Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T19:18:03.360Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Delineating the developmental sequelae of children's risky involvement in interparental conflict

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2021

Morgan J. Thompson Open the ORCID record for Morgan J. Thompson [Opens in a new window] ,
Patrick T. Davies Open the ORCID record for Patrick T. Davies [Opens in a new window] ,
Rochelle F. Hentges Open the ORCID record for Rochelle F. Hentges [Opens in a new window]  and
Melissa L. Sturge-Apple Open the ORCID record for Melissa L. Sturge-Apple [Opens in a new window]
Morgan J. Thompson*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
Patrick T. Davies
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
Rochelle F. Hentges
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
Melissa L. Sturge-Apple
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
*
Author for Correspondence: Morgan J. Thompson, Department of Psychology, P.O. Box 270266, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, 14627; E-mail: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The present study examined the developmental value of parsing different forms of children's risky involvement in interparental conflict as predictors of children's subsequent psychological adjustment. Participants included a diverse sample of 243 preschool children (Mage = 4.6 years) and their mothers across two measurement occasions spaced 2 years apart. Three forms of risky involvement (i.e., cautious, caregiving, and coercive) were identified using maternal narratives describing children's emotional and behavioral reactivity during and immediately following interparental conflict. Utilizing a multimethod, multi-informant design, findings revealed that each form of involvement prospectively predicted unique configurations of children's developmental outcomes. Greater coercive involvement was associated with higher levels of externalizing problems, callous and unemotional traits, and extraversion. Higher levels of caregiving involvement were linked with greater separation anxiety. Finally, cautious involvement predicted more separation anxiety and social withdrawal.

Keywords

childrencopingemotional and behavioral reactivitypsychological adjustmentrisky involvement in interparental conflict
Type
Regular Article
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 34 , Issue 3 , August 2022 , pp. 922 - 935
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abela, J. R. Z., & Hankin, B. L. (2008). Handbook of depression in children and adolescents. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Ablow, J., Measelle, J. R., Kraemer, H. C., Harrington, R., Luby, J., & Kupfer, D. J. (1999). The MacArthur three-city outcome study: Evaluating multi-informant measures of young children's symptomatology. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 38, 1580–1590. doi:10.1097/00004583-199912000-00020CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Arbuckle, J. L. (2017). AMOS (Version 25.0) [Computer Program]. Chicago, IL: IBM SPSS.Google Scholar
Bhatia, S. K., & Bhatia, S. C. (2007). Childhood and adolescent depression. American Family Physician, 75, 73–80.Google ScholarPubMed
Block, J. (2008). The Q-sort in character appraisal: Encoding subjective impressions of person quantitatively. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bongers, I. L., Koot, H. M., van der Ende, J., & Verhulst, F. C. (2003). The normative development of child and adolescent problem behavior. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 112, 179–192. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.112.2.179CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Borzormenyi-Nagy, I., & Spark, G. M. (1973). Invisible loyalties: Reciprocity in intergenerational family therapy. Hagerstown, MD: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1982). Attachment and loss: Retrospect and prospect. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 52, 664–678. doi:10.1111/j.1939-0025.1982.tb01456.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, 77–101. doi:10.1191/1478088706qp063oaCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2012). Thematic analysis. In Cooper, H., Camic, P. M., Long, D. L., Panter, A. T., Rindskopf, D. & Sher, K. J. (Eds.), APA handbook of research methods in psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 57–71). American Psychological Association. doi:10.1037/13620-004Google Scholar
Burton, S., Hooper, L. M., Tomek, S., Cauley, B., Washington, A., & Pössel, P. (2018). The mediating effects of parentification on the relation between parenting behavior and well-being and depressive symptoms in early adolescents. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 27, 4044–4059. doi:10.1007/s10826-018-1215-0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cardinale, E. M., & Marsh, A. A. (2020). The reliability and validity of the inventory of callous unemotional traits: A meta-analytic review. Assessment, 27, 57–71. doi:10.1177/1073191117747392CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cicchetti, D., & Toth, S. L. (1998). The development of depression in children and adolescents. American Psychologist, 53, 221–241. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.53.2.221CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cummings, E. M., & Davies, P. (2010). Marital conflict and children: An emotional security perspective. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Davies, P., & Martin, M. (2014). Children's coping and adjustment in high-conflict homes: The reformulation of emotional security theory. Child Development Perspectives, 8, 242–249. doi:10.1111/cdep.12094CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, P. T., Cicchetti, D., & Martin, M. J. (2012). Toward greater specificity in identifying associations among interparental aggression, child emotional reactivity to conflict, and child problems. Child Development, 83, 1789–1804. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01804.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davies, P. T., Coe, J. L., Martin, M. J., Sturge-Apple, M. L., & Cummings, E. M. (2015). The developmental costs and benefits of children's involvement in interparental conflict. Developmental Psychology, 51, 1026–1047. doi:10.1037/dev0000024CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davies, P. T., & Cummings, E. M. (1994). Marital conflict and child adjustment: An emotional security hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 116, 387–411. doi:10.1037//0033-2909.116.3.387CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, P. T., & Forman, E. M. (2002). Children's patterns of preserving emotional security in the interparental subsystem. Child Development, 73, 1880–1903.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davies, P. T., Forman, E. M., Rasi, J. A., & Stevens, K. I. (2002a). Assessing children's emotional security in the interparental relationship: The security in the interparental subsystem scales. Child Development, 73, 544–562. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00423CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, P. T., Harold, G. T., Goeke-Morey, M. C., Cummings, E. M., Shelton, K., Rasi, J. A., & Jenkins, J. M. (2002b). Child emotional security and interparental conflict. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 67, 1–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, P. T., & Martin, M. J. (2013). The reformulation of emotional security theory: The role of children's social defense in developmental psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 25, 1435–1454. doi:10.1017/S0954579413000709CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davies, P. T., Martin, M. J., & Sturge-Apple, M. L. (2016a). Emotional security theory and developmental psychopathology. In Cicchetti, D. & Cohen, D. J. (Eds.), Developmental psychopathology (Vol. 1, pp. 199–264). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Davies, P. T., Martin, M. J., Sturge-Apple, M. L., Ripple, M. T., & Cicchetti, D. (2016b). The distinctive sequelae of children's coping with interparental conflict: Testing the reformulated emotional security theory. Developmental Psychology, 52, 1646–1665. doi:10.1037/dev0000170CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, P. T., & Sturge-Apple, M. L. (2007). Advances in the formulation of emotional security theory: An ethologically-based perspective. Advances in Child Development and Behavior, 35, 87–137. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-009735-7.50008-6CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davis, B. T., Hops, H., Alpert, A., & Sheeber, L. (1998). Child responses to parental conflict and their effect on adjustment: A study of triadic relations. Journal of Family Psychology, 12, 163–177. doi:10.1037/0893-3200.12.2.163CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Del Giudice, M., Gangestad, S. W., & Kaplan, H. S. (2015). Life history theory and evolutionary psychology. In Buss, D. M. (Ed.), The handbook of evolutionary psychology (pp. 68–95). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Depue, R. A., & Collins, P. F. (1999). Neurobiology of the structure of personality: Dopamine, facilitation of incentive motivation, and extraversion. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22, 491–517. doi:10.1017/S0140525X99002046CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
DeYoung, C. G., Weisberg, Y. J., Quilty, L. C., & Peterson, J. B. (2013). Unifying the aspects of the big five, the interpersonal circumplex, and trait affiliation: Big five and IPC. Journal of Personality, 81, 465–475. doi:10.1111/jopy.12020CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, J., Deater-Deckard, K., Pickering, K., O'Connor, T. G., Golding, J., & the ALSPAC Study Team. (1998). Children's adjustment and prosocial behaviour in step-, single-parent, and non-stepfamily settings: Findings from a community study. The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 39, 1083–1095. doi:10.1017/S0021963098003266CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Earls, F. (1982). Application of DSM-III in an epidemiological study of preschool children. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 242–243.Google Scholar
Eisenberg, N. (2000). Emotion, regulation, and moral development. Annual Review of Psychology, 51, 665–697. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.51.1.665CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R., Miller, P. A., Shell, R., Shea, C., & May-Plumlee, T. (1990). Preschoolers’ vicarious emotional responding and their situational and dispositional prosocial behavior. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 36, 507–529.Google Scholar
Eisenberg, N., McCreath, H., & Ahn, R. (1988). Vicarious emotional responsiveness and prosocial behavior: Their interrelations in young children. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 14, 298–311. doi:10.1177/0146167288142008CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Emery, R. E. (1989). Family violence. American Psychologist, 44, 321–328. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.44.2.321CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Essau, C. A., Sasagawa, S., & Frick, P. J. (2006). Callous-unemotional traits in a community sample of adolescents. Assessment, 13, 454–469. doi:10.1177/1073191106287354CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franz, L., Angold, A., Copeland, W., Costello, E. J., Towe-Goodman, N., & Egger, H. (2013). Preschool anxiety disorders in pediatric primary care: Prevalence and comorbidity. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 52, 1294–1303.e1. doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2013.09.008CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frick, P. J. (2004). The Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits. Unpublished rating scale. New Orleans, Louisiana: University of New Orleans.Google Scholar
Funk, J. L., & Rogge, R. D. (2007). Testing the ruler with item response theory: Increasing precision of measurement for relationship satisfaction with the Couples Satisfaction Index. Journal of Family Psychology, 21, 572–583. doi:10.1037/0893-3200.21.4.572CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grych, J. H., & Fincham, F. D. (1990). Marital conflict and children's adjustment: A cognitive-contextual framework. Psychological Bulletin, 108, 267–290. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.108.2.267CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hollingshead, A. B. (1975). Four factor index of social status. New Haven, CT: Yale University.Google Scholar
Jenkins, J. M., Smith, M. A., & Graham, P. J. (1989). Coping with parental quarrels. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 28, 182–189. doi:10.1097/00004583-198903000-00006CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, S. L., Leedom, L. J., & Muhtadie, L. (2012). The dominance behavioral system and psychopathology: Evidence from self-report, observational, and biological studies. Psychological Bulletin, 138, 692–743. doi:10.1037/a0027503CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnston, J. R., Roseby, V., & Kuehnle, K. (2009). In the name of the child: A developmental approach to understanding and helping children of conflicted and violent divorce (2nd ed.). New York: Springer Publications.Google Scholar
Jurkovic, G. J. (1998). Destructive parentification in families: Causes and consequences. In L'Abate, L. (Ed.), Family psychopathology: The relational roots of dysfunctional behavior (pp. 237–255). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Keenan, K., Shaw, D. S., Walsh, B., Delliquadri, E., & Giovannelli, J. (1997). DSM-III-R disorders in preschool children from low-income families. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 620–627. doi:10.1097/00004583-199705000-00012CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kerig, P. K. (2005). Revisiting the construct of boundary dissolution: A multidimensional perspective. Journal of Emotional Abuse, 5, 5–42. doi:10.1300/J135v05n02_02CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kertz, S. J., Sylvester, C., Tillman, R., & Luby, J. L. (2019). Latent class profiles of anxiety symptom trajectories from preschool through school age. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 48, 316–331. doi:10.1080/15374416.2017.1295380CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim-Cohen, J., Arseneault, L., Caspi, A., Tomás, M. P., Taylor, A., & Moffitt, T. E. (2005). Validity of DSM-IV conduct disorder in 4½–5-year-old children: A longitudinal epidemiological study. American Journal of Psychiatry, 162, 1108–1117. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.162.6.1108CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim-Cohen, J., Arseneault, L., Newcombe, R., Adams, F., Bolton, H., Cant, L., … Matthews, C. (2009). Five-year predictive validity of DSM-IV conduct disorder research diagnosis in 4½–5-year-old children. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 18, 284–291. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.162.6.1108CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Korbin, J. E., Coulton, C. J., Chard, S., Platt-Houston, C., & Su, M. (1998). Impoverishment and child maltreatment in African American and European American neighborhoods. Development and Psychopathology, 10, 215–233. doi:10.1017/S0954579498001588CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kouros, C. D., Cummings, E. M., & Davies, P. T. (2010). Early trajectories of interparental conflict and externalizing problems as predictors of social competence in preadolescence. Development and Psychopathology, 22, 527–537. doi:10.1017/S0954579410000258CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kovacs, M. (1996). Presentation and course of major depressive disorder during childhood and later years of the life span. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 35, 705–715. doi:10.1097/00004583-199606000-00010CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Little, R. J. A. (1988). A test of missing completely at random for multivariate data with missing values. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 83, 1198–1202. doi:10.1080/01621459.1988.10478722CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luby, J. L., Heffelfinger, A. K., Mrakotsky, C., Hessler, M. J., Brown, K. M., & Hildebrand, T. (2002). Preschool major depressive disorder: Preliminary validation for developmentally modified DSM-IV criteria. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 41, 928–937. doi:10.1097/00004583-200208000-00011CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lucas, C. P., Fisher, P., & Luby, J. (1998). Young-child DISC-IV research draft: Diagnostic interview schedule for children. New York City: Columbia University, Division of Child Psychiatry, Joy and William Ruane Center to Identify and Treat Mood Disorders.Google Scholar
Macfie, J., Brumariu, L. E., & Lyons-Ruth, K. (2015). Parent–child role-confusion: A critical review of an emerging concept. Developmental Review, 36, 34–57. doi:10.1016/j.dr.2015.01.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manassis, K. (2001). Child–parent relations: Attachment and anxiety disorders. In Silverman, W. K. & Treffers, D. A. (Eds.), Anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google ScholarPubMed
Mueller, V., Jouriles, E. N., McDonald, R., & Rosenfield, D. (2015). Children's appraisals and involvement in interparental conflict: Do they contribute independently to child adjustment? Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 43, 1041–1054. doi:10.1007/s10802-014-9953-yCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nuttall, A. K., & Valentino, K. (2017). An ecological-transactional model of generational boundary dissolution across development. Marriage & Family Review, 53, 105–150. doi:10.1080/01494929.2016.1178203CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Brien, M., Bahadur, M. A., Gee, C., Balto, K., & Erber, S. (1997). Child exposure to marital conflict and child coping responses as predictors of child adjustment. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 21, 39–59. doi:10.1023/A:1021816225846CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Brien, M., Margolin, G., & John, R. S. (1995). Relation among marital conflict, child coping, and child adjustment. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 24, 346–361. doi:10.1207/s15374424jccp2403_12CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patterson, G. R. (1982). Coercive family process. Eugene, OR: Castalia Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Peris, T. S., & Emery, R. E. (2005). Redefining the parent-child relationship following divorce: Examining the risk for boundary dissolution. Journal of Emotional Abuse, 5, 169–189. doi:10.1300/J135v05n04_01CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peris, T. S., Goeke-Morey, M. C., Cummings, E. M., & Emery, R. E. (2008). Marital conflict and support seeking by parents in adolescence: Empirical support for the parentification construct. Journal of Family Psychology, 22, 633–642. doi:10.1037/a0012792CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pettit, G. S., Laird, R. D., Dodge, K. A., Bates, J. E., & Criss, M. M. (2001). Antecedents and behavior-problem outcomes of parental monitoring and psychological control in early adolescence. Child Development, 72, 583–598. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00298CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Piacentini, J., Shaffer, D., Fisher, P., Schwab-Stone, M., Davies, M., & Gioia, P. (1993). The diagnostic interview schedule for children-revised version (DISC-R): III. Concurrent criterion validity. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 32, 658–665. doi:10.1097/00004583-199305000-00025CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rhoades, K. A. (2008). Children's responses to interparental conflict: A meta-analysis of their associations with child adjustment. Child Development, 79, 1942–1956. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01235.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schermerhorn, A. C., Cummings, E. M., DeCarlo, C. A., & Davies, P. T. (2007). Children's influence in the marital relationship. Journal of Family Psychology, 21, 259–269.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schlomer, G. L., Bauman, S., & Card, N. A. (2010). Best practices for missing data management in counseling psychology. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 57, 1–10. doi:10.1037/a0018082CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shaffer, D., Fisher, P., Lucas, C. P., Dulcan, M. K., & Schwab-Stone, M. E. (2000). NIMH Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children Version IV (NIMH DISC-IV): Description, differences from previous versions, and reliability of some common diagnoses. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 39, 28–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shelton, K. H., & Harold, G. T. (2008). Interparental conflict, negative parenting, and children's adjustment: Bridging links between parents’ depression and children's psychological distress. Journal of Family Psychology, 22, 712–724. doi:10.1037/a0013515CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Solomon, J., & George, C. (2011). The disorganized attachment-caregiving system: Dysregulation of adaptive processes at multiple levels. In Solomon, J. & George, C. (Eds.), Disorganized attachment and caregiving (pp. 3–24). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Sullivan, M. L. (1998). Integrating qualitative and quantitative methods in the study of developmental psychopathology in context. Development and Psychopathology, 10, 377–393. doi:10.1017/S0954579498001655CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van der Graaff, J., Carlo, G., Crocetti, E., Koot, H. M., & Branje, S. (2018). Prosocial behavior in adolescence: Gender differences in development and links with empathy. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 47, 1086–1099. doi:10.1007/s10964-017-0786-1CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Waller, R., & Hyde, L. W. (2018). Callous-unemotional behaviors in early childhood: The development of empathy and prosociality gone awry. Current Opinion in Psychology, 20, 11–16. doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.07.037CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Warmuth, K. A., Cummings, E. M., & Davies, P. T. (2018). Child behavioral dysregulation as a mediator between destructive marital conflict and children's symptoms of psychopathology. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 27, 2004–2013. doi:10.1007/s10826-018-1038-zCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, A., O'Driscoll, K., & Moore, C. (2014). The influence of empathic concern on prosocial behavior in children. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 425. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00425CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, S., Schalet, B. D., Hicks, B. M., & Zucker, R. A. (2013). Identifying early childhood personality dimensions using the California Child Q-Set and prospective associations with behavioral and psychosocial development. Journal of Research in Personality, 47, 339–350. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2013.02.010CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yoshikawa, H., Weisner, T. S., Kalil, A., & Way, N. (2008). Mixing qualitative and quantitative research in developmental science: Uses and methodological choices. Developmental Psychology, 44, 344–354. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.44.2.344CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed