Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Perceived Interparental Conflict and Early Adolescents’ Friendships: The Role of Attachment Security and Emotion Regulation

  • Empirical Research
  • Published:
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Although there is strong evidence for the effect of interparental conflict on adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing problems, little is known about the effect on the quality of adolescents’ relationships. The current study investigates the link between adolescents’ friendships and interparental conflict as reported by both parents and adolescents. It considers early adolescents’ emotion regulation ability and attachment security as mediators. The analysis is based on a longitudinal study with two waves separated by 12 months. The participants were 180 two-parent families and their adolescent children (50.5 % girls), the average age of the latter being 10.61 years (SD = 0.41) at the outset (Time 1). Binomial logistic regression analysis revealed that perceived interparental conflict increased the risk of instability in friendship relationships across the 1-year period. Structural equation modeling analysis indicated that the association between perceived interparental conflict and friendship quality was mediated by emotion regulation and attachment security. The discussion focuses on mechanisms whereby interparental conflict influences early adolescents’ friendship relationships.

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

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Arbuckle, J. L. (2007). Amos 6.0 user’s guide. Chicago: SPSS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berndt, T. J., & Hoyle, S. G. (1985). Stability and change in childhood and adolescent friendship. Developmental Psychology, 21, 1007–1015.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss. Attachment (Vol. 1). New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buehler, C., Anthony, 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, 233–247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buehler, C., Lange, G., & Franck, K. L. (2007). Adolescents’ cognitive and emotional responses to marital hostility. Child Development, 78, 775–789.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bukowski, W. M., Hoza, B., & Boivin, M. (1994). Measuring friendship quality during pre- and early-adolescence: The development and psychometric properties of the friendship qualities scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71–75.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collins, W. A., & Steinberg, L. (2006). Adolescent development in interpersonal context. In N. Eisenberg, W. Damon, & R. M. Lerner (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology. Hoboken: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Contreras, J. M., & Kerns, K. A. (2000). Emotional regulation processes: Explaining links between parent–child attachment and peer relationships. In K. A. Kerns, J. M. Contreras, & A. M. Neal-Barnett (Eds.), Family and peers. Linking two social worlds. Westport, CT: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Contreras, J. M., Kerns, K. A., Weimer, B. L., Gentzler, A. L., & Tomich, P. L. (2000). Emotion regulation as a mediator of associations between mother–child attachment and peer relationships in middle childhood. Journal of Family Psychology, 14, 111–124.

    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., Harold, G. T., Goeke-Morey, M. C., & Cummings, E. M. (2002). Child emotional security and interparental conflict. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 67(3), 521–535.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davila, J., Karney, B. R., Hall, T. W., & Bradbury, T. N. (2003). Depressive symptoms and marital satisfaction: Within-subject associations and the moderating effects of gender and neuroticism. Journal of Family Psychology, 17, 557–570.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Doyle, A. B., & Markiewicz, D. (2005). Parenting, marital conflict and adjustment from early- to mid-adolescence: Mediated by adolescent attachment style? Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 34, 97–110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doyle, A. B., Lawford, H., & Markiewicz, D. (2009). Attachemnt style with mother, father, best friend, and romantic partner during adolescence. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 19, 690–714.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Durchame, J., Doyle, A. B., & Markiewicz, D. (2002). Attachment security with mother and father. Associations between adolescents’ reports of interpersonal behavior with parents and peers. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 19, 203–231.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., Guthrie, I. K., & Reiser, M. (2000). Dispositional emotionality and regulation: Their role in predicting quality of social functioning. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 136–157.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eisenberg, N., Spinrad, T. L., & Smith, C. L. (2004). Emotion-related regulation: Its conceptualization, relations to social functioning, and socialization. In R. Feldman & P. Philoppot (Eds.), The regulation of emotion (pp. 277–306). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

    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 

  • Fanti, K. A., Brookmeyer, K. A., Henrich, C. C., & Kuperminc, G. P. (2009). Aggressive behavior and quality of friendship. Journal of Early Adolescence, 29, 826–838.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Federal Statistical Office. (2011). Bildungsstand [Educational background]. Retrieved June 14, 2011 from http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/15/01/key/blank/01.htm.

  • Furman, W., & Buhrmester, D. (1992). Age and sex differences in perceptions of networks of personal relationships. Child Development, 63, 103–115.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gödde, M., & Walper, S. (2000). Konfliktstrategien in der Partnerschaft und in der Eltern-Kind-Beziehung [Conflict resolution styles and the parent–child–relationships]. In Paper presented at the 42nd congress of the German Association of Psychology, Jena, Germany.

  • Gödde, M., & Walper, S. (2001). Elterliche Konflikte aus der Sicht von Kindern und Jugendlichen: Die deutsche Kurzfassung der children’s perception of interparental conflict scale (CPIC) [Children’s and adolescents’ perception of interparental conflict: The German short version of the children’s perception of interparental conflict scale]. Diagnostica, 47, 18–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grob, A., & Smolenski, C. (2005). Fragebogen zur Erhebung der Emotionsregulation bei Kindern und Jugendlichen (Feel-KJ) [Questionnaire for the assessment of children’s and adolescent’s emotion regulation]. Bern: Verlag Hans Huber.

    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 

  • Harold, G. T., Shelton, K. H., Goeke-Morey, M. C., & Cummings, E. M. (2004). Marital conflict, child emotional security about family relationships and child adjustment. Social Development, 13, 350–376.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harter, S. (1985). Manual for the self-perception profile for children. Denver, CO: University of Denver.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hartup, W. W. (1996). The company they keep: Friendship and their developmental significance. Child Development, 67, 1–13.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kerns, K. A., Aspelmeier, J. E., Gentzler, A. L., & Grabill, C. M. (2001). Parent-child attachment and monitoring in middle childhood. Journal of Family Psychology, 15, 69–81.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, J., & Cicchetti, D. (2010). Longitudinal pathways linking child maltreatment, emotion regulation, peer relations, and psychopathology. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 51, 706–716.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kinsfogel, K. M., & Grych, J. H. (2004). Interparental conflict and adolescent dating relationships: Integrating cognitive, emotional, and peer influences. Journal of Family Psychology, 18, 505–515.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kitzmann, K. M., & Cohen, R. (2003). Parents’ versus children’s perception of interparental conflict as predictors of children’s friendship quality. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 20, 689–700.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kline, R. B. (2011). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (3rd ed.). New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kurdek, L. A. (1994). Conflict resolution styles in gay, lesbian, heterosexual nonparent, and heterosexual parent couples. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 56, 705–722.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lansford, J. E., Criss, M. M., Pettit, G. S., Dodge, K. A., & Bates, J. E. (2003). Friendship quality, peer group affiliation, and peer antisocial behavior as moderators of the link between negative parenting and adolescent externalizing behavior. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 13, 161–184.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Larson, R., & Richards, M. H. (1991). Daily companionship in late childhood and early adolescence: Changing developmental contexts. Child Development, 62, 284–300.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lindsey, E. W., Colwell, M. J., Frabutt, J. M., & MacKinnon-Lewis, C. (2006). Family conflict in divorced and non-divorced families: Potential consequences for boys’ friendship status and friendship quality. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 23, 45–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lopez, P. N., Salovey, P., Coté, S., & Beers, M. (2005). Emotion regulation abilities and the quality of social interaction. Emotion, 5, 113–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas-Thompson, R., & Clarke-Stewart, K. A. (2007). Forecasting friendship: How marital quality, maternal mood, and attachment security are linked to children’s peer relationships? Applied Developmental Psychology, 28, 499–514.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macho, S., & Ledermann, T. (2011). Estimating, testing, and comparing specific effects in structural equation models: The phantom model approach. Psychological Methods, 16, 34–43.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • MacKinnon-Lewis, C., & Lofquist, A. (1996). Antecedents and consequences of boys’ depression and aggression: Family and school linkages. Journal of Family Psychology, 10, 490–500.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mann, B. J., & Gilliom, L. A. (2002). Emotional security and cognitive appraisals mediate the relationship between parents’ marital conflict and adjustment in older adolescents. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 165, 250–271.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Markiewicz, D., Doyle, A. B., & Brendgen, M. (2001). The quality of adolescents’ friendships: Associations with mothers’ interpersonal relationships, attachment to parents and friends, and prosocial behaviors. Journal of Adolescence, 24, 429–445.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Noack, P., Krettek, C., & Walper, S. (2001). Peer relations of adolescents from nuclear and separated families. Journal of Adolescence, 24, 535–548.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • O’Donnell, E. H., Moreau, M., Cardemil, E. V., & Pollastri, A. (2010). Interparental conflict, parenting, and childhood depression in a diverse urban population: The role of general cognitive style. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 39, 12–22.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Parke, R. D., Kim, M., Flyr, M., McDowell, D. J., Simpkins, S. D., Killian, C. M., et al. (2001). Managing marital conflict: Links with children’s peer relationships. In J. H. Grych & F. D. Fincham (Eds.), Interparental conflict and child development (pp. 291–314). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Perry-Parrish, C., & Zeman, J. (2009). Relations among sadness regulation, peer acceptance, and social functioning in early adolescence: The role of gender. Social Development, 20, 135–153.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rubin, K. H., Dwyer, K. M., Booth-LaForce, C., Kim, A. H., Burgess, K. B., & Rose-Krasnor, L. (2004). Attachment, friendship, and psychosocial functioning in early adolescence. Journal of Early Adolescence, 24, 326–356.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rubin, K. H., Bukowski, W. M., & Parker, J. G. (2006a). Peer interactions, relationships, and groups. In N. Eisenberg, W. Damon, & R. M. Lerner (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rubin, K. H., Wojslawowicz, J. C., Rose-Krasnor, L., Booth-LaForce, C., & Burgess, K. B. (2006b). The best friendships of shy/withdrawn children: Prevalence, stability, and relationship quality. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 34, 143–157.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, B. H., Atkinson, L., & Tardif, C. (2001). Child-parent attachment and children’s peer relations: A quantitative review. Developmental Psychology, 37, 86–100.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schulz, M. S., Waldinger, R. J., Hauser, S. T., & Allen, J. P. (2005). Adolescents’ behavior in the presence of interparental hostility: Developmental and emotion regulatory influences. Development and Psychopathology, 17, 489–507.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Selfhout, M. H. W., Branje, S. J. T., & Meeus, W. H. J. (2008). The development of delinquency and perceived friendship quality in adolescent best friendship dyads. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 36, 471–485.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Siffert, A., & Schwarz, B. (2011a). Parental conflict resolution styles and early adolescent adjustment: Children’s appraisals and emotion regulation as mediators. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 171, 21–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siffert, A., & Schwarz, B. (2011b). Spouses’ demand and withdrawal during marital conflict and their well-being. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 28, 262–277.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siffert, A., Schwarz B., & Stutz, M. (in press). Marital conflict and early adolescents’ self-evaluation: The role of parenting quality and early adolescents’ appraisals. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. doi:10.1007/s10964-011-9703-1.

  • Steinberg, S. J., Davila, J., & Fincham, F. (2006). Adolescent marital expectations and romantic experiences: Associations with perceptions about parental conflict and adolescent attachment security. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 35, 333–348.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stocker, C. M., & Youngblade, L. (1999). Marital conflict and parental hostility: Links with children’s sibling and peers relationships. Journal of Family Psychology, 13, 598–609.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stocker, C. M., Richmond, M. K., Low, S. M., Alexander, E. K., & Elias, N. M. (2003). Marital conflict and children’s adjustment: Parental hostility and children’s interpretations as mediators. Social Development, 12, 149–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van de Vijver, F. J. R., & Leung, K. (1997). Methods and data analysis for cross-cultural research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weimer, B. L., Kerns, K. A., & Oldenburg, C. M. (2004). Adolescents’ interactions with a best friend: Associations with attachment style. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 88, 102–120.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by grants (SNF 100013-116500/1; SNF 100014-132278/1) awarded by the Swiss National Science Foundation to the first author. We thank the families who volunteered to participate in the study. We are also grateful to the three anonymous reviewers and the editor Roger J. R. Levesque for helpful suggestions on an earlier version.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Psychology, Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Minervastr. 30, 8032, Zurich, Switzerland

    Beate Schwarz

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

    Melanie Stutz & Thomas Ledermann

Authors
  1. Beate Schwarz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Melanie Stutz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Thomas Ledermann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Beate Schwarz.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Schwarz, B., Stutz, M. & Ledermann, T. Perceived Interparental Conflict and Early Adolescents’ Friendships: The Role of Attachment Security and Emotion Regulation. J Youth Adolescence 41, 1240–1252 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-012-9769-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-012-9769-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation