Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Do Marital Conflict Behaviors in Response to a Novel Stressor Uniquely Predict Adolescent Outcomes?

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Child and Family Studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The goal of this study was to examine whether mothers’ and fathers’ marital conflict behaviors in response to a novel stressor are uniquely predictive of adolescent outcomes. Previous research establishing the detrimental consequences of marital conflict for child outcomes has relied exclusively on assessments of conflict that measure reoccurring or past conflict. From 153 adolescents and/or both of their parents, reports were gathered on marital conflict, adolescent conflict appraisals, parent-adolescent relationship quality, and adolescent adjustment. Couples engaged in two marital problem-solving interaction tasks—one that elicited conflict behaviors by requiring discussion of salient, reoccurring topics of disagreement and one that prompted conflict behaviors by requiring that couples worked together to solve an unfamiliar problem. Results indicated that compared to behaviors during the marital conflict discussion as well as parent-reports of the frequency, intensity, and resolution of typical conflict, conflict behaviors in response to a novel stressor, particularly those displayed by mothers, were uniquely associated with adolescents’ conflict appraisals and dimensions of the parent-adolescent relationship but not adolescent adjustment. Specifically more-negative (relative to positive) conflict behaviors in response to the novel stressor was associated with more-negative adolescent conflict appraisals; mothers’ more-negative conflict behaviors in response to a novel stressor were also linked to adolescents reporting less parental monitoring. In contrast, parent reports of typical marital conflict uniquely predicted conflict property appraisals, the affective quality of mother-adolescent relationships, and adolescent adjustment. Implications for future research elucidating associations between conflict behaviors in response to a novel stressor on children and families are discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Achenbach, T. M. (1991). Manual for the child behavior checklist: 4-18 and 1991 profile. Burlington, ON: Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont.

    Google Scholar 

  • Achenbach, T. M. (1999). The child behavior checklist and related instruments. In M. E. Maruish (Ed.). The use of psychological testing for treatment planning and outcomes assessment (2nd ed.,pp. 429–466). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alfieri, T., Ruble, D. N., & Higgins, E. T. (1996). Gender stereotypes during adolescence: Developmental changes and the transition to junior high school. Developmental Psychology, 32, 1129–1137.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Almeida, D. M., Wethington, E., & Chandler, A. L. (1999). Daily transmission of tensions between marital dyads and parent–child dyads. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 61, 49–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ballinger, G. A. (2004). Using generalized estimating equations for longitudinal data analysis. Organizational Research Methods, 7, 127–150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benjamini, Y., & Hochberg, Y. (1995). Controlling the false discovery rate: A practical and powerful approach to multiple testing. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series, 57, 289–300.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bickham, N. L., & Fiese, B. H. (1997). Extension of the children’s perceptions of interparental conflict scale for use with late adolescents. Journal of Family Psychology, 11, 246–250.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Braiker, H., & Kelley, H. (1979). Conflict in the development of close relationships. In R. Burgess, & T. Huston (Eds.), Social exchange and developing relationships (pp. 135–168). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Buehler, C., Anthohy, C., Krishnakumar, A., Stone, G., Gerard, J., & Pemberton, S. (1997). Interparental conflict and youth problem behaviors: A meta-analysis. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 6, 223–247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conger, R. D., & Ge, X. (1999). Conflict and cohesion in parent-adolescent relations: Changes in emotional expression from early to midadolescence. In M. J. Cox, & J. Brooks-Gunn (Eds.), Conflict and cohesion in families: Causes and consequences (pp. 185–206). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conger, R. D., Wallace, L. E., Sun, Y., Simons, R. L., McLoyd, V. C., & Brody, G. H. (2002). Economic pressure in African American families: A replication and extension of the family stress model. Developmental Psychology, 38, 179–193.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cummings, E. M., & Davies, P. T. (2002). Effects of marital conflict on children: Recent advances and emerging themes in process-oriented research. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 43, 31–63.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cummings, E. M., & Davies, P. T. (2010). Marital conflict and children: An emotional security perspective. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cummings, E. M., Faircloth, W. B., Mitchell, P. M., Cummings, J. S., & Schermerhorn, A. C. (2008). Evaluating a brief prevention program for improving marital conflict in community families. Journal of Family Psychology, 22, 193–202.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cummings, E. M., George, M. R., Koss, K. J., & Davies, P. T. (2013). Parental depressive symptoms and adolescent adjustment: Responses to children’s distress and representations of attachment as explanatory mechanisms. Parenting, 13. doi:10.1080/15295192.2013.832568.

  • Cummings, E. M., George, M. R. W., McCoy, K. P., & Davies, P. T. (2012). Interparental conflict in kindergarten and adolescent adjustment: Prospective investigation of emotional security as an explanatory mechanism. Child Development, 83, 1703–1715.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cummings, E. M., Goeke-Morey, M. C., & Papp, L. M. (2003). Children’s responses to everyday marital conflict tactics in the home. Child Development, 74, 1918–1929.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Davies, P. T., & Cummings, E. M. (1994). Marital conflict and child adjustment: An emotional security hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 116, 387–411.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Davies, P. T., Sturge-Apple, M. L., Cicchetti, D., & Cummings, E. M. (2007). The role of child adrenocortical functioning in pathways between interparental conflict and child maladjustment. Developmental Psychology, 43, 918–930.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Emery, R. E., Fincham, F. D., & Cummings, E. M. (1992). Parenting in context: Systemic thinking about parental conflict and its influence on children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 60, 909–912.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Erel, O., & Burman, B. (1995). Interrelatedness of marital relations and parent-child relations: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 118, 108–132.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fosco, G. M., & Feinberg, M. E. (2015). Cascading effects of interparental conflict in adolescence: Linking threat appraisals, self-efficacy, and adjustment. Development and Psychopathology, 27, 239–252.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fosco, G. M., & Grych, J. H. (2008). Emotional, cognitive, and family systems mediators of children’s adjustment to interparental conflict. Journal of Family Psychology, 22, 843–854.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fosco, G. M., & Grych, J. H. (2010). Adolescent triangulation into parental conflicts: Longitudinal implications for appraisals and adolescent-parent relations. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72, 254–266.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • George, M. W., Fairchild, A. J., Mark Cummings, E., & Davies, P. T. (2014). Marital conflict in early childhood and adolescent disordered eating: emotional insecurity about the marital relationship as an explanatory mechanism. Eating Behavior, 15, 532–539.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gerard, J. M., Buehler, C., Franck, K., & Anderson, O. (2005). In the eyes of the beholder: Cognitive appraisals as mediators of the association between interparental conflict and youth maladjustment. Journal of Family Psychology, 19, 376–384.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goeke-Morey, M. C., Cummings, E. M., Harold, G. T., & Shelton, K. H. (2003). Categories and continua of destructive and constructive marital conflict tactics from the perspective of U.S. and Welsh children. Journal of Family Psychology, 17, 327–338.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gonzales, N. A., Pitts, S. C., Hill, N. E., & Roosa, M. W. (2000). A meditational model of the impact of interparental conflict on child adjustment in a multiethnic low-income sample. Journal of Family Psychology, 14, 365–379.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gottman, J. M. (2014). What predicts divorce? New York, NY: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gottman, J. M., & Silver, N. (2009). The seven principles of making marriage work. New York, NY: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grych, J. H., & Fincham, F. D. (1990). Marital conflict and children’s adjustment: A cognitive-contextual framework. Psychological Bulletin, 108, 267–290.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grych, J. H., Seid, M., & Fincham, F. D. (1992). Assessing marital conflict from the child’s perspective: The children’s perception of interparental conflict scale. Child Development, 63, 558–572.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heffner, K. L., Loving, T. J., Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K., Himawan, L. K., Glaser, R., & Malarkey, W. B. (2006). Older spouses’ cortisol responses to marital conflict: Associations with demand/withdraw communication patterns. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 29, 317–325.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hosoda, M., & Stone, D. L. (2000). Current gender stereotypes and their evaluative content. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 90, 1283–1294.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Johnston, W. A., Hawley, K. J., Plewe, S. H., Elliott, J. M. G., & Dewitt, M. J. (1990). Attention capture by novel stimuli. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 119, 397–411.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jouriles, E. N., & Farris, A. M. (1992). Effects of marital conflict on subsequent parent-son interactions. Behavior Therapy, 23, 355–374.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaczynski, K. J., Lindahl, K. M., Malik, N. M., & Laurenceau, J. P. (2006). Marital conflict, maternal and paternal parenting, and child adjustment: a test of mediation and moderation. Journal of Family Psychology, 20, 199–208.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman, D. (1973). Attention and effort. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerig, P. K. (1996). Assessing the links between interparental conflict and child adjustment: The conflicts and problem-solving scales. Journal of Family Psychology, 10, 454–473.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krishnakumar, A., Buehler, C., & Barber, B. K. (2003). Youth perceptions of interpersonal conflict, ineffective parenting, and youth problem behaviors in European-American and African-American families. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.Special Issue: Race/ethnicity and Interpersonal Relationships, 20, 239–260.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laird, R. D., Pettit, G. S., Dodge, K. A., & Bates, J. E. (2003). Change in parents’ monitoring knowledge: Links with parenting, relationship quality, adolescent beliefs, and antisocial behavior. Soc Dev, 12, 401–419.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lamborn, S. D., Mounts, N. S., Steinberg, L., & Dornbusch, S. M. (1991). Patterns of competence and adjustment among adolescents from authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, and neglectful Families. Child Development, 62, 1049–1065.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Larson, R. W., Richards, M. H., Moneta, G., Holmbeck, G., & Duckett, E. (1996). Changes in adolescents’ daily interactions with their families from ages 10 to 18: Disengagement and transformation. Developmental Psychology, 32, 744–754.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas-Thompson, R. (2012). Marital conflict exposure in relation to adolescent emotional and physiological stress responses: Evidence for different patterns of dysregulation. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 22, 704–721.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas-Thompson, R. G., George, M. W., & Quinn-Sparks, A. R. (2016a). TRUST: An innovative tool for investigating marital conflict in response to a novel stressor. Journal of Family Psychology. doi:10.1037/fam0000211.

