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A Unified Model Exploring Parenting Practices as Mediators of Marital Conflict and Children’s Adjustment

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Abstract

We examined positive and negative parenting practices and psychological control as mediators of the relations between constructive and destructive marital conflict and children’s internalizing and externalizing problems in a unified model. Married mothers of 121 children between the ages of 6 and 12 completed questionnaires measuring marital conflict, parenting practices, and child adjustment. Analyses revealed significant direct paths from destructive marital conflict to negative parenting practices, psychological control, and both children’s internalizing and externalizing behavior. In addition, psychological control was found to partially mediate relations between destructive marital conflict and children’s internalizing and externalizing behavior.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, The University of Southern Mississippi, Box 5025, Hattiesburg, MS, 39406, USA

    Kristen L. Coln & Sara S. Jordan

  2. Department of Educational & Counseling Psychology, and Special Education, University of British Columbia, 2125 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada

    Sterett H. Mercer

Authors
  1. Kristen L. Coln
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  2. Sara S. Jordan
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  3. Sterett H. Mercer
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Correspondence to Kristen L. Coln.

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Coln, K.L., Jordan, S.S. & Mercer, S.H. A Unified Model Exploring Parenting Practices as Mediators of Marital Conflict and Children’s Adjustment. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 44, 419–429 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-012-0336-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-012-0336-8

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