Child adaptational development in contexts of interparental conflict over time

A call for early, effective, and scalable parent education programs for high-conflict separated/divorcing parents: A synthesized perspective from prevention science and family law

Conflict between parents is stressful and disruptive to children living in the midst of parental separation or divorce. Although some level of post-separation/divorce conflict is understandable in an emotionally-charged separation/divorce, it undermines the extent to which parents protect their children from short- and long-term problems. In this article, we weave together a synthesized perspective informed by our respective training and experience in prevention science and family law on the role of parent education programs for high-conflict separating/divorcing parents. To do so, we first describe the research on the effects of high interparental conflict on children's outcomes and then discuss current approaches and challenges to reducing these negative effects by offering parent education programs for high-conflict separating/divorcing parents. Then, we propose and describe a new model for early, effective, and scalable parent education programs with the ultimate goal of protecting children after separation/divorce.

Latent classes in preschoolers' internal working models of attachment and emotional security: Roles of family risk

Children's relationships inform their internal working models (IWMs) of the world around them. Attachment and emotional security theory (EST) emphasize the importance of parent-child and interparental relationships, respectively, for IWM. The current study examined (a) data-driven classes in child attachment and emotional security IWM, (b) associations between IWM classes and demographic variables, maltreatment, intimate partner violence (IPV), and maternal depressive symptoms, and (c) consistency in attachment and emotional security IWM classes, including as a function of maltreatment, IPV, and maternal depressive symptoms. Participants were 234 preschool-aged children (n = 152 experienced maltreatment and n = 82 had not experienced maltreatment) and their mothers. Children participated in a narrative-based assessment of IWM. Mothers reported demographics, IPV, and maternal depressive symptoms. Latent class analyses revealed three attachment IWM classes and three emotional security IWM classes. Maltreatment was associated with lower likelihood of being in the secure attachment class and elevated likelihood of being in the insecure dysregulated attachment class. Inconsistencies in classification across attachment and emotional security IWM classes were related to maltreatment, IPV, and maternal depressive symptoms. The current study juxtaposes attachment and EST and provides insight into impacts of family adversity on children's IWM across different family relationships.

Interparental Violence and Early Adolescents' Adjustment Problems in China: Testing a Moderated Mediation Model of Parental Warmth and Emotional Insecurity

This study analyzed the relationships between exposure to interparental violence and adolescents' adjustment problems. It also explored the mediating role of emotional insecurity and the moderating role of parental warmth in these relationships. Five hundred and seventy-eight early adolescents from three migrant primary schools and one public school in Beijing participated in this survey, reporting on their perceived interparental violence, emotional insecurity, post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), and internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems. The results revealed that emotional insecurity partially mediated the association between interparental violence and all three indicators of adjustment problems, with stronger mediating effects on PTSS and internalizing problems than on externalizing problems; parental warmth buffered the association between emotional insecurity and internalizing/externalizing problems. This study adds insights to present literature on how interparental violence contributes to different aspects of adolescents' adjustment problems in the Chinese context.

Interparental conflict as a quadratic predictor of children's reactivity to interparental conflict and school adjustment: Steeling effects or risk saturation?

This study examined interparental conflict as a curvilinear predictor of children's reactivity to interparental conflict and, in turn, their school problems across three annual measurements. Participants included 243 preschool children (M_age  = 4.60 years; 56% girls) and their parents from racially (e.g., 48% Black; 16% Latinx) diverse backgrounds. Interparental conflict was a significant quadratic predictor of children's emotional reactivity (β = .23) and behavioral dysregulation (β = .27) to conflict over a 1-year period. The robust association between interparental conflict and behavioral dysregulation weakened at high levels of interparental conflict. In contrast, interparental conflict more strongly predicted children's emotional reactivity as conflict exposure increased. Children's emotional reactivity, in turn, predicted their greater school problems 1 year later (β = .25).

