Interparental conflict trajectories across various child residence arrangements when parents live apart.

In Norway, as in most Western countries, a growing proportion of parents living apart choose shared residence for their children. The aim of this study was to investigate trajectories of five interparental conflict dimensions across four child residence arrangement groups (and three combination groups) to improve understanding of different conflict trajectories when parents live apart. We used data from the Dynamics of Family Conflict study. Families (N = 1136) were recruited from 37 family counseling centers across Norway. Parents answered questionnaires in three waves: Wave 1 (December 2017 through August 2019); Wave 2 (November 2019 through January 2021); and Wave 3 (April through May 2021). Mixed effects analyses indicated that (a) for all conflict dimensions, there was less conflict and more cooperation over time across all residence arrangements; (b) except for children's involvement in conflict, the conflict dimensions did not develop differently over time between residence arrangements; (c) families with arrangements in which one parent had minority time (1%-14% and 15%-34%) were more likely to report children being involved in their parents' arguments over time than the 35%-49% and 50/50 residence groups; (d) for families with high relational risk pattern, children's involvement in conflict did not decline in either a high (1-34%) or a low degree (35%-49%) of sharing; and (e) families with a violent risk pattern and low degree of sharing (1%-34%) had the steepest decrease in conflict frequency/intensity over time. Even with an average decrease in destructive conflict dimensions over time, the findings point to the need for providing support for parents with complex needs, particularly for parents with a high relational risk pattern.

The indirect impact of infant negative emotionality on interparental conflict via perceptions of coparenting challenges: What prenatal resources mitigate this risk?

Research clearly demonstrates that conflictual interparental relationship dynamics can create a family context that contributes to child emotional insecurity and psychopathology. Significantly less research has examined familial factors that contribute to maladaptive conflict between parents. Scholars have alluded to the disruptive impacts of parenting a child with certain temperamental characteristics (e.g., negative emotionality). Yet, there is a lack of empirical research examining if and how child temperament contributes to later interparental conflict. Using an established multi-informant, multi-method sample of 150 families first assessed during pregnancy, and again when the child was 1, 2, and 3.5 years of age, the present study aimed to test an integrated conceptual model examining whether infants' negative emotionality assessed at age 1 predicts interparental conflict at age 3.5, as mediated through destructive coparenting dynamics in toddlerhood, and identifying prenatal protective factors mitigating this maladaptive pathway. Findings suggest that greater infant negative emotionality predicts worse interparental conflict management during preschool age by undermining the mother's (but not the father's) report of coparenting relationship quality during toddlerhood. However, these results were significant only to the extent that parents were lacking certain prenatal regulatory resources (i.e., low paternal self-compassion; less secure relationship between parents). Importantly, results point to the need for intervention and prevention efforts during pregnancy that might disrupt the deleterious impacts of parenting a child who is more reactive and prone to expressing negative emotions.

Children's empathy moderates the association between perceived interparental conflict and child health.

Interparental conflict is known to negatively impact child well-being, including behavioral and physiological well-being. Children's empathy - that is, vicariously experiencing others' emotions - may increase children's sensitivity to and the biological repercussions of interparental conflict. Although empathy represents a valued trait and is an important part of socioemotional development, its influence on children's physical health is unknown. This study examined whether empathy moderates the association between perceived interparental conflict and both child systemic inflammation and parent-rated overall child health in a sample of children between the ages of seven to nine. Children and their parents participating in the long-term evaluation of the Family Foundations program, a randomized trial of a perinatal preventative intervention, provided data approximately eight years following enrollment into the program. We collected peripheral blood samples via dried blood spots, anthropometric measurements, and child and parent psychosocial questionnaires. Results indicated significant positive main effects of child empathy on both C-reactive protein (CRP; B = 0.26, SE = 0.11, p =.026) and Interleukin-6 (IL-6; B = 0.20, SE = 0.10, p =.045) levels. Further, child affective empathy moderated the associations between perceived interparental conflict and both CRP (B = 0.39, SE = 0.19, p =.050) and parent-reported child health (B = 0.30, SE = 0.13, p =.021), such that greater empathy strengthened the negative associations between interparental conflict and child health. Overall, findings suggests that there may be a biological cost of being more empathic in high-conflict environments and highlight the need for tools to help more empathic children appropriately manage vicarious emotions.

Interparental conflict and adolescent emotional security across family structures.

This study investigated whether interparental conflict was differentially related to forms of emotional security (i.e., family, interparental, parent-child) and whether forms of emotional security were differentially associated with mental health problems for adolescents in married versus divorced/separated families. Participants were 1032 adolescents (ages 10-15; 51% male, 49% female; 82% non-Hispanic White, 9% Black/African American, 5% Hispanic, 2% Asian or Pacific Islander, 2% Native American) recruited from a public school in a middle-class suburb of a United States metropolitan area. We used multiple group multivariate path analysis to assess (1) associations between interparental conflict and multiple measures of emotional insecurity (i.e., family, interparental, and parent-child), (2) associations between measures of emotional insecurity and internalizing and externalizing problems, and (3) moderation effects of parent-child relationships. The patterns of association were similar across family structures. A high-quality parent-child relationship did not mitigate the harmful effects of interparental conflict on emotional insecurity or mental health problems. Findings suggest that regardless of family structure, emotional security across multiple family systems may be a critical target for intervention to prevent youth mental health problems, in addition to interventions that reduce conflict and improve parent-child relationships.

Interparental Conflict and Early Adolescent Depressive Symptoms: Parent-Child Triangulation as the Mediator and Grandparent Support as the Moderator.

A notable ambiguity persists concerning whether distinct forms of parent-child triangulation (unstable coercive coalition, stable coalition, detouring-attacking, detouring supportive, parentification) might mediate the association between interparental conflict and early adolescent depressive symptoms similarly within the context of Chinese Confucianism. Filling this research gap, this study aimed to examine the mediating role of the five dimensions of parent-child triangulation in the association between interparental conflict and early adolescent depressive symptoms, as well as the moderating effect of grandparent support on this mediating pathway. Data were drawn from a sample of 761 Chinese adolescents (M age = 12.82 ± 0.47, 49.1% girls). Structural equation model analyses indicated that unstable coercive coalition, stable coalition, and detouring-attacking behaviors partially mediated the association between interparental conflict and adolescent depressive symptoms, while detouring-supportive behaviors and parentification did not demonstrate such mediating effects. Unlike Western societies, a negative correlation was observed between interparental conflict and parentification in the context of China. Grandparent support mitigated the adverse effects of both interparental conflict and the unstable coercive coalition on early adolescent depressive symptoms.

Reciprocal relations between interparental aggression and symptoms of oppositional defiant and conduct disorders: a seven-wave cohort study of within-family effects from preschool to adolescence.

BACKGROUND: Interparental aggression is believed to increase the risk of behavioral disorders in offspring, and offspring behavioral problems may forecast interparental aggression. However, these assumptions have yet to be put to a strong test. This study, therefore, examined whether increased interparental aggression predicted increased symptoms of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD) from preschool to adolescence and vice versa. METHODS: A sample (n = 1,077; 49.6% girls) from two birth cohorts of children in Trondheim, Norway, was assessed biennially from age 4 to 16. Children's symptoms of ODD and CD were assessed using semi-structured clinical interviews of parents (from age 4) and children (from age 8). One of the parents reported on their own and their partner's verbal and physical aggression. A random intercept cross-lagged model was estimated to test the within-family relations between interparental aggression, CD, and ODD symptoms. RESULTS: Across development, increased interparental aggression predicted increased CD symptoms 2 years later, whereas an increased number of ODD symptoms forecasted increased interparental aggression. CONCLUSIONS: The argumentative/defiant, aggressive, and vindictive behaviors seen in ODD are often directed toward parents and may take a toll on their relationship and possibly foster interparental aggression, whereas aggression between parents may promote symptoms of CD in their offspring, which commonly extend beyond the home. Incorporating effective and non-aggressive means to solve interparental conflict into parental management programs may reduce the development of symptoms of CDs in children.

An intergenerational study of parental bonding on perceptions of parental and spousal criticism and marital relationship quality in Singapore.

Criticism is a form of interpersonal social rejection and destructive conflict behavior which has been associated with poor relationship outcomes in both parent-child and marital relationships. However, the role of the individual's perceptions of parental and spousal criticism in influencing the perceptions of criticism of other members in the family unit has not been examined. This study investigated the associations between parental bonding and perceptions of parental and spousal criticism across generations in Singapore. In all, 134 Singaporean married parent dyads (G2) and one child (G3) of each dyad were recruited. G2 parent participants completed the Perceived Criticism measure for their parents (G1) and spouses, the Parental Bonding Instrument and the Quality of Marriage Index. G3 children participants completed the Perceived Criticism measure for their parents (G2). Path analysis found that G2 perceptions of parental bonding were significant predictors of G2's perceptions of G1 parental criticism, which significantly predicted both G2's perceptions of spousal criticism and G3's perceptions of G2 parental criticism. Perceptions of spousal criticism were also found to predict marital relationship quality in G2 participants. Findings highlight the intergenerational transmission of perceptions of criticism across relationships in the family unit, providing support that parenting practices and communication patterns in one generation can predict those in the next generation in the Singaporean context. Future studies can look to replicate the findings in other cultures and include further investigations into sibling relationships as well.

Unraveling the Links among Witnessing Interparental Conflict, Hopelessness, Psychological Dating Violence Victimization, and Adult Depressive Symptoms.

Witnessing interparental conflict in childhood predicts psychological dating violence victimization (PDVV) in adulthood. As found in previous studies, PDVV and hopelessness are associated with depression. However, the associations among these four variables have not been explored in detail. The present study, therefore, examined the association between perceived interparental conflict and depression in adulthood and whether PDVV and hopelessness might operate as sequential mechanisms accounting for the association. Participants (N = 283; Mage = 23.37 years, SD = 4.04 years) in romantic relationships completed measures of perceived interparental conflict, PDVV, hopelessness, and depression. The perceived interparental conflict was related to PDVV and depression but not to hopelessness in adulthood. Moreover, the association between witnessing interparental conflict and depression was serially mediated via PDVV and hopelessness. The results are discussed in regard to previous research, and their implications for future research are presented.

Examining mechanisms linking economic insecurity to interparental conflict among couples with low income.

Objective: The current study used the family stress model to test the mechanisms by which economic insecurity contributes to mothers' and fathers' mental health and couples' relationship functioning. Background: Although low household income has been a focus of poverty research, material hardship-defined as everyday challenges related to making ends meet including difficulties paying for housing, utilities, food, or medical care-is common among American families. Methods: Participants were from the Building Strong Families project. Couples were racially diverse (43.52% Black; 28.88% Latinx; 17.29% White; 10.31% Other) and living with low income (N = 2,794). Economic insecurity included income poverty and material hardship. Bayesian mediation analysis was employed, taking advantage of the prior evidence base of the family stress model. Results: Material hardship, but not income poverty, predicted higher levels of both maternal and paternal depressive symptoms. Only paternal depressive symptoms were linked with higher levels of destructive interparental conflict (i.e., moderate verbal aggression couples use that could be harmful to the partner relationship). Mediation analysis confirmed that material hardship operated primarily through paternal depressive symptoms in its association with destructive interparental conflict. Conclusion: The economic stress of meeting the daily material needs of the family sets the stage for parental mental health problems that carry over to destructive interparental conflict, especially through paternal depressive symptoms. Implications: Family-strengthening programs may want to consider interventions to address material hardship (e.g., comprehensive needs assessments, connections to community-based resources, parents' employment training) as part of their efforts to address parental mental health and couples' destructive conflict behaviors.

Effects of interparental conflict on children's depression in the context of COVID-19: Does parent-child conflict play a role?

