Young Children's Responding to Interparental Conflict: Associations with Marital Aggression and Child Adjustment

We designed this study to examine children's self-reported and observed emotional and behavioral responding to marital conflict as a potential mechanism linking marital physical aggression (as reported by the parents) and children's behavioral adjustment (as reported by their preschool teachers). In a sample of 48 preschoolers, parental marital physical aggression was positively associated with children's observed dysregulated responding to interparental conflict and negatively associated with children's self-reported behavioral disruption. Marital aggression and children's self-reported responding to marital conflict predicted teacher-reported behavior problems, with both variables adding unique variance. Our findings suggested a potential pathway linking exposure to marital conflict, children's regulatory strategies, and children's behavioral adjustment outside the home.     

亲子三角关系和心理韧性在父母冲突与青少年问题行为之间的作用:一个有调节的中介模型

为了考察三种亲子三角关系在父母冲突与青少年问题行为之间的中介作用,以及心理韧性在其中的调节作用,本研究对647名初中生进行了问卷调查。有调节的中介模型结果显示,（1）在控制了年龄和性别之后,父母冲突对青少年问题行为的正向预测作用显著;（2）亲子三角关系中的“替罪羊”和“跨代同盟”在父母冲突与青少年问题行为之间的中介作用显著,“亲职化”的中介作用不显著;（3）心理韧性对“父母冲突→替罪羊\跨代同盟→问题行为”的后半段具有显著的调节作用。上述结果表明,父母冲突可以通过“替罪羊”和“跨代同盟”间接影响青少年问题行为,高度卷入“替罪羊”或“跨代同盟”之后高心理韧性的青少年出现的问题行为要少于低心理韧性的同龄人。     

初中生对父母冲突的知觉结构分析

以我国初中生为研究对象,以Grych等人的父母冲突子女知觉量表为工具,对量表是否适用于中国的初中生进行了验证研究,以此探明了初中生对父母冲突知觉的结构,初中生对父母冲突知觉问卷具有良好的信度和效度。     

父母冲突与大学生宿舍冲突方式的关系:自我分化的中介作用

采用分层整群抽样的方法从北京四所不同类型大学选取1023名大一至大四的学生进行问卷调查,以探讨大学生感知到的父母冲突对其宿舍冲突方式的影响,以及大学生的自我分化在其中的中介作用。通过SPSS19.0和AMOS 17.0软件进行方差分析、相关分析和结构方程模型分析,结果表明:(1)总体来说,大学生最常见的宿舍冲突方式是合作,其次是顺从、回避,最少见的是竞争,而且男生采用竞争宿舍冲突方式的频率显著高于女生;(2)大学生感知到的父母冲突与其自我分化水平呈显著负相关,与消极的宿舍冲突方式(顺从、回避和竞争)呈显著正相关,但与积极的宿舍冲突方式(合作)相关不显著;(3)大学生自我分化水平与消极的宿舍冲突方式(顺从、回避和竞争)呈显著负相关,但只有其中两个维度(情绪反应和自我位置)与积极的宿舍冲突方式(合作)呈显著正相关;(4)大学生的自我分化在父母冲突与消极宿舍冲突方式的关系中起中介作用,并且中介模式存在性别差异:自我分化在父母冲突与女生消极宿舍冲突的关系中起完全中介作用,但在父母冲突与男生消极宿舍冲突的关系中起部分中介作用。     

Interparental conflict and risk behaviors among Mexican American adolescents: a cognitive-emotional model

This study used a cognitive-emotional model to examine the relations between multiple dimensions of interparental conflict and health risk behaviors among young adolescents. Participants were 151 Mexican American adolescents and their parents. At initial individual interviews, parents reported on conflict with their spouses, and adolescents reported on their parents' conflict, their appraisals of the conflict, their emotional distress, and their acculturation level. At 6-month follow-ups, adolescents reported on their risk behaviors, including substance use and sexual activity. In general, adolescents' acculturation level was not related to their risk behaviors. More frequent conflict, more conflict about the adolescent, more adolescent involvement in the conflict, and poor conflict resolution were related to greater emotional distress. More conflict about the adolescent, mothers being more demanding/dominating during conflict, and more adolescent involvement in the conflict were related to greater risk behaviors. Adolescents' cognitions mediated the link between two dimensions of parental conflict, frequency and resolution, and emotional distress. Adolescents' emotional distress mediated the association between adolescent involvement in parental conflict and adolescents' risk behaviors.     

父母冲突与青少年自伤的关系:一个有调节的中介模型

以情绪安全感理论为依据考察父母冲突与青少年自伤的关系,并在此基础上提出一个有调节的中介模型,探讨情绪不安全感的中介作用以及情绪调节自我效能感的调节作用。采用整群抽样法对2800名中学生进行问卷调查,结果表明:(1)在所有青少年被试中有自伤行为的比例占41.49%,青少年的自伤水平在年级、学校类型和是否为独生子女这些人口学变量上有显著差异;(2)父母冲突能显著地正向预测青少年的自伤水平,情绪不安全感在两者之间起部分中介作用;(3)控制消极情绪自我效能感对情绪不安全感的中介作用有显著的负向调节作用,只有当控制消极情绪自我效能感很低时,情绪不安全感在父母冲突和青少年自伤水平的中介作用才是显著的。     

Moderators and Mediators of the Effects of Interparental Conflict on Children's Adjustment

Moderational and mediational models of the relationships among appraisals, interparental conflict, and children's adjustment were tested in a sample of 174 families with a school-age child. Parents rated children's exposure to interparental conflict and internalizing, externalizing, and total behavior problems. Children completed questionnaires regarding their appraisals of their parents' conflicts, including frequency and intensity, perceived threat, control, and self-blame, as well as measures of anxiety and depression. Results overall demonstrated more consistent support for the moderational than mediational hypotheses. Appraisals of conflict properties, threat, self-blame, and perceived control moderated the effects of interparental conflict on externalizing, total problems, and anxiety in boys. Conflict properties, threat, self-blame, perceived control, and self-calming acted as moderators of internalizing in girls.     

父母冲突与初中生攻击行为:道德推脱的中介作用

采用父母冲突儿童知觉量表、道德推脱问卷和攻击行为问卷调查了370名初中生道德推脱的基本特点及其在父母冲突与攻击行为之间的作用。结果发现:(1)男生的道德推脱水平显著高于女生的道德推脱水平;初中生的道德推脱水平在年龄上存在显著的差异,15、16岁初中生的道德推脱水平显著高于13、14岁初中生的道德推脱水平;(2)父母冲突会对初中生的攻击行为产生显著的正向影响,并且道德推脱在父母冲突与初中生攻击行为之间起着部分中介作用。     

父母冲突对青少年社交焦虑的影响：序列中介效应分析

采用父母冲突儿童知觉量表(CPIC)、父母关系安全感量表(SIS Scale)和社交焦虑分量表调查480名高中生,运用偏差矫正的百分位Bootstrap方法探索青少年对父母冲突的威胁知觉和情绪不安全感在父母冲突水平与青少年社交焦虑之间的序列中介作用。本研究同时检验认知情境理论和情绪安全感理论,发现青少年对父母冲突的威胁知觉对其情绪不安全感的不同维度存在不同影响,从而更为完善地揭示父母冲突影响青少年社交焦虑的内部机制。具体来说,父母冲突主要通过三条途径影响青少年社交焦虑:通过威胁知觉的中介作用;通过情绪不安全感,特别是消极表征的中介作用;通过依次影响威胁知觉和情绪不安全感(特别是消极表征和情绪失调)而正向预测青少年社交焦虑。     

父母冲突对儿童青少年抑郁情绪的影响：有调节的中介模型

采用方便取样法选取山西、河南两省的2823名中小学生为被试,使用问卷法考察父母冲突与儿童青少年抑郁情绪之间的关系及机制。结果表明：（1）父母冲突、亲子关系、自尊均与抑郁呈显著相关;（2）父母冲突可以正向预测抑郁,亲子关系在其中起部分中介作用;（3）父母冲突影响抑郁的有调节的中介模型成立,其中自尊在前半段和后半段路径中均起调节作用,但作用有所不同。     

父母冲突损害青少年学业成绩:努力控制与课堂参与的中介作用

本研究采取方便取样法从山东省济宁市两所公立初中抽取815名学生作为被试,填写父母冲突特征量表、努力控制分量表和课堂参与量表,并以语文、数学和英语三门课程的期末考试成绩作为学业成绩的指标,考察父母冲突对青少年学业成绩的影响机制,特别是青少年努力控制和课堂参与的中介作用。结果显示：（1）父母冲突对青少年的学业成绩存在直接负向预测;（2）父母冲突通过损害青少年的努力控制而间接负向预测其学业成绩;（3）父母冲突通过依次损害青少年的努力控制能力和课堂参与而间接负向预测其学业成绩。本研究不仅启发教育工作者重视青少年学业不良的家庭风险因素,而且启发父母有意识地减少冲突,为孩子自控能力乃至学业发展创造良好的家庭环境。     

Exploring Violence Exposure, Stress, Protective Factors and Behavioral Problems Among Inner-City Youth

This study examined relationships between violence exposure, other stressors, family support, and self-concept on self-reported behavioral problems among 320 urban adolescents (aged 11–18) referred for mental health treatment. Overall, participants reported high levels of violence exposure, with a median of six past encounters with violence as a witness, victim, or through the experiences of associates. All forms of violence exposure (witnessing, being a victim, knowing of victims) were correlated with internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems for males and females. Total violence exposure predicted behavioral problems among participants, even after controlling for the effects of other risk, demographic and protective factors. Family support and self-concept moderated the influence of life stress and cumulative risk on problem behavior outcomes, but these protective variables did not significantly moderate violence exposure.     

Everyday Marital Conflict and Child Aggression

Children's immediate aggressive responding to exposure to marital conflict was examined. Participants were 108 families with 8- to 16-year-old children (53 boys, 55 girls), with diary records of children's reactions to marital conflict in the home completed by 103 mothers (n = 578 records) and 95 fathers (n = 377 records) during a 15-day period. Child responses to analog presentations of marital conflict tactics were also obtained. Exposure to destructive conflict tactics and negative parental emotionality increased the likelihood of aggressive behavior in children when they witnessed marital conflict, whereas constructive conflict tactics and positive parental emotionality decreased the probability of aggression. Conflict topics presumed to be threatening to the child (child- or marital-related) also heightened the likelihood of aggression. Aggressive responding to conflict in both home and laboratory predicted externalizing behavior problems. Fathers' and mothers' separate diary reports, and child responses to analog presentation of conflict, provided generally consistent findings. An exposure hypothesis for marital conflict as an influence on child aggression is discussed.     

Interparental conflict and adolescent emotional security across family structures

This study investigated whether interparental conflict was differentially related to forms of emotional security (i.e., family, interparental, parent–child) and whether forms of emotional security were differentially associated with mental health problems for adolescents in married versus divorced/separated families. Participants were 1032 adolescents (ages 10–15; 51% male, 49% female; 82% non-Hispanic White, 9% Black/African American, 5% Hispanic, 2% Asian or Pacific Islander, 2% Native American) recruited from a public school in a middle-class suburb of a United States metropolitan area. We used multiple group multivariate path analysis to assess (1) associations between interparental conflict and multiple measures of emotional insecurity (i.e., family, interparental, and parent–child), (2) associations between measures of emotional insecurity and internalizing and externalizing problems, and (3) moderation effects of parent–child relationships. The patterns of association were similar across family structures. A high-quality parent–child relationship did not mitigate the harmful effects of interparental conflict on emotional insecurity or mental health problems. Findings suggest that regardless of family structure, emotional security across multiple family systems may be a critical target for intervention to prevent youth mental health problems, in addition to interventions that reduce conflict and improve parent–child relationships.     

A Longitudinal Study of Interparental Conflict, Emotional and Behavioral Reactivity, and Preschoolers' Adjustment Problems among Low-Income Families

Researchers have begun to develop models that explain the processes by which interparental conflict impacts children's adjustment. The present study tested a model based on emotional security theory. The longitudinal relations among interparental conflict, boys' reactions to conflict, and internalizing and externalizing problems were examined in a sample of 129 mother–son dyads from low-income, 2-parent families from the time sons were age 2 to 5. Results indicated that children exposed to interparental conflict were more likely to have concurrent and later behavior problems and that patterns of interparental conflict across time made unique contributions in predicting later problems. Children's emotional reactivity in response to conflict had no direct relation to interparental conflict and only modest relations to behavior problems. However, interparental conflict and reactivity factors interacted to predict behavior problems at ages 3 1/2 and 5. Thus, some support was demonstrated for emotional reactivity as a moderator in the development of young children's behavior problems.     