Maternal and paternal unsupportive parenting and children's externalizing symptoms: The mediational role of children's attention biases to negative emotion

This study examined children's duration of attention to negative emotions (i.e., anger, sadness, fear) as a mediator of associations among maternal and paternal unsupportive parenting and children's externalizing symptoms in a sample of 240 mothers, fathers, and their preschool children (Mage = 4.64 years). The multimethod, multi-informant design consisted of three annual measurement occasions. Analysis of maternal and paternal unsupportive parenting as predictors in latent difference changes in children's affect-biased attention and behavior problems indicated that children's attention to negative emotions mediated the specific association between maternal unsupportive parenting and children's subsequent increases in externalizing symptoms. Maternal unsupportive parenting at Wave 1 predicted decreases in children's attention to negative facial expressions of adults from Wave 1 to 2. Reductions in children's attention to negative emotion, in turn, predicted increases in their externalizing symptoms from Wave 1 to 3. Additional tests of children's fearful distress and hostile responses to parental conflict as explanatory mechanisms revealed that increases in children's fearful distress reactivity from Wave 1 to 2 accounted for the association between maternal unsupportive parenting and concomitant decreases in their attention to negative emotions. Results are discussed in the context of information processing models of family adversity and developmental psychopathology.

Contextualizing Children's Caregiving Responses to Interparental Conflict: Advancing Assessment of Parentification

Parentification is a parent-child dynamic in which children assume caregiving responsibilities while parents fail to support and reciprocate children's roles. There is a gap between empirical research, which typically operationalizes parentification as the occurrence of children's caregiving behaviors, and theory, which emphasizes consideration of the family context in which children engage in caregiving as well as adjustment. The present study (N=235) considered multiple operationalizations of the construct by assessing kindergarten-aged children's caregiving reactions to interparental conflict in a standardized paradigm and additionally contextualizing caregiving reactions within family context and child adjustment over time through mixture modeling approaches. Although 88% of children endorsed caregiving, contextualizing caregiving resulted in lower estimates of this phenomenon (conservatively, 30%). Moreover, contextualizing children's caregiving at the family level (i.e., within parent-child relationships) proved most informative in identifying between-family differences in within-family experiences of parentification. Despite identifying a pattern of parentification at the family level (high children's caregiving reactions in conjunction with poor parental caregiving competence and poor autonomy support), children's adjustment (externalizing, internalizing, prosocial behavior) remained in the normative range of functioning over two years, potentially suggesting child resilience to this family risk context. As such, these findings demonstrate an advancement in measuring parentification by contextualizing young children's caregiving within parent-child relationships.

The Vestiges of Childhood Interparental Conflict: Adolescent Sensitization to Recent Interparental Conflict

This study examined whether childhood interparental conflict moderated the mediational pathway involving adolescent exposure to interparental conflict, their negative emotional reactivity to family conflict, and their psychological problems in a sample of 235 children (M_age  = 6 years). Significant moderated-mediation findings indicated that the mediational path among Wave 4 interparental conflict during adolescence, change in youth negative reactivity (Waves 4-5), and their psychological problems (Waves 4-6) was significant for teens who experienced low, rather than high, levels of childhood interparental conflict (Waves 1-3). Supporting the stress sensitization model, analyses showed that adolescents exposed to high interparental conflict during childhood evidenced greater increases in negative reactivity than their peers when recent parental conflicts were mild.

Mindfulness Interventions to Reduce Impact of Interparental Conflict on Adolescents

Exposure to frequent, intense, and poorly resolved interparental conflict puts adolescents at risk for problems in many domains, including internalizing and externalizing problems, and stress physiological dysfunction. Existing intervention strategies to target these adolescents focus almost solely on improving marital dynamics, for example, through relationship education or couples therapy. However, interventions that aim to enhance marital communication require high levels of parental commitment and motivation for change, and may be expensive and time-consuming. In the current paper, we argue that it is essential to also apply intervention strategies that directly promote the regulatory capabilities of adolescents to improve outcomes for youth from high-conflict homes. Mindfulness, or present-moment, nonjudgemental awareness, is associated with myriad positive outcomes in adults (e.g., lower levels of depression and anxiety, and greater emotion regulation). We propose that mindfulness interventions are an ideal intervention strategy for adolescents from high conflict homes. Mindfulness interventions may target the mechanisms whereby destructive marital interaction impacts youth, by providing distance between experiences and evaluations, training regulation of attention, and enhancing self-compassion and nonjudgement, as well as by enhancing relationships. We also provide an example of a specific intervention model designed to increase mindfulness in youth, Learning to Breathe (L2B).

