A meta-analysis examined the relations between children's adjustment and children's cognitive, affective, behavioral, and physiological responses to interparental conflict. Studies included children between 5 and 19 years of age. Moderate effect sizes were found for the associations between cognitions and internalizing and externalizing behavior problems and self-esteem problems, negative affect and behavioral responses and internalizing behavior problems, and behavioral responses and self-esteem problems. Small to moderate effect sizes were found for the associations between cognitions and relational problems, negative affect and behavioral responses and externalizing behavior problems, and physiological reactions and internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. Effect sizes were, with one exception, larger for internalizing than for externalizing behavior problems. Age significantly moderated the majority of effect sizes.The link between interparental conflict (IPC) and children's behavioral and emotional dysfunction is well established in both intact and divorced families (Amato & Keith, 1991;Buehler et al., 1997;Davies and Cummings, 1994;Emery, 1982;Grych & Fincham, 2001; Ingolsby, Shaw, Owens, & Winslow, 1999). However, not all children who witness IPC display behavior problems (Jouriles, Murphy, & O'Leary, 1989). More recent research efforts have focused on identifying the characteristics of children exposed to IPC, their coping responses to conflict, and contextual factors of IPC that may relate to adjustment problems (e.g., .Ultimately, it is not the conflict itself but rather more proximal processes that must account for the relation between IPC and child behavior problems. Children's responses to IPC are one possible proximal variable. Such responses are indicators of how children process and make meaning of IPC in relation to their own needs, desires, and goals. Of course, children's responses to IPC are not the only variables relevant to the association between IPC and child dysfunction. This meta-analysis focuses on children's responses to conflict because: 1) children's own responses to IPC are most proximal to their own psychosocial and physical adjustment, 2) these responses provide an index of how children interpret and cope with IPC, which should ultimately mediate the relation between IPC and child adjustment, and 3) the literature on children's reactions to IPC is sufficiently large to warrant a systematic, quantitative review and provides an established theoretical background. This meta-analysis focuses on four broad categories of child responses to IPC: cognitions, emotional responses, behavioral responses, and physiological responses. These four categories represent the full spectrum of possible child responses to conflict; when children are exposed to IPC they can think, feel, act, and physiologically respond to the situation. The first three of these Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Kimberly A. Rhoades, Department of Psychology, Stony Brook Uni...
We examined direct and indirect pathways from marital hostility to toddler anger/frustration via harsh parenting and parental depressive symptoms, with an additional focus on the moderating role of genetic influences as inferred from birth parent anger/frustration. Participants were 361 linked triads of birth mothers, adoptive parents, and adopted children who were 9 (T1) and 18 (T2) months old across the study period. Results indicated an indirect effect from T1 marital hostility to T2 toddler anger/frustration via T2 parental harsh discipline. Results also indicated that the association between marital hostility and toddler anger was moderated by birth mother anger/frustration. For children whose birth mothers reported high levels of anger/frustration, adoptive parents’ marital hostility at T1 predicted toddler anger/frustration at T2. This relation did not hold for children whose birth mothers reported low levels of anger/frustration. The results suggest that children whose birth mothers report elevated frustration might inherit an emotional lability that makes them more sensitive to the effects of marital hostility.
Youth depression is a significant and growing international public health problem. Youth who engage in high levels of delinquency are at particularly high risk for developing problems with depression. The present study examined the impact of a behavioral intervention designed to reduce delinquency (Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care; MTFC) compared to a group care intervention (GC; i.e., services as usual) on trajectories of depressive symptoms among adolescent girls in the juvenile justice system. MTFC has documented effects on preventing girls' recidivism, but its effects on preventing the normative rise in girls' depressive symptoms across adolescence have not been examined. This indicated prevention sample included 166 girls (13–17 years at T1) who had at least one criminal referral in the past 12 months and who were mandated to out-of-home care; girls were randomized to MTFC or GC. Intent-to-treat analyses examined the main effects of MTFC on depression symptoms and clinical cut-offs, and whether benefits were greatest for girls most at risk. Depressive symptom trajectories were specified in hierarchical linear growth models over a two year period using five waves of data at six month intervals. Depression clinical cut-off scores were specified as nonlinear probability growth models. Results showed significantly greater rates of deceleration for girls in MTFC versus GC for depressive symptoms and for clinical cut-off scores. The MTFC intervention also showed greater benefits for girls with higher levels of initial depressive symptoms. Possible mechanisms of effect are discussed, given MTFC's effectiveness on targeted and nontargeted outcomes.
Background Disruption in the parent-child relationship is a commonly hypothesised risk factor through which maternal depression may increase risk for offspring psychopathology. However, maternal depression is commonly accompanied by other psychopathology, including antisocial behaviour. Few studies have examined the role of co-occurring psychopathology in depressed mothers. Using a longitudinal study of offspring of mothers with recurrent depression, we aimed to test whether maternal warmth/hostility mediated links between maternal depression severity on child outcomes, and how far direct and indirect pathways were robust to controls for co-occurring maternal antisocial behaviour. Methods Mothers with a history of recurrent major depressive disorder and their adolescent offspring (9–17 years at baseline) were assessed three times between 2007 and 2010. Mothers completed questionnaires assessing their own depression severity and antisocial behaviour at Time 1 (T1). The parent-child relationship was assessed using parent-rated questionnaire and interviewer-rated five-minute speech sample at Time 2 (T2). Offspring symptoms of depression and disruptive behaviours were assessed using the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment at Time 3 (T3). Results Maternal hostility and warmth respectively mediated the association between maternal depression severity and risk for offspring psychopathology. However, the effects were attenuated when maternal antisocial behaviour was included in the analysis. In tests of the full theoretical model, maternal antisocial behaviour predicted both maternal hostility and low warmth, maternal hostility predicted offspring disruptive behaviour disorder symptoms but not depression, and maternal warmth was not associated with either child outcome. Conclusions Parenting interventions aimed at reducing hostility may be beneficial for preventing or reducing adolescent disruptive behaviours in offspring of depressed mothers, especially when depressed mothers report co-occurring antisocial behaviour.
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