父母婚姻质量与青少年外化问题的关系:教养方式的中介作用

本研究采用婚姻调适问卷、教养方式问卷及儿童行为量表对全国四大地理区域9个城市的2396名青少年及其父母进行测查。婚姻质量由青少年的父母自评,父母的教养方式由青少年报告,青少年的外化问题由父母分别报告,考察了父母婚姻质量与青少年外化问题之间的关系,以及教养方式在其中的中介作用。采用包含潜变量的结构方程模型和Bootstrap中介效应检验进行分析,研究发现：（1）父母婚姻质量与积极教养呈显著正相关,与严厉教养呈显著负相关。父母的婚姻质量、积极教养及严厉教养与青少年的外化问题之间呈现跨轮的显著相关。（2）父母婚姻质量能直接正向预测青少年外化问题,教养方式在父母婚姻质量和青少年外化问题中起到部分中介作用。     

Reactive temperament traits and behavioural problems in children: the mediating role of effortful control across sex and age

This study examines the mediating role of effortful control between reactive temperament traits (negative affectivity and extraversion) and children’s internalizing and externalizing behavioural problems. The sample was composed of 424 non-clinical children from 3 to 6 years of age (60% male). Use of a structural equation model revealed effortful control-mediated relations between reactive temperament traits and behavioural problems. Nevertheless, uniquely and directly, negative affect predicted externalizing problems and extraversion predicted internalizing problems. Assessment of invariance by children’s sex showed that the mediating role of effortful control tends to be stronger for externalizing problems in boys than in girls. Results showed no significant age differences. According to these results, effortful control as a method of self-regulation seems to be an essential process through which reactive temperament traits affect a child’s psychological adjustment.     

Assessment of incarcerated juvenile delinquents: Agreement across raters and approaches to psychopathology

The purpose of the current study was to examine the agreement across three informants (youth, teacher, caretaker) when rating behaviors of incarcerated juvenile delinquents. Furthermore, the agreement between a dimensional approach (Child Behavior Checklist) and a categorical approach (DSM-III-R) of assessing behavior was examined. Fifty-two delinquent youth were assessed with a structured interview. In addition, the youth, teacher, and caretaker completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). The results indicated significant correlations across the teacher and caretaker for externalizing types of problems. The youth report form of the CBCL did not correspond to either adult informant. However, the ratings by the teacher and caretaker were related to externalizing types of problems, primarily hyperactivity/inattention, derived from the structured interview with the delinquent. The results suggest that, in the psychological assessment of incarcerated juvenile delinquents, agreement across informants is dependent on multiple factors, including type of behavior assessed and the approach utilized in assessment.This work was supported, in part, by the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council of Georgia, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the University of Georgia's Institute for Behavioral Research.     

父母冲突与中学生应对方式的关系:教养方式和情绪安全感的链式中介作用

为了探讨父母冲突、父母教养方式、情绪安全感和应对方式的关系,研究采用量表对北京市和河南省1322名初一到高二的学生进行调查。结果表明：父母冲突直接影响中学生的应对方式,且存在三条路径：通过父母教养方式的单独中介作用影响中学生的积极应对方式和父母消极教养方式的单独中介作用影响中学生的消极应对方式;通过情绪不安全感的单独中介作用影响中学生的应对方式;通过父母消极教养方式和情绪不安全感的链式中介作用影响中学生的应对方式。因此减少和避免父母冲突,提高中学生的情绪安全感,同时给予中学生积极教养方式,减少和避免消极教养方式,有利于中学生积极应对方式的发展。     

父母冲突与中学生应对方式的关系:教养方式和情绪安全感的链式中介作用

为了探讨父母冲突、父母教养方式、情绪安全感和应对方式的关系,研究采用量表对北京市和河南省1322名初一到高二的学生进行调查。结果表明：父母冲突直接影响中学生的应对方式,且存在三条路径：通过父母教养方式的单独中介作用影响中学生的积极应对方式和父母消极教养方式的单独中介作用影响中学生的消极应对方式;通过情绪不安全感的单独中介作用影响中学生的应对方式;通过父母消极教养方式和情绪不安全感的链式中介作用影响中学生的应对方式。因此减少和避免父母冲突,提高中学生的情绪安全感,同时给予中学生积极教养方式,减少和避免消极教养方式,有利于中学生积极应对方式的发展。