Family functioning in pediatric trichotillomania, obsessive compulsive disorder, and healthy comparison youth

Pediatric trichotillomania (TTM) is an understudied condition that can be highly impairing; little is known about family environmental features that shape its development and course. We examined family functioning among age and gender-matched groups of youth with primary TTM (n = 30; mean age = 12.87), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD; n = 30; mean age = 12.70), and no psychiatric history (healthy controls; HC; n = 30; mean age = 12.46). An additional group of n = 25 TTM cases was employed to examine relationships between TTM severity and family functioning. All youth completed standardized diagnostic assessment, including the Family Environment Scale (FES) and Children's Report of Parenting Behavior Inventory (CRPBI). Family functioning was more impaired among both TTM and OCD cases relative to controls, as evidenced by higher levels of child-reported FES conflict and lower cohesion, expressiveness, and organization. Less consistent findings emerged on parent report, with cohesion, but not conflict, distinguishing the HC and clinical groups. In keeping with prior research, parents of TTM-affected youth also reported lower expressiveness and cohesion than parents in the OCD group. There was limited evidence for links between hair-pulling severity and family impairment and no links to parenting behavior. Findings are discussed in terms of implications for family focused treatment.

A Contextual Perspective on Associations Between Reported Parental Infidelity and Relational Ethics of the Adult Children

This study's aim was to apply a Contextual theory lens on exploring whether knowledge of parental infidelity affects the Relational Ethics (RE) of adult children. The Relational Ethics Scale (RES) was used to capture horizontal (partner) and vertical (family of origin) relational ethics in a clinical sample of 195 participants. A repeated measures ANOVA tested the differences in RES scores among the participants who reported knowledge of parental infidelity and the participants who did not. Results showed that knowledge of parental infidelity is significantly associated with lower scores on the RES, which indicates problematic relationships, both in partners and with family of origin. Clinical implications on how parental infidelity can affect relational ethics are discussed.

I. INTRODUCTION: UNDERSTANDING THE TRANSITION TO SIBLINGHOOD FROM A DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE

The birth of an infant sibling is a common occurrence in the lives of many toddler and preschool children. Early childhood is also a time for the emergence of disruptive behavior problems that may set the stage for later problem behaviors. The current study examined individual differences in young children’s behavioral and emotional adjustment after the birth of a sibling in an effort to uncover developmental trajectories reflecting sudden and persistent change (maladaptation), adjustment and adaptation (resilience), gradual linear increases, and no change (stability and continuity). Growth mixture modeling (GMM) was conducted with a sample of 241 families expecting their second child using a longitudinal research design across the first year after the sibling’s birth (prenatal, 1, 4 8 and 12 months) on seven syndrome scales of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL 1.5–5:(Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000 ): aggression, attention problems, anxiety/depression, emotional reactivity, withdrawal, somatic complaints, and sleep problems. For all scales, multiple classes describing different trajectory patterns emerged that reflected predominantly intercept differences; children high on problem behavior after the birth were those high before the birth. There was no evidence of a sudden, persistent maladaptive response indicating children underwent a developmental crisis for any of the problem behaviors examined. Most children were low on all problem behaviors examined and showed little change or actually declined in problem behaviors over time, although some children did experience more pronounced changes in the borderline clinical or clinical range. Only in the case of aggressive behavior was there evidence of an Adjustment and Adaptation Response showing a sudden change (prenatal to 1 month) that subsided by 4 months, suggesting that some young children react to stressful life events but adapt quickly to these changing circumstances. Further, children’s withdrawal revealed a curvilinear, quadratic path, suggesting children both increased and decreased in their withdrawal over time. Guided by a developmental ecological systems framework, we employed data mining procedures to uncover the child, parent, and family variables that best discriminated the different trajectory classes and found that children’s temperament, coparenting, parental self-efficacy, and parent-child attachment relationships were prominent in predicting children’s adjustment after the birth of an infant sibling. Finally, when trajectory classes were used to predict sibling relationship quality at 12 months, children high on aggression, attention problems, and emotional reactivity in the year after the birth engaged in more conflict and less positive involvement with the infant sibling at the end of the first year.

Transactional cascades of destructive interparental conflict, children's emotional insecurity, and psychological problems across childhood and adolescence

This study examined the transactional interplay among dimensions of destructive interparental conflict (i.e., hostility and dysphoria), children's emotional insecurity, and their psychological problems from middle childhood and adolescence. Participants were 232 families, with the first of five measurement occasions occurring when children were in first grade (M age = 7 years). Cross-lagged, autoregressive models were conducted with a multiple-method, multiple-informant measurement approach to identify developmental cascades of interparental and child cascades. Results indicated that emotional insecurity was a particularly powerful mediator of prospective associations between interparental conflict (i.e., dysphoria and hostility) and child adjustment during adolescence rather than childhood. In reflecting bidirectionality in relationships between interparental and child functioning, children's psychological problems predicted increases in interparental dysphoria during childhood and adolescence. Although emotional insecurity was not identified as a proximal predictor of interparental difficulties, an indirect cascade was identified whereby insecurity in early adolescence was associated with increases in teen psychological problems, which in turn predicted greater interparental dysphoria over time. Results are interpreted in the context of how they advance transactional formulation of emotional security theory and its resulting translational implications for clinical initiatives.

The mediating roles of cortisol reactivity and executive functioning difficulties in the pathways between childhood histories of emotional insecurity and adolescent school problems

This study tested a hypothesized cascade in which children's insecure representations of the interparental relationship increase their school problems by altering children's cortisol reactivity to stress and their executive functioning. Participants included 235 families. The first of five measurement occasions occurred when the children were in kindergarten (M age = 6 years), and they were followed through the transition to high school. The results indicated that children's histories of insecure representations of the interparental relationship during the early school years were associated with executive functioning difficulties in adolescence (M age = 14 years). This in turn predicted subsequent increases in school adjustment difficulties 1 year later. In addition, elevated cortisol reactivity to interadult conflict mediated the association between early histories of insecurity and subsequent executive function problems in adolescence.

The distinctive sequelae of children's coping with interparental conflict: Testing the reformulated emotional security theory

Two studies tested hypotheses about the distinctive psychological consequences of children's patterns of responding to interparental conflict. In Study 1, 174 preschool children (M = 4.0 years) and their mothers participated in a cross-sectional design. In Study 2, 243 preschool children (M = 4.6 years) and their parents participated in 2 annual measurement occasions. Across both studies, multiple informants assessed children's psychological functioning. Guided by the reformulated version of emotional security theory, behavioral observations of children's coping with interparental conflict assessed their tendencies to exhibit 4 patterns based on their function in defusing threat: secure (i.e., efficiently address direct instances of threat), mobilizing (i.e., react to potential threat and social opportunities), dominant (i.e., directly defeat threat), and demobilizing (i.e., reduce salience as a target of hostility). As hypothesized, each profile predicted unique patterns of adjustment. Greater security was associated with lower levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms and greater social competence, whereas higher dominance was associated with externalizing problems and extraversion. In contrast, mobilizing patterns of reactivity predicted more problems with self-regulation, internalizing symptoms, externalizing difficulties, but also greater extraversion. Finally, higher levels of demobilizing reactivity were linked with greater internalizing problems and lower extraversion but also better self-regulation. (PsycINFO Database Record

Friendship quality as a moderator between perception of interparental conflicts and maladjustment in adolescence

The aim of this study was to longitudinally examine the moderating role of friendship quality in the association between adolescent perception of interparental conflicts and maladjustment. Participants were 1294 adolescents enrolled in the Dutch CONAMORE 2001—2006 study ( Mage = 13.6 years). AMOS multigroup analyses were utilized. Results show that low friendship quality is a risk factor for both boys and girls, aggravating the effect of interparental conflicts on anxiety, whereas for aggression this was only the case for boys. No convincing support was found for high friendship quality's protective function against the effect of perceived interparental conflict on maladjustment. These findings show the substantial importance of not being in a low quality friendship when adolescents perceive interparental conflicts.

The multiple faces of interparental conflict: Implications for cascades of children's insecurity and externalizing problems

This multistudy article examined the relative strength of mediational pathways involving hostile, disengaged, and uncooperative forms of interparental conflict, children's emotional insecurity, and their externalizing problems across 2 longitudinal studies. Participants in Study 1 consisted of 243 preschool children (M age = 4.60 years) and their parents, whereas Study 2 consisted of 263 adolescents (M age = 12.62 years) and their parents. Both studies utilized multimethod, multi-informant assessment batteries within a longitudinal design with 3 measurement occasions. Across both studies, lagged, autoregressive tests of the mediational paths revealed that interparental hostility was a significantly stronger predictor of the prospective cascade of children's insecurity and externalizing problems than interparental disengagement and low levels of interparental cooperation. Findings further indicated that interparental disengagement was a stronger predictor of the insecurity pathway than was low interparental cooperation for the sample of adolescents in Study 2. Results are discussed in relation to how they inform and advance developmental models of family risk. (PsycINFO Database Record

Interparental conflict, children's security with parents, and long-term risk of internalizing problems: A longitudinal study from ages 2 to 10

Although the negative impact of marital conflict on children has been amply documented, few studies have examined the process of risk in a long-term, longitudinal design. We examined parent-child attachment security as a mechanism that may account for the impact of interparental conflict on children's long-term risk of internalizing problems. Sixty-two community mothers, fathers, and children were followed from ages 2 to 10. Parents reported on their conflicts when their children were 2. Trained observers produced parent-child attachment security scores (Attachment Q-Set, Waters, 1987), based on lengthy naturalistic observations of the child with each parent. Parents rated children's internalizing problems at age 10. A conditional process model and bootstrap approach were implemented to examine conditional indirect effects of conflict on child internalizing problems through attachment security for girls versus boys. Maladaptive marital conflict (destructive strategies, severity of arguments) increased internalizing problems 8 years later due to the undermined security for girls, whereas negative emotional aftermath of conflict (unresolved, lingering tension) increased internalizing problems for both boys and girls. The emotional aftermath of conflict is often overlooked, yet it appears to be a key dimension influencing emotional security in the family system, with significant consequences for children's development.

Underlying Mechanisms of Gene-Environment Interactions in Externalizing Behavior: A Systematic Review and Search for Theoretical Mechanisms

Over the last decade, several candidate genes (i.e., MAOA, DRD4, DRD2, DAT1, 5-HTTLPR, and COMT) have been extensively studied as potential moderators of the detrimental effects of postnatal family adversity on child externalizing behaviors, such as aggression and conduct disorder. Many studies on such candidate gene by environment interactions (i.e., cG × E) have been published, and the first part of this paper offers a systematic review and integration of their findings (n = 53). The overview shows a set of heterogeneous findings. However, because of large differences between studies in terms of sample composition, conceptualizations, and power, it is difficult to determine if different findings indeed illustrate inconsistent cG × E findings or if findings are simply incomparable. In the second part of the paper, therefore, we argue that one way to help resolve this problem is the development of theory-driven a priori hypotheses on which biopsychosocial mechanisms might underlie cG × E. Such a theoretically based approach can help us specify our research strategies, create more comparable findings, and help us interpret different findings between studies. In accordance, we describe three possible explanatory mechanisms, based on extant literature on the concepts of (1) emotional reactivity, (2) reward sensitivity, and (3) punishment sensitivity. For each mechanism, we discuss the link between the putative mechanism and externalizing behaviors, the genetic polymorphism, and family adversity. Possible research strategies to test these mechanisms, and implications for interventions, are discussed.

How and why does the 5-HTTLPR gene moderate associations between maternal unresponsiveness and children's disruptive problems?

This study tested the 5-HTTLPR gene as a moderator in the relation between maternal unresponsiveness and child externalizing symptoms in a disadvantaged, predominantly Black sample of two hundred and one 2-year-old children and their mothers. Using a multimethod, prospective design, structural equation model analyses indicated that maternal unresponsiveness significantly predicted increases in externalizing symptoms 2 years later only for children possessing the LL genotype. Moderation was expressed in a "for better" or "for worse" form hypothesized in differential susceptibility theory. In examining why the risk posed by maternal unresponsiveness differed across the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism, mediated moderation analyses showed that children's angry reactivity to maternal negativity partly accounted for the greater susceptibility of homozygous L carriers to variations in maternal unresponsiveness.

The role of skin conductance level reactivity in the impact of children's exposure to interparental conflict on their attention performance

Previous research suggests that undermining of attention performance might be one decisive underlying mechanism in the link between marital conflict and children's academic maladjustment, but little is known about specific risk patterns in this regard. This study examines, in an experimental approach, the role of children's history of interparental discord and skin conductance level reactivity (SCLR) as moderators in the link between analogue marital conflict exposure and children's attention. The attention performance of 57 children, aged 11 to 13 years, was assessed prior to and immediately after a 1-min video exposure to either (a) a couple conflict or (b) a neutral condition. SCLR was measured continuously throughout the stimulus presentation. Results indicated that children's family background of interparental conflict and their physiological reactivity moderated the influence of the experimental stimulus on children's short-term attention performance. Lower SCLR served as a protective factor in children from high-conflict homes exposed to the couple conflict. The current study advances the body of knowledge in this field by identifying risk patterns for the development of attention problems in children in relation to marital conflict exposure.

Longitudinal relations between sectarian and nonsectarian community violence and child adjustment in Northern Ireland

Although relations between political violence and child adjustment are well documented, longitudinal research is needed to adequately address the many questions remaining about the contexts and developmental trajectories underlying the effects on children in areas of political violence. The study examined the relations between sectarian and nonsectarian community violence and adolescent adjustment problems over 4 consecutive years. Participants included 999 mother-child dyads (482 boys, 517 girls), M ages = 12.18 (SD = 1.82), 13.24 (SD = 1.83), 13.61 (SD = 1.99), and 14.66 (SD = 1.96) years, respectively, living in socially deprived neighborhoods in Belfast, Northern Ireland, a context of historical and ongoing political violence. In examining trajectories of adjustment problems, including youth experience with both sectarian and nonsectarian antisocial behaviors, sectarian antisocial behavior significantly predicted more adjustment problems across the 4 years of the study. Experiencing sectarian antisocial behavior was related to increased adolescent adjustment problems, and this relationship was accentuated in neighborhoods characterized by higher crime rates. The discussion considers the implications for further validating the distinction between sectarian and nonsectarian violence, including consideration of neighborhood crime levels, from the child's perspective in a setting of political violence.

Changes in marital conflict and youths' responses across childhood and adolescence: a test of sensitization

Although the sensitization hypothesis is fundamental to process-oriented explanations of the effects of marital conflict on children, few longitudinal tests of the theory's propositions have been conducted. Hierarchical linear modeling was used in this prospective, longitudinal study (n = 297 families) to assess changes in the dimensions of responding to conflict (i.e., emotional, cognitive, and behavioral) for 3 consecutive years in youths between the ages of 8 and 19 years. Moreover, to test the notion of sensitization, analyses were conducted to examine whether change in marital conflict predicted change in children's responding across middle childhood and adolescence. Supporting the sensitization hypothesis, increases in exposure to hostile marital conflict were associated with increases in children's negative emotionality, threat, self-blame, and skepticism about resolution. With a few exceptions, the effects were largely consistent for boys and girls and for younger and older children.

Toward greater specificity in identifying associations among interparental aggression, child emotional reactivity to conflict, and child problems

This study examined specific forms of emotional reactivity to conflict and temperamental emotionality as explanatory mechanisms in pathways among interparental aggression and child psychological problems. Participants of the multimethod, longitudinal study included 201 two-year-old children and their mothers who had experienced elevated violence in the home. Consistent with emotional security theory, autoregressive structural equation model analyses indicated that children's fearful reactivity to conflict was the only consistent mediator in the associations among interparental aggression and their internalizing and externalizing symptoms 1year later. Pathways remained significant across maternal and observer ratings of children's symptoms and with the inclusion of other predictors and mediators, including children's sad and angry forms of reactivity to conflict, temperamental emotionality, gender, and socioeconomic status.

Bidirectional associations between coparenting relations and family member anxiety: a review and conceptual model

Research into anxiety has largely ignored the dynamics of family systems in anxiety development. Coparenting refers to the quality of coordination between individuals responsible for the upbringing of children and links different subsystems within the family, such as the child, the marital relationship, and the parents. This review discusses the potential mechanisms and empirical findings regarding the bidirectional relations of parent and child anxiety with coparenting. The majority of studies point to bidirectional associations between greater coparenting difficulties and higher levels of anxiety. For example, the few available studies suggest that paternal and perhaps maternal anxiety is linked to lower coparental support. Also, research supports the existence of inverse links between coparenting quality and child anxiety. A child's reactive temperament appears to have adverse effects on particularly coparenting of fathers. A conceptual model is proposed that integrates the role of parental and child anxiety, parenting, and coparenting, to guide future research and the development of clinical interventions. Future research should distinguish between fathers' and mothers' coparenting behaviors, include parental anxiety, and investigate the coparental relationship longitudinally. Clinicians should be aware of the reciprocal relations between child anxiety and coparenting quality, and families presenting for treatment who report child (or parent) anxiety should be assessed for difficulties in coparenting. Clinical approaches to bolster coparenting quality are called for.

Impact of Parental Conflict and Emotional Abuse on Children and Families

The goal of this review is to summarize empirical research conducted over the past several decades examining the impact of parental conflict and emotional abuse on children and families. Toward this goal, four different subtopics are categorized and reviewed. These include the impact of mutual couple conflict, verbal, and emotional abuse/control on children; the impact of father-perpetrated verbal and emotional abuse/control on children; the impact of mother-perpetrated verbal and emotional abuse/control on children; and the impact of partner abuse on the family system including consideration of family stress, boundaries, alliances, and family structure. A review of the literature revealed 105 empirical papers, which are referenced in tables. Overarching theoretical and conceptual frameworks proposed within the field of interparental conflict and child development are used to organize and distill the broad findings evident across these studies. Recommendations for future avenues of research are presented.

Asthma severity, child security, and child internalizing: using story stem techniques to assess the meaning children give to family and disease-specific events

Children with persistent asthma are at increased risk for mental health problems. Although mechanisms of effect are not yet known, it may be that children are less trusting of the family as a source of support and security when they have more severe asthma. This study tested whether asthma severity is related to children's perceptions of insecurity in the family, and whether insecurity is in turn associated with child adjustment. Children (N = 168; mean age = 8 years) completed story stems pertaining to routine family events (e.g., mealtimes) and ambiguous but potentially threatening asthma events such as tightness in the chest. Responses were evaluated for the extent to which appraisals portrayed the family as responding in cohesive, security-provoking ways. Asthma severity was assessed by both objective lung function testing and primary caregiver report. Caregivers reported child symptomatology. Beyond medication adherence, caregiver education, and child age and gender, greater asthma severity predicted more internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Greater asthma severity, assessed using spirometry (but not parent report), was related to less secure child narratives of the family, which in turn related to more child internalizing symptoms. Results suggest that asthma can take a considerable toll on children's feelings of security and mental health. Furthermore, given the difficulty in assessing young children's perceptions, this study helps demonstrate the potential of story stem techniques in assessing children's appraisals of illness threat and management in the family.

Interparental violence, maternal emotional unavailability and children's cortisol functioning in family contexts

Our goal in the present study was to examine the specificity of pathways among interparental violence, maternal emotional unavailability, and children's cortisol reactivity to emotional stressors within interparental and parent-child relationships. The study also tested whether detrimental family contexts were associated, on average, with hypocortisolism or hypercortisolism responses to stressful family interactions in young children. Participants included 201 toddlers and their mothers who were from impoverished backgrounds and who experienced disproportionate levels of family violence. Assessments of interparental violence were derived from maternal surveys and interviews, whereas maternal emotional unavailability was assessed through maternal reports and observer ratings of caregiving. Salivary cortisol levels were sampled at 3 time points before and after laboratory paradigms designed to elicit children's reactivity to stressful interparental and parent-child contexts. Results indicated that interparental violence and the mother's emotional unavailability were differentially associated with children's adrenocorticol stress reactivity. Furthermore, these family risk contexts predicted lower cortisol change in response to distress. The results are interpreted in the context of risky family and emotional security theory conceptualizations that underscore how family contexts differentially impact children's physiological regulatory capacities.

Allostatic processes in the family

The concepts of allostatic load and allostatic processes can help psychologists understand how health trajectories are influenced by stressful childhood experiences in the family. This paper describes psychological pathways and two key allostatic mediators, the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis and the immune system, through which stressful early rearing conditions may influence adult mental and physical health. The action of meshed gears is introduced as a metaphor to illustrate how responses occurring within a brief time frame, for example, immediate reactions to stressors, can influence developmental and health processes unfolding over much longer spans of time. We identify early-developing psychological and biological response patterns that could link chronic stressors in childhood to later health outcomes. Some of these “precursor outcomes” (e.g., heightened vigilance and preparedness for threats; enhanced inflammatory and humoral responses to infectious microorganisms) appear to be aimed at protection from immediate dangers; they may reflect “adaptive trade-offs” that balance short-term survival advantages under harsh rearing conditions against disadvantages manifested later in development. Our analysis also suggests mechanisms that underlie resilience in risky family environments.

Longitudinal pathways between political violence and child adjustment: the role of emotional security about the community in Northern Ireland

Links between political violence and children's adjustment problems are well-documented. However, the mechanisms by which political tension and sectarian violence relate to children's well-being and development are little understood. This study longitudinally examined children's emotional security about community violence as a possible regulatory process in relations between community discord and children's adjustment problems. Families were selected from 18 working class neighborhoods in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Participants (695 mothers and children, M = 12.17, SD = 1.82) were interviewed in their homes over three consecutive years. Findings supported the notion that politically-motivated community violence has distinctive effects on children's externalizing and internalizing problems through the mechanism of increasing children's emotional insecurity about community. Implications are considered for understanding relations between political violence and child adjustment from a social ecological perspective.

The ABCs of family mealtimes: observational lessons for promoting healthy outcomes for children with persistent asthma

Family mealtimes have the potential to promote healthy child development. This observational study of 200 family mealtimes examined the relation between child health in a group of children (ages 5 to 12) with persistent asthma and 3 dimensions of mealtime interaction: Action, Behavior Control, and Communication. Percent time spent in Action and Positive Communication varied by asthma severity, child quality of life, and sociodemographic variables. Positive communication during mealtimes predicted child quality of life. Significant interactions between demographic variables and behavior control suggested that higher levels of behavior control affected child quality of life in the context of lower maternal education. Guidance is offered for practitioners and policy makers toward promoting healthy family mealtimes as a public health priority.

Typologies of family functioning and children's adjustment during the early school years

Guided by family systems theory, the present study sought to identify patterns of family functioning from observational assessments of interparental, parent-child, and triadic contexts. In addition, it charted the implications for patterns of family functioning for children's developmental trajectories of adjustment in the school context across the early school years. Two-hundred thirty-four kindergarten children (129 girls and 105 boys; mean age = 6.0 years, SD = 0.50 at Wave 1) and their parents participated in this multimethod, 3-year longitudinal investigation. As expected, latent class analyses extracted 3 primary typologies of functioning including: (a) cohesive, (b) enmeshed, and (c) disengaged families. Furthermore, family patterns were differentially associated with children's maladaptive adjustment trajectories in the school context. The findings highlight the developmental utility of incorporating pattern-based approaches to family functioning.

Children's Security in the Context of Family Instability and Maternal Communications

This multi-method study examined the association between family instability and children's internal representations of security in the family system within the context of maternal communications about disruptive family events. Participants included 224 kindergarten children (100 boys and 124 girls) and their parents. Parents reported on the frequency of unstable family events, mothers reported their patterns of communication to children following disruptive events, and children completed a story-stem battery to assess their internal representations of family security. Consistent with predictions, heightened family instability was associated with less security in child representations. The implication of these results for notions of children's security in the family system, including exploratory findings on the protective role of maternal communications for children's representations, are discussed.

Children's representations of family relationships, peer information processing, and school adjustment

This study examined children's peer information processing as an explanatory mechanism underlying the association between their insecure representations of interparental and parent-child relationships and school adjustment in a sample of 210 first graders. Consistent with emotional security theory (P. T. Davies & E. M. Cummings, 1994), results indicated that children's insecure representations of the interparental relationship were indirectly related to their academic functioning through association with their negative information processing of stressful peer events. Insecure interparental relationships were specifically linked with negative peer information processing patterns that, in turn, predicted increases in child maladjustment over a 1-year period. These pathways remained robust after taking into account the roles of representations of parent-child relationships, trait measures of child negative affect, and socioeconomic characteristics as predictors in the analyses.

Parent Problem Checklist: measure of parent conflict

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of the present study was to validate the psychometric properties of the Parent Problem Checklist (PPC), and to examine the contribution of conflict specific to child-rearing to the prediction of child problems.

METHOD

The study examined the relationship between marital conflict, parenting conflict and emotional and behavioural problems in children aged 2-16 years, in evaluating the psychometric properties of the PPC in a sample of 200 parents.

RESULTS

Analysis of the PPC indicated good reliability and validity. Findings support the hypothesis that parenting conflict influences children's outcomes more than either general marital conflict or marital satisfaction.

CONCLUSIONS

There are a number of implications for clinical practice and understanding the role of parenting conflict in the development of child difficulty.