i v e c o n t r o l , w h i c h i n v o lv e s h o l d i n g o n e ' s se l f r e s p o n s i b l e

f o r t h e e v e n t i n a n e f f o rt to m a i n t a i n t h e b e l i e f t h a t o n e c a n

c o n t r o l s i m i l a r s i tu a t i o n s i n t h e f u t u re .

C h i l d r e n ' s b e h a v i o r a l r e s p o n s e m a y o f t e n c h a n g e t h e c o u r s e

o f t h e c o n f l i c t e p i s o d e . A t t e m p t s t o i n t e r v e n e o r d i s t r a c t t h e

p a r e n t s ' a t t e n t i o n m a y r e s u l t in d e e s c a l a t i o n o f c o n f l i c t o r m a y

l e a d t o d i r e c t i n v o l v e m e n t o f t h e c h i l d r e n i n t h e c o n f l i c t .

C h a n g e s i n t h e c o n f l i c t s i t u a t i o n m a y t h e n l e a d t o a n e w s e-

q u e n c e o f p r o c e s s i n g . W h a t e v e r t h e r e s u l t o f t h e b e h a v i o r , i ts

e f f e ct i v en e s s in a l l e v i a t i n g t h e s t r e s s a s s o c i a t e d w i t h m a r i t a l

c o n f l i c t i s l i k e l y t o a f f e ct c h i l d r e n ' s e x p e c t a t i o n s a b o u t t h e i r

a b i l i t y t o c o p e w i t h f u t u r e c o n f l i c t e p i s o d e s . F u r t h e r , E m e r y

( 1 98 9 ) n o t e d t h a t s u c c e s s fu l a t t e m p t s b y t h e c h i l d t o i n t e r v e n e

i n t h e c o n f l i c t a r e l i k e ly t o b e m a i n t a i n e d i f t h e y a r e f u n c t i o n a l

f o r t h e f a m i l y s y s t e m , e v e n t h o u g h t h e y m a y b e m a l a d a p t i v e f o r

t h e c h i l d . F o r e x a m p l e , a c h i l d m a y a c t o u t t o d i s t r a c t h i s p a r -

e n t s f r o m t h e i r d i s a g r e e m e n t s , t h e r e b y s h i f t i n g t h e f o c u s o f

c o n c e r n i n t h e f a m i l y f r o m m a r i t a l p r o b l e m s t o c h i l d b e h a v i o r ,

a p r o c e s s k n o w n a s s c a p e g o a t i n g .

A s c h i l d r e n g e t o ld e r , t h e y t e n d t o a c q u i r e a w i d e r v a r i e t y o f

c o p i n g s k i l l s a n d d e v e l o p a m o r e e x t e n s i v e s o c i a l s u p p o r t n e t -

w o r k t h r o u g h t h e i r g r e a t e r i n v o lv e m e n t w i t h p e e r s ( C o m p a s ,

1 9 8 7 ; H e th e r in g to n e t al ., 1 9 89 ). Y o u n g e r c h i ld r e n , i n c o n t ra s t ,

a r e m o r e d e p e n d e n t u p o n t h e i r p a r en t s a n d m o r e r e s t r i ct e d to

t h e h o m e e n v i r o n m e n t . T h u s , o l d e r c h i l d r e n m i g h t b e e x p e c t e d

t o h a v e m o r e s t r a t e g i e s f o r c o p i n g w i t h i n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t a t

t h e i r d i s p o s a l , a l t h o u g h t h e i r e x p e c t a t i o n s f o r t h e e f f i c ac y o f

t h e s e s t r a t e g i e s i s l i k e l y t o d e p e n d p r i m a r i l y o n w h e t h e r t h e y

h a v e b e e n s u c c e s s fu l i n th e p a s t .

O l d e r c h i l d r e n a r e m o r e a b l e t o e n g a g e in p a r t i c u l a r t y p e s o f

c o p i n g b e h av i o r. F o r e x a m p l e , m a n y e m o t i o n - f o c u se d c o p i n g

s t r a t e g i e s d e p e n d o n t h e a b i l i t y to c o g n i t i v e ly r e s t r u c t u r e t h e

s t r e ss f u l s i t u a t io n , w h i c h r e q u i r e s a c e r t a i n d e g r e e o f c o g n i t i v e

m a t u r i t y ( H e r z b e r g e r & T e n n e n , 1 9 86 ). C o n s i s t e n t w i t h t h i s

n o t i o n , C o m p a s , M a l c a r n e , a n d F o n d a c a r o (1 98 8) f o u n d t h a te i g h t h g r a d e r s w e r e a b l e t o g e n e r a t e m o r e e m o t i o n - f o c u s e d

s t r a t e g i e s f o r c o p i n g w i t h s t r e s s fu l e v e n t s t h a n w e r e s i x t h o r

s e v e n t h g r a d e r s. T h u s , y o u n g e r c h i l d r e n w h o d o n o t h a v e t h e

c a p a c i t y t o e n g a g e i n s o p h i s t i c a t e d c o g n i ti v e c o p i n g s t r a t e g i e s

m a y r e ly i n s t e a d o n r u d i m e n t a r y s t r at e g ie s s u c h a s a t t e m p t i n g

t o e s c a p e f r o m t h e s i t u a t i o n . B e c a u s e y o u n g c h i l d r e n d o n o t

h a v e t h e a u t o n o m y a n d f r e e d o m o l d e r c h i l d r e n e n jo y , h o w e v e r,

t h e i r e f f o rt s t o e s c a p e m a y b e q u i t e c o n s t r a i n e d .

T o t h e e x t e n t t h a t c o p i n g s t r a t e g i e s a r e s u c c e s sf u l i n r e d u c i n g

t h e e m o t i o n a l u p s e t a r o u s e d b y i n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n f l i ct , t h e y a r e

l ik e ly to b e r e p e a te d ; h o w e v e r , s t r a t e g ie s th a t a re s u c c e s s fu l i n

i n t e r r u p t i n g m a r i t a l c o n fl i c t m a y b e c o m e m a l a d a p t i v e i f t h e y




l e a d t o t h e c h i l d b e i n g d r a w n i n t o t h e c o n f li c t o r b e c o m i n g t h e

f o c u s o f f a m i l y p r o b l e m s ( E m e r y , 1 9 89 ) .

b y t h e c o n f l i c t a n d f e e l a s s u r e d t h a t h i s f a t h e r l o v e d h i m e v e n

t h o u g h h e d i d n o t w a n t t o p l a y w i t h h i m u n t i l a f t e r d i n n e r .

I l l u s tr a t i o n o f th e F r a m e w o r k

T o p r o v i d e a m o r e c o n c r e t e i l l u s t r a t i o n o f h o w t h e c o m p o -

n e n t s a n d p r o c e s s e s j u s t d i s c u s s e d a f f e c t c h i l d r e n ' s e x p e r i e n c eo f i n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n f l ic t , w e n o w p r e s e n t a n e x a m p l e o f a

c h i l d ' s e x p o s u r e t o a c o n f l i c t e p i so d e . I n t h e i l l u s t r a t i o n w e

s h o w h o w f e a t u r e s o f t h e c o n f l i c t a n d c o g n i ti v e , c o n t e x t u a l , a n d

d e v e l o p m e n t a l f a c t o r s i n f l u e n c e a c h i l d 's u n d e r s t a n d i n g a n d

r e s p o n s e t o i n t e r p a r e n t a l c o n f l i c t . T h e e x a m p l e i n v o lv e s T o m ,

a 6 - y e a r - o l d b o y w h o i s t h e o n l y c h i l d i n a n i n t a c t f a m i l y. T o m ' s

p a r e n t s a r e h a v i n g a n a r g u m e n t w h i l e h e i s i n a n a d j o i n i n g

r o o m w h e r e h e c a n h e a r t h e c o n f l i c t c l ea r ly . W e o u t l i n e t h e

d e t a i l s o f t h e c o n f l ic t i n t h e t e r m s o f t h e m o d e l , i n d i c a t i n g

f a c t o r s t h a t m a y i n c r e a s e a n d d e c r e a s e t h e i m p a c t o f t h e c o n -

f l ic t o n T o m .

Properties of the Conflict

T o m ' s p a r e n t s a r e a r g u i n g a b o u t h i s f a t h e r 's w i s h t o r e a d t h e

n e w s p a p e r u n d i s t u r b e d b e f o re d i n n e r. T o m h e a r s hi s m o t h e r

a n g r i l y t e l l i n g h i s f a t h e r t h a t h e i s s e lf i sh a n d u n c a r i n g , a n d

s h o u l d s p e n d t h e t i m e b e f o r e d i n n e r w i t h h i s s o n . T o m ' s f a t h e r

b e c o m e s v e r y a n g r y a n d a s s e r t s t h a t h e n e v e r h a s t i m e t o r e l a x

a t h o m e , a n d h e w a n t s t o b e l e f t a l o n e w h e n h e g e t s h o m e f r o m

w o r k ( c o nt e n t) . A l t h o u g h n o p h y s i c a l a g g r e s s i o n o c c u r s , t h e

c o n f l i c t i s l o u d a n d e m o t i o n a l ( i n t e n s i t y ) . T h e a r g u m e n t c o n -

t i n u e s f o r 10 m i n ( d u r a ti o n ) , a n d t h e p a r e n t s c o m e n o c l o s e r to

re s o lv in g th e i r d i f f e r e n c e s ( r e s o lu t io n ) . T h i s c o n f l i c t i s l i k e ly to

c r e a t e c o n s i d e r a b l y m o r e d i s t r e s s f o r T o m t h a n i f h i s p a r e n t s

c a l m l y d i s c u s s e d t h e i r d i f f er e n c e s , h a d b e e n a r g u i n g o v e r s o m e -t h i n g u n r e l a t e d t o h i m ( e.g ., w o r k ) , a n d h a d r e s o l v e d t h e i r d i f f e r -

e n c e s in a m u tu a l ly s a t i s fy in g w ay .

Contextual Factors

T o m h a s w i t n e s se d m a n y o t h e r i n t e n se a r g u m e n t s b e t w e e n

h i s p a r e n t s i n t h e p a s t , b u t i s l a rg e l y i g n o r e d b y t h e m a t t h e s e

t i m e s ( p r e v i o u s e x p e r i e n c e w i t h c o n f l i c t ) . H e h a d u n s u c c e s s -

f u l l y t r i e d t o i n t e r r u p t h i s p a r e n t s ' f i g h ts o n a c o u p l e o f o c c a -

s i o ns . A l t h o u g h T o m h a s a r e a s o n a b l y g o o d r e l a t i o n s h i p w i t h

h i s m o t h e r , h e i s n o t c l o se t o h i s f a t h e r a n d s o m e t i m e s w o n d e r s

h o w m u c h h i s f a t h e r c a r e s f o r h i m . T o m d o e s n o t s e e hi s p a r e n t s

e x p r e ss m u c h w a r m t h t o w a r d e a c h o t h e r ( p e r ce i v e d e m o t i o n a lc l i m a t e) . T o m i s s o m e w h a t e a s i l y u p s e t b y s t r e s s f u l ev e n t s, b u t

i s n o t p a r t i c u l a r l y a g g r e s s iv e ( t e m p e r a m e n t ) . W h e n t h e c u r r e n t

e p i s o d e o f c o n f li c t b e g a n , T o m h a d b e e n i n a n a n x i o u s m o o d

b e c a u s e h e k n o w s t h a t h i s p a r e n t s o f t e n g e t i n t o f i g ht s w h e n h i s

f a t he r c o m e s h o m e , a n d w a s e x p e c t in g a n o t h e r a n g r y c o n f r o n -

t a t i o n t o d a y ( p r o x i m a l c o n te x t ) .

T h i s p a r t i c u l a r c o n s t e l l a t i o n o f f a c t o r s i s l i k e l y t o l e a d t o

m o r e d i s t r e s s t h a n i f p r e v i o u s c o n f l i ct s h a d b e e n l e s s f r e q u e n t

o r i n t e n s e , o r i f t h e y h a d b e e n h a p p i l y r e s o lv e d . T o m ' s e m o -

t i o n a l r e s p o n s e a l s o m i g h t b e a t t e n u a t e d i f h e w e r e i n a r e l a x e d

o r c a l m m o o d w h e n t h e c o n f l i c t b e g a n . F i n a l ly , i f T o m e x p e r i -

e n c e d c l o s e r f a m i l y r e l a t i o n s h i p s h e m i g h t f e e l le s s t h r e a t e n e d

Processing of the Conflict and Coping Response

T o m a t t e n d s t o t h e c o n f l i ct ( p r i m a r y p r o c e ss i n g ) a n d h e a r s

h i s m o t h e r a c c u s i n g h i s f a th e r o f n o t s p e n d i n g e n o u g h t i m ew i t h h i m , a n d h i s f a th e r sa y i n g t h a t h e d o e s n o t w a n t t o b e

b o t h e r e d b y T o m r i g h t a f t e r c o m i n g h o m e f r o m w o r k ( h i g h

n e g a t iv ity , t h re a t , a n d s e l f - r e l e v a n c e ) . T o m fe e l s s c a re d a n d s a d -

d e n e d b y t h e c o n f l i c t ( p r i m a r y a f f e c ti v e r e s p o n s e) a n d c o n -

c l u d e s t h a t h e i s t h e s o u r c e o f t h e c o n f l i c t s i n c e h e d o e s a s k t o

p l a y w i t h h i s f a t h e r w h e n h e a r r i v e s h o m e ( c a u sa l a t t r i b u t io n ) .

H e b l a m e s h i m s e l f f o r t h e c o n f l i c t ( r e s p o n s i b i l i ty a t t r i b u t i o n ) ,

w h i c h p r o d u c e s f e e l in g s o f g u i l t a n d l e a d s t o e v e n g r e a t e r d e j e c -

t i o n . T o m f e e ls h e l p le s s to s t o p h i s p a r e n t s ' a r g u m e n t ( e ff i ca c y

e x p e c t a t i o n ) a n d d o e s n o t t r y t o i n t e r v e n e . I n s t e a d , h e s t a y s in

t h e a d j o i n i n g r o o m a n d p u t s h i s h a n d s o v e r h is e a r s i n a n u n s u c -

c e s s fu l e f f o rt t o s h u t o u t t h e s o u n d o f t h e c o n f l i c t ( co p i n g b e -

h a v io r ) .

T o m ' s r e s p o n s e t o t h e c o n f l i c t m i g h t h a v e b e e n d i f f e r e n t h a d

h i s p r o c e s s i n g o f t h e c o n f l i c t b e e n d i f f e r e n t . A l t h o u g h h e

m i g h t h a v e b e e n u p s e t s i m p l y b e c a u s e h i s p a r e n t s w e r e f i g h t -

i n g , h a d h e a t t r i b u t e d t h e f i gh t t o h i s f a t h er ' s fa t i g ue a n d j u d g e d

t h a t n o o n e w a s r e a l l y t o b l a m e f o r t h e f i g ht , h e m i g h t n o t h a v e

f e lt a s sa d o r g u i l t y. F u r t h e r , i f T o m b e l i e v e d t h a t h e c o u l d h e l p

r e s o lv e t h e c o n f l i c t b y g o i n g i n t o t h e r o o m a n d d i s c u s s i n g t h e

c a u s e o f t h e c o n f l i c t w i t h h i s p a r e n t s , p e r h a p s h e w o u l d h a v e

f e lt m o r e c o n f i d e n t i n h i s a b i l i t y t o c o p e w i t h t h e c o n f l i c t a n d

c h o s e n a m o re e f f e c t iv e s t r a t eg y .

D e p e n d i n g o n T o m ' s l ev e l o f d e v e l o p m e n t , m a n y o f t h e p r o -

c e s s es d e s c r i b e d p r e v i o u s l y m i g h t b e d i f f e re n t . F o r e x a m p l e , a n

o l d e r c h i l d m i g h t b e l e s s l i k e l y t o p e r c e i v e h i m s e l f as t h e c a u s e

o f t h e c o n f l i c t a n d t o b l a m e h i m s e l f f o r i ts o c c u r r e n c e . I n s t e a d ,

h e m a y a t t r i b u t e t h e c o n f l i c t to h i s f a t h e r ' s p e r s o n a l i t y o r a b a d

d a y a t w o r k , a t t r i b u t i o n s t h a t a r e l e s s l i k e l y t o h a v e a n i m p a c t

o n h i s s e l f - e s t e e m . O n t h e o t h e r h a n d , o l d e r c h i l d r en ' s c a p a c i t y

f o r h y p o t h e t i c a l t h o u g h t a l l o w s t h e m t o c o n s i d e r f u tu r e i m p l i -

c a t i o n s o f m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t . F o r e x a m p l e , i f T o m b e l i e v e s t h a t

t h e c a u s e o f m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t i s s t a b l e a n d g l o b a l (e .g , h i s p a r e n t s

a r e i n c o m p a t i b l e ) , h e m a y f e a r t h a t h i s p a r e n t s w i l l d i v o r ce . A n

o l d e r c h i l d a l s o m i g h t b e b e t t e r a b l e t o c o p e w i t h h i s p a r e n t s '

a r g u m e n t s . A l t h o u g h h e m a y n o t b e a b l e to s t o p t h e c o n f l i c t , h e

m a y u s e a n e m o t i o n - f o c u s e d s t r a t e g y t h a t d e c r e a s e s i t s n e g a t i v e

i m p a c t , o r h e m i g h t l e a v e t h e h o u s e a n d f i n d fr i e n d s to s p e n d

t i m e w i t h. H a v i n g a p p l i e d o u r f r a m e w o r k t o a c o n cr e t e e x a m -

p l e o f m a r i t a l c o n f l i c t, w e t u r n t o e x p l o r e i t s i m p l i c a t i o n s f o rc h i l d r e n ' s a d j u s t m e n t .

I m p l i c a t i o n s o f t h e F r a m e w o r k

f or C h i l d r e n 's A d j u s t m e n t

A l t h o u g h i t i s c l e a r t h a t m a n y c h i l d r e n e x h i b i t f ea r , d i s t r e s s ,

o r a n g e r w h e n o b s e r v i n g h o s t i l e i n t e r a c t i o n s b e t w e e n t h e i r p a r -

e n t s (E . M . C u m m i n g s e t a l , 1 9 8 1 , 19 8 4 ) , o n l y a s in g l e s t u d y h a s

l i n k e d t h e s e i m m e d i a t e r e a c t io n s t o b e h a v i o r p r o b l e m s ( E. M .

C u m m i n g s e t a l , 1 9 89 ). C o n s i d e r a b l e w o r k i s n e e d e d t o i n v e s t i -

g a t e h o w t h e p r o c e s s e s t h a t o c c u r w h e n c h i l d r e n o b s e r v e m a r i -

t a l c o n f l i c t a f f ec t t h e i r a d j u s t m e n t . W e b e l i e v e t h a t t h e f r a m e -



MARITAL CONFLICT AND CHILDREN'S ADJUSTMENT 287

havior. In support of this idea, Herzberger and Tennen (1985)

found that adults who had experienced severe parental disci-

pline as children viewed severe discipl inary techniques as more

appropriate and less severe than did people who had not re-

ceived such discipline as children. Further, they attributed

greater respons ibility to the child for the parent' s discipline.

This study indicates that children ca n acquire maladaptive atti-tudes and behaviors from their parents that continue to affect

their lives even as adults.

Fourth, the relationship between marital conflict and child

behavior problems needs to be examin ed in relation to other

potentially relevant family variables, particularly pa rent-child

relationships. Because some researchers have argued that the

effect of marital conflict can be attributed to changes in par-

ent -ch ild re lations hips (e.g., Jouriles et al., 1987; O'Leary &

Emery, 1984), assessment of both parent-child relationships

and marital conflict provides an opportunity to examine the

relative effects of these variables. Examining conflict within

the broader context of family interactions will provide a more

complete picture of the processes that give rise to a djustmen t

problems in children.

Fifth, lon gitudinal research is necessary to investigate causal

effects of marital conflict and the relationship between con-

flict, family interactions, and children's adjustment over time.

Most studies obtai n concu rrent measures of conflict and behav-

ior problems, leaving unanswered questions pert aining to the

effects o f the du rati on of mari tal conflict on children's adjust-

ment, how children cope with conflict over time, and the im-

pact of continued exposure to conflict. Studies of divorce re-

veal that behavi or problems decrease as conflict decreases, but

most of these st udies focus exclusively on p roblem behaviors

and do not examine other long-term effects (for an exception,

see Hetherington et al., 1982).

C O N C L U S I O N

Our review documents the existence of a relation between

marital conflict and children's adjustment. However, little is

know n about the processes that give rise to this association. We

therefore have offered a framework that integrates findings

from this literature and identifies a nu mbe r of factors that may

mediate the impact of marital conflict on children. The frame-

work proposes t hat the effect of conflict depen ds on chi ldren's

unde rsta ndin g of the conflict, which varies as a function of

characteristics of the conflict, contextual factors, and level of

cognitive development. By placing children's observation of

marital conflict in a broader context that includes the per-

ceived emotiona l climate o f the family, t heir previous experi-

ence with conflict, their interpretation of conflict, and their

coping ability, we have attempted to lay the foundation for a

more complete unde rsta ndin g of the relationship between

marital conflict and children's adjustment.

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