Marital Conflict, Abuse, and Adversity in the Family and Child Adjustment: A Developmental Psychopathology Perspective

Abstract The Family Stress Model (FSM) of Economic Hardship (Conger, Rueter, & Conger, 2000) was developed to explain the impact of financial stress on families through links between economic difficulties, parental emotional distress, marital conflict, disrupted parenting behaviors, and child maladjustment. The FSM has been cross validated in samples of custodial grandparents (i.e., grandparents who provide substantial care for their grandchildren; Smith et al., 2017). The current study modified the FSM by replacing inter-parent relationship difficulties with inter-generational relationship problems between the custodial grandparents and their children to ultimately examine the adjustment of the grandchildren. This change to the model is supported by prior research conducted on intergenerational stress impacting the parenting and subsequent development of children in grandfamilies (Barnett, Mills-Koonce, Gustafsson, & Cox, 2012). Using a nationwide sample of 317 custodial grandparents aged 40 and older (M = 61 yr) the fit of the modified model was tested using AMOS 26. Latent variables in the model included Economic Pressure, Caregiver Distress, Disrupted Parenting, Intergenerational Relationship, and Child Adjustment. Moderate fit was achieved (χ2(308) = 574.88; CFI = .896; RMSEA = .052). All pathways were significant with the exception of Disrupted Parenting to Child Adjustment. These results indicate that intergenerational relationships are an important predictor of child adjustment, and an applicable substitute for inter-partner relationships when modeling family stress in custodial grandfamilies. Details and clinical implications will be discussed.

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A Review of the Impact of Marital Conflict on Child Adjustment

Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling ◽

10.1375/ajgc.16.1.91 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

pp. 91-105 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

John Barletta ◽

Bernie O'Mara

Keyword(s):

Marital Conflict ◽

Parenting Practices ◽

Developmental Psychopathology ◽

Child Adjustment ◽

Research Literature ◽

Family Process ◽

Relational Dynamics ◽

Intact Families ◽

And Gender ◽

The Impact

AbstractThis article presents a review of research literature regarding the association between marital conflict and child adjustment in intact families. Factors such as the child temperament and gender, the relational dynamics between parent/s and child, the child's developmental stage and cognitive appraisal of the conflict — including aspects of the child's physiological system, as well as parenting practices — are explored to outline contributions to the understanding of issues associated with this aspect of family process. Developmental psychopathology is offered as a useful resource in terms of a process oriented theoretical framework providing a multi-dimensional approach to exploring and explaining the impact of marital conflict on children.

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The Family, Education, and Child Adjustment

Review of Educational Research ◽

10.2307/1168821 ◽

1946 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

pp. 71

Author(s):

Ida B. Kelley ◽

Margaret Nesbitt

Keyword(s):

Child Adjustment ◽

Family Education ◽

The Family

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Explaining Heterogeneity of Daily Conflict Spillover in the Family: The Role of Dyadic Marital Conflict Patterns

Family Process ◽

10.1111/famp.12648 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Stefanos Mastrotheodoros ◽

Lauren M. Papp ◽

Jolien Van der Graaff ◽

Maja Deković ◽

Wim H. J. Meeus ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Marital Conflict ◽

The Family ◽

Conflict Spillover

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Perceived parent–child adjustment in the family reunification among a group of runaway adolescents in Hong Kong

Journal of Adolescence ◽

10.1016/j.adolescence.2005.01.009 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 28 (6) ◽

pp. 687-707 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

E. Suk-Ching Liu

Keyword(s):

Hong Kong ◽

Child Adjustment ◽

Family Reunification ◽

The Family ◽

Parent Child

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Children's fingernail cortisol among BaYaka foragers of the Congo Basin: associations with fathers' roles

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2020.0031 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 376 (1827) ◽

Author(s):

Lee T. Gettler ◽

Sheina Lew-Levy ◽

Mallika S. Sarma ◽

Valchy Miegakanda ◽

Martha Doxsey ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Marital Conflict ◽

Skinfold Thickness ◽

The United States ◽

Congo Basin ◽

Parental Conflict ◽

Maternal Child Health ◽

Energetic Condition ◽

The Family ◽

Family Resource ◽

Psychosocial Conditions

Children and mothers’ cortisol production in response to family psychosocial conditions, including parenting demands, family resource availability and parental conflict, has been extensively studied in the United States and Europe. Less is known about how such family dynamics relate to family members' cortisol in societies with a strong cultural emphasis on cooperative caregiving. We studied a cumulative indicator of cortisol production, measured from fingernails, among BaYaka forager children (77 samples, n = 48 individuals) and their parents (78 samples, n = 49) in the Congo Basin. Men ranked one another according to locally valued roles for fathers, including providing resources for the family, sharing resources in the community and engaging in less marital conflict. Children had higher cortisol if their parents were ranked as having greater parental conflict, and their fathers were seen as less effective providers and less generous sharers of resources in the community. Children with lower triceps skinfold thickness (an indicator of energetic condition) also had higher cortisol. Parental cortisol was not significantly correlated to men's fathering rankings, including parental conflict. Our results indicate that even in a society in which caregiving is highly cooperative, children's cortisol production was nonetheless correlated to parental conflict as well as variation in locally defined fathering quality. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Multidisciplinary perspectives on social support and maternal–child health’.

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Testing the Effects of COVID-19 Confinement in Spanish Children: The Role of Parents’ Distress, Emotional Problems and Specific Parenting

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17196975 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (19) ◽

pp. 6975 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Estrella Romero ◽

Laura López-Romero ◽

Beatriz Domínguez-Álvarez ◽

Paula Villar ◽

Jose Antonio Gómez-Fraguela

Keyword(s):

Parenting Practices ◽

Child Adjustment ◽

Emotional Problems ◽

Well Being ◽

Positive Outcomes ◽

The Family ◽

Role Of Parents ◽

A Chain ◽

Parenting Distress

The present study aimed to examine the effects of the Spanish confinement derived from the COVID-19 crisis on children and their families, accounting for child’s age. A range of child negative (e.g., conduct problems) and positive outcomes (e.g., routine maintenance) were examined, along with a set of parent-related variables, including resilience, perceived distress, emotional problems, parenting distress and specific parenting practices (e.g., structured or avoidant parenting), which were modeled through path analysis to better understand child adjustment. Data were collected in April 2020, with information for the present study provided by 940 (89.6%) mothers, 102 (9.7%) fathers and 7 (0.7%) different caregivers, who informed on 1049 Spanish children (50.4% girls) aged 3 to 12 years (Mage = 7.29; SD = 2.39). The results suggested that, according to parents’ information, most children did not show important changes in behavior, although some increasing rates were observed for both negative and positive outcomes. Child adjustment was influenced by a chain of effects, derived from parents’ perceived distress and emotional response to the COVID-19 crisis, via parenting distress and specific parenting practices. While parenting distress in particular triggered child negative outcomes, specific parenting practices were more closely related to child positive outcomes. These findings may help to better inform, for potential future outbreaks, effective guidelines and prevention programs aimed at promoting the child’s well-being in the family.

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