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of depression among children has dramatically increased since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. OBJECTIVE: Through focusing on verbal fights, the most common form of family conflict, this study examined the association between interparental conflict and children's depression and explored the mediating role of parent-child conflict. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: A total of 1005 children (47.0 % females) aged between 9 and 12 years old constituted the analytical subjects, who had been drawn from the 2020 survey of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). METHODS: Descriptive statistics were obtained, and bivariate correlation analysis and mediation analysis were performed. RESULTS: According to the Spearman correlation analysis, interparental conflict and children's depression were positively correlated (ρ = 0.214, p < 0.01); moreover, parent-child conflict was significantly positively associated with both interparental conflict (ρ = 0.450, p < 0.01) and children's depression (ρ = 0.224, p < 0.01). Additionally, mediation analysis demonstrated that, after controlling for sociodemographic factors, parent-child conflict operated as a mediator between interparental conflict and children's depression. More specifically, parent-child conflict accounted for 47.6 % of the total effect of interparental conflict on children's depression. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggested that frequent conflicts between parents predicted increased parent-child conflict, which, in turn, elevated the risk of depression for children. To reduce the risk of children's depression, it is necessary to create a good environment and build a harmonious relationship within the family. At the same time, specific supportive services, such as family therapy, filial therapy, and couple relationship education, should be provided.

Emotion regulation, parental stress and family functioning: Families of children with disabilities vs normative families.

Childhood disability is a major challenge for families. The aim of the present study was to explore differences between families of children with disabilities and normative families, analyzing the association of emotion dysregulation with relationship satisfaction, through parental stress and interparental conflict, using supportive dyadic coping by oneself (SDCO) as a moderator. For a sample of 445 Romanian parents, results showed higher levels of parental stress and interparental conflict and lower relationship satisfaction in families of children with disabilities compared to normative families, as well as a direct relationship between parental stress and relationship satisfaction and a stronger direct effect for SDCO with relationship satisfaction. For normative families, SDCO moderated the relationship between emotion dysregulation and parental stress, and for families of children with disabilities SDCO interacted on the link between emotion dysregulation and relationship satisfaction. Only families of children with disabilities presented indirect effects between emotion dysregulation and relationship satisfaction through parental stress, moderated by SDCO. These effects increased in impact as the use of SDCO was higher. Conditional indirect effects by SDCO were also found for the link between emotion dysregulation and relationship satisfaction through interparental conflict for both families, with this effect being higher in families of children with disabilities. These findings highlight the need to implement specific programs that can adjust to the needs of these families, strengthening parents' emotional competencies, as well as stress and conflict management abilities.

Longitudinal association between interparental conflict and risk-taking behavior among Chinese adolescents: testing a moderated mediation model.

BACKGROUND: The interparental conflict has been associated with an increased adolescents' engagement in risk-taking behaviors. However, few studies have examined the potential mediation of deviant peer affiliation and the potential moderation of school climate. Grounded in the ecological system theory, this study aimed to explore the mediating role of deviant peer affiliation and the moderating role of school climate between the association of interparental conflict and risk-taking behavior. METHODS: This study conducted a longitudinal design (3 time points, 3 months apart) with the sample comprising 550 middle school students in southeastern China (52.91% males; mean age at Time 1 = 15.37). The performed measurements encompassed interparental conflict (T1), deviant peer affiliation (T2), school climate (T3), risk-taking behavior (T1/T2/T3), and demographic information. RESULTS: The moderated mediation model revealed that after controlling for T1/T2 risk-taking behavior, T1 interparental conflict was longitudinally and positively correlated with T3 risk-taking behavior through T2 deviant peer affiliation. Furthermore, moderated mediation analysis demonstrated that a positive school climate ameliorated the adverse impact of deviant peer affiliation on risk-taking behavior, thereby mitigating the indirect effect of interparental conflict on risk-taking behavior among adolescents. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings propose a nuanced explanation of the processing mechanisms between interparental conflict and risk-taking behaviors among Chinese adolescents. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Interparental conflict and depressive symptoms among Chinese adolescents: A longitudinal moderated mediation model.

While the detrimental effect of interparental conflict on adolescent depression is well-established, the underlying mechanisms linking the two continue to be inadequately understood. This study investigated the mediating role of family functioning and the moderating role of cultural beliefs about adversity in the association between interparental conflict and adolescent depression. The samples included 651 Chinese adolescents (mean age at Time 1 = 13.27 years; 56.5% girls) from a two-wave longitudinal study with data spanning 1 year. The findings from path modeling analyses provided evidence for the mediating role of family functioning; these findings indicated that interparental conflict can damage family functioning, which in turn exacerbates the risk of adolescent depression. The moderating role of cultural beliefs about adversity was also demonstrated by interactions between interparental conflict and cultural beliefs about adversity, as well as, family functioning and cultural beliefs about adversity. The results indicated a buffering role of cultural beliefs about adversity on the deleterious effect of interparental conflict on adolescent depression. They also suggested that lower levels of family functioning was associated with increased depression among adolescents were lower in cultural beliefs about adversity.