  • Lucas-Thompson, R. G., & Granger, D. A. (2014). Parent-child relationship quality moderates the link between marital conflict and adolescents’ physiological responses to social evaluative threat. Journal of Family Psychology, 28, 538–548.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas-Thompson, R. G., & Hostinar, C. E. (2013). Family income and appraisals of parental conflict as predictors of psychological adjustment and diurnal cortisol in emerging adulthood. Journal of Family Psychology, 27, 784–794.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas-Thompson, R. G., Lunkenheimer, E. S., & Dumitrache, A. (2015). Associations between marital conflict and adolescent conflict appraisals, stress physiology, and mental health. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology. doi:10.1080/15374416.2015.1046179.

  • Lucas-Thompson, R. G., Lunkenheimer, E. S., & Granger, D. A. (2016b). Adolescent conflict appraisals moderate the link between marital conflict and physiological stress reactivity. Journal of Research on Adolescence. doi:10.1111/jora.12264.

  • McCoy, K., Cummings, E. M., & Davies, P. T. (2009). Constructive and destructive marital conflict, emotional security and children’s prosocial behavior. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 50, 270–279.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McCoy, K. P., George, M. R. W., Cummings, E. M., & Davies, P. T. (2013). Constructive and destructive marital conflict, parenting, and children’s school and social adjustment. Social Development, 22, 641–662.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mussen, H., Conger, J. J., Kagan, J., & Huston, A. C. (1990). Child development and personality (7th ed.). New York, NY: Harper Collins College Division.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norton, E. C., Bieler, G. S., Ennett, S. T., & Zarkin, G. A. (1996). Analysis of prevention program effectiveness with clustered data using generalized estimating equations. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64, 919–926.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Phares, V., Compas, B. E., & Howell, D. C. (1989). Perspectives on child behavior problems: Comparisons of children’s self-reports with parent and teacher reports. Psychological assessment, 1, 68–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Phares, V., Fields, S., & Kamboukos, D. (2009). Fathers’ and mothers’ involvement with their adolescents. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 18, 1–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Radloff, L. S. (1977). The CES-D Scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1, 385–401.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds, C. R. (1980). Concurrent validity of What I Think and Feel: Children’s manifest anxiety scale. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 48, 774–775.

  • Reynolds, C. R., & Richmond, B. O. (1978). What I Think and Feel: A revised measure of children’s manifest anxiety. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 6, 271–280.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rhoades, K. A. (2008). Children’s responses to interparental conflict: A meta-analysis of their associations with child adjustment. Child Development, 79, 1942–1956.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stattin, H., & Kerr, M. (2000). Parental monitoring: A reinterpretation. Child Development, 71, 1072–1085.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sturge-Apple, M. L., Davies, P. T., & Cummings, E. M. (2006). Hostility and withdrawal in marital conflict: Effects on parental emotional unavailability and inconsistent discipline. Journal of Family Psychology, 20, 227–238.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, L., & Walker, A. J. (1989). Gender in families: Women and men in marriage, work, and parenthood. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 51, 845–871.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thornton, A., & Young-DeMarco, L. (2001). Four decades of trends in attitudes toward family issues in the United States: The 1960s through the 1990s. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 63, 1009–1037.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vaez, E., Indran, R., Abdollahi, A., Juhari, R., & Mansor, M. (2015). How marital relations affect child behavior: Review of recent research. Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies, 10, 1–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeger, S. L., & Liang, K. Y. (1986). Longitudinal data analysis for discrete and continuous outcomes. Biometrics, 42, 121–130.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author Contributions

R.L.T. designed and executed the study, conducted the data analysis, and wrote the manuscript. M.G. collaborated with the data analysis and writing of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Colorado State University, 410 Pitkin, Fort Collins, CO, 80526, USA

    Rachel G. Lucas-Thompson

  2. Prevention Research Center, Human Development and Family Studies, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80526, USA

    Rachel G. Lucas-Thompson & Melissa W. George

Authors
  1. Rachel G. Lucas-Thompson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Melissa W. George
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rachel G. Lucas-Thompson.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent and assent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lucas-Thompson, R.G., George, M.W. Do Marital Conflict Behaviors in Response to a Novel Stressor Uniquely Predict Adolescent Outcomes?. J Child Fam Stud 26, 2505–2518 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-0753-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-0753-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation