Interparental Conflict and Youth Maladjustment: The Role of Perceived Content and Resolution

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Interparental Conflict and Youth Maladjustment
The Role of Perceived Content and Resolution

• Cheryl Buehler, John G. Orme, Karen L. Franck,
  Owen Anderson

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The Family Life Project A Study of How Marital
Conflict Affects Youth Maladjustment

• Five-year longitudinal study funded by NIMH
• http//web.utk.edu/famlife/

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Base Model
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• Child-Related Content

Not Child-Related Content
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• IPC Not or Poorly Resolved

IPC Resolved
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Interparental Conflict

• Overt conflict behaviors
• Yell, scream, name call
• Covert conflict behaviors
• Feel caught in middle
• Parents triangle
• Intensity

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Youth Maladjustment (youth and teacher report)

• Externalizing problem behavior
• Aggression
• Delinquency
• Internalizing problem behavior
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Withdrawal
• Somatic complaints
• Social problems

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Sample

• 1642 6th graders
• 12 of 14 county middle schools
• 58 response rate
• Representative of county families on race,
  economic well-being, percent married

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Data Collection

• School questionnaire
• 50-60 minutes
• Groups of 40-50
• Pizza party
• Youth report of IPC and youth maladjustment
• Teacher questionnaire completed in April

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Sample Characteristics of Cohort 1

• Mean age 12.1 (SD )
• 52 daughters
• 83 EA 10 AA
• 56 bio families
• 11 report financial struggles

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Preliminary Findings School Cohort 1
(completely standardized)
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Syndrome Analyses

• Externalizing problem behavior - .46
• Internalizing problem behavior - .51

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Conditionalizing Analyses

• Multiple group analyses (fully constrained)
• Model holds equally well for
• Daughters and sons
• African and European American youth
• Youth living with married parents and with a
  divorced mother

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Conflict Properties Role of Child-Related Content

• YR 7 items (CPIC, Ahrons, pilot)
• ? .74
• Content groups formed using median split, 25
  percentile, and latent class analysis results
  same regardless of grouping method
• Not a moderator (unstandardized effect 8.25 in
  each group)
• Direct effect - .58

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Child-Related Content

• Not a moderator
• Not child-related
• Unstandardized effect 6.96
• Standardized .38
• Child-related
• Unstandardized effect 7.92
• Standardized .46
• Direct effect - .58 (sole predictor)

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Conflict Properties Role of Perceived Resolution

• YR 10 items (CPIC, MAIC, pilot)
• ? .84
• Not a moderator
• Not resolved
• Unstandardized effect 5.91
• Standardized .33
• Child-related
• Unstandardized effect 9.57
• Standardized .28
• Direct effect - .55 (sole predictor)

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Conclusions

• Early adolescent youth are at risk when their
  parents fight about child-related issues, but
  this content doesnt exacerbate the negative
  effects of hostile IPC aggression. Parents
  fighting about issues not related to the children
  still place their children at risk for
  difficulties if they are hostile and aggressive
  with one another.

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Conclusions (cont.)

• Early adolescent youth are at risk when their
  parents dont resolve their disagreements, but
  this lack of resolution doesnt exacerbate the
  negative effects of hostile IPC aggression.
  Parents who resolve conflicts still place their
  children at risk for difficulties if they are
  hostile and aggressive with one another.