Longitudinal Relationships Between Interparental Conflict and Adolescent Depression: Moderating Effects of School Connectedness.

The present study examined the association between interparental conflict and adolescent depression, and explored the moderating role of school connectedness in this association, in a Chinese context. Data were analyzed from 867 Chinese adolescents who completed the survey at 2 time points. Cross-lagged analyses indicated that interparental conflict in 7th grade adolescents significantly predicted depression in 8th grade, but adolescent depression in 7th grade was not a significant predictor of interparental conflict in 8th grade. In addition, there was a significant negative moderating effect of school connectedness, as high levels of school connectedness reduced the negative effect of interparental conflict on adolescent depression. Thus, the association between interparental conflict and adolescent depression has a unidirectional prediction. School connectedness can relieve the adverse effects of interparental conflict on adolescent depression.

Interparental Conflict and Young Adult Romantic Relationships: A Systematic Review.

In the last two decades, researchers have been progressively investigating the impact of interparental conflict (IPC) on young adults romantic relationships. This systematic review aimed to synthesize literature on IPC and romantic relationship outcomes among young adults and highlight mechanisms found in this link. Following the PRISMA protocol, 3232 studies were identified using Boolean searches on ProQuest, PubMed, EBSCOhost, Jstor, Cochrane, and Google Scholar, and 17 met the eligibility criteria. To be included, in addition to having IPC and romantic relationship outcomes as variables, studies had to be quantitative in design, have a mean sample age of 18-25, include only participants in romantic relationships at the time of the study, and be published in English with full text available. The review found that IPC is associated with negative conflict management, both perpetration and victimization of aggression, worse communication, negative conflict behaviors, and poor relationship quality. Other outcomes like relationship satisfaction, commitment, as well as mediator variables in the link between IPC and young adult romantic relationship outcomes, such as attitudes towards marriage and conflict attributions, yielded varied results. Several shortcomings in the methodology of the reviewed articles, such as the research sample and measures, were discovered. To deal with the impact of IPC on offspring's romantic relationships, preventive interventions should be designed and evaluated, and more research with different variables and study designs, with more men, other ethnicities, and more representative sample frames are needed to detect crucial mediators and obtain reliable and generalizable results.

Emotional Reactivity to Daily Family Conflicts: Testing the Within-Person Sensitization.

Although the sensitization hypothesis posits that heightened reactivity to interparental conflict is linked to adolescent psychopathology, limited studies tested whether sensitization would emerge in parent-adolescent conflict and across ethnicity or culture. This study revisits the sensitization hypothesis by examining adolescent emotional reactivity to interparental and parent-adolescent conflicts on a daily timescale. The sample included 163 adolescents (55% girls; Mage = 12.79) and their parents (78% females; Mage = 45.46) who completed a 10-day reports in Taiwan. Multilevel modeling results showed that, instead of interparental conflict, adolescents with greater histories of parent-adolescent conflict exhibited higher emotional reactivity when parent-adolescent conflict was higher. The findings underscore the importance of parent-adolescent conflict in evaluating adolescent developmental risk.

Destructive interparental conflict affects Chinese children's emotional and behavioral problems: Indirect pathways via parent-child attachment and emotional insecurity.

Background: Previous studies have demonstrated that destructive interparental conflict (IPC) is closely related to the emergence of emotional and behavioral problems in adolescents. In addition, in the family system, such conflict also affects the patent-child attachment relationship and emotional insecurity of adolescents. Objectives: This study mainly explores the relationship between destructive interparental conflict and adolescents' emotional and behavioral problems, focuses on the role of parent-child attachment and emotional insecurity, and analyzes whether this relationality plays multiple mediating roles in the influence of destructive interparental conflict on emotional and behavioral problems. Methods: Data for the study were obtained through a questionnaire survey conducted on 524 Chinese adolescents from primary and junior high school. Results: Structural equation modeling was conducted to test direct and indirect pathways between destructive interparental conflict and Chinese adolescents' emotional and behavioral problems. Destructive IPC negatively predicted parent-child attachment and parent-child attachment negatively predicted emotional and behavioral problems. Destructive Interparental conflict positively predicted emotional insecurity and emotional insecurity positively predicted emotional and behavioral problems. Discussion: The results show that: (1) Parent-child attachment negatively predicted emotional and behavioral problems, and emotional insecurity positively predicted the same. (2) Parent-child attachment and emotional insecurity act in a multiple mediating role between destructive IPC and adolescents' emotional and behavioral problems. (3) Parent-child attachment and emotional insecurity constitute two indirect pathways between destructive IPC and adolescents' emotional and behavioral problems, respectively. Conclusion: Destructive IPC can adversely affect emotional and behavioral problems among adolescents; destructive IPC plays a damaging role in their emotional security and parent-child attachment, consequently effecting emotional and behavioral problems.

Disentangling the Long-term Effects of Divorce Circumstances on Father-Child Closeness in Adulthood: A Mediation Analysis.

Many studies have shown that the relationship between nonresidential fathers and their children in youth has a lasting influence on their relationship in adulthood. Comparatively less is known about the process through which divorce affects father-child relationships. We assess if and how the divorce circumstances of interparental conflict, the presence of new partners, and geographical distance between parents affect nonresidential father-child closeness in adulthood. Using a path model, we test whether father-adult child closeness is mediated by fathers' involvement after divorce. The results of this study demonstrate that the level of interparental conflict and the presence of a fathers' new partner after the divorce negatively affect the closeness between fathers and children in adulthood. Our mediation analysis demonstrates that both the effects of interparental conflict and new partnerships on closeness are partially mediated by father involvement and contact frequency during childhood. In other words, it is partly through the negative effect that interparental conflict and new partners have on fathers' involvement that fathers and children become less close later in life. Our study highlights the importance of disentangling the effects of different factors associated with divorce when examining nonresidential father-child relationships.

Rejection sensitivity mediates the interparental conflict and adolescent Internet addiction: School connectedness as a moderator.

Internet addiction (IA) is a growing social problem with negative mental and social outcomes; the present study examined whether rejection sensitivity mediates the relationship between interparental conflict and adolescent IA and the moderating role of school connectedness. One thousand and seven adolescents (51.84% females; Meanage = 13.17; SD = 0.69) anonymously completed questionnaires to assess interparental conflict, school connectedness, rejection sensitivity, IA, and demographic information. The model results showed that: (1) the positive association between interparental conflict and adolescent IA was partially mediated by rejection sensitivity; (2) this indirect link was moderated by the school connectedness and was stronger for adolescents with high school connectedness. The results provide support for the attachment theory that high interparental conflict could increase adolescents' rejection sensitivity, and high school connectedness plays a double-edged role that adolescents show more rejection sensitivity while reporting high interparental conflict and high school connectedness.

Enhancing Daily Affect in Youth Experiencing High-Conflict Parental Divorce: A Multiple Baseline Trial of an Online Prevention Program.

This study investigated the effects of a highly interactive, online cognitive-behavioral youth coping program: Children of Divorce-Coping with Divorce (CoD-CoD; Boring et al., 2015) on children exposed to high levels of interparental conflict (IPC). A multiple-baseline experimental design (N = 9) evaluated within-subject intervention effects on change in daily positive and negative affect before, during, and after the intervention (nobservations = 462). Participants were youth ages 11-16 who reported high exposure to IPC and whose parents had filed for divorce or parenting plan determinations in the prior year. A significant interaction effect indicated change in positive affect, but not negative affect, between the intervention and baseline phases. Positive affect linearly decreased during the baseline phase and flattened during the intervention phase. Results indicate that CoD-CoD was effective in interrupting a decline in youth-reported positive affect in a high-IPC sample, which may indicate a buffering effect against depression. Critical future directions include conducting large-scale randomized trials with children from high-IPC families to assess for whom the program is effective and assess long-term effects across a broad range of important outcomes.