Children's Interpretations of Marital Conflict

An experimental study was devised to investigate the proposition that among children of latency age a process evolves of developing conceptual structures for interpreting and resolving interpersonal conflicts. The study was designed within a cognitive-developmental frