Children's understanding of marital conflict and the marital relationship was investigated in 60 children of 5, 7, and 9 years old. Age differences were hypothesized in four areas of children's understanding of marital conflict and the marital relationship, based on the development between 5 and 9 years of age of children's abilities to (a) analyse complex sequences of behavior in terms of the mental states of protagonists and (b) integrate multiple social roles. The four areas investigated were: conceptions of marital conflict, conflict resolution, family triangulation, and integration of the spousal and parental roles. Children were read stories involving family interactions. Open-ended questions were asked about their understanding of these interactions and a coding scheme was devised that reflected theoretical concepts. Nine-year-olds differed from 5-year-olds on all aspects of their understanding of marital conflict and the marital relationship, and 7-year-olds showed levels of understanding between 5- and 9-year-olds. Younger children were less likely than older children to explain marital conflict in terms of the divergent goals of each parent, to understand conflict resolution as dependent on one person changing their beliefs or goals, to understand that parents were simultaneously spouses and parents and to understand the nature of triangulation. Marital conflict is interpreted very differently by children of different ages.

Violence between adult intimate partners has increasingly attracted the concern of the general public (Hunt & Kitzinger, 1996), medical professionals (Skolnick, 1995), and mental health practitioners who treat adults (Danielson, Moffitt, Caspi & Silva, in press). Yet, it may seem surprising to find an article about adult partner violence in a journal focused on children. We prepared this article because research suggests that adult partner violence has some important consequences for the health and well-being of children. We present four reasons why practitioners who treat children and adolescents should be knowledgeable about adult partner violence:

(1) Partner violence is not confined to adults; it is a feature of adolescents' earliest intimate experiences.

(2) The strongest developmental risk factor for adult partner violence is childhood conduct problems.

(3) Young children are adversely affected by witnessing violence between the adults in their homes.

(4) Adult partners who are violent toward each other are also at increased risk of abusing their children.

Abbreviations: CTS: Conflict Tactics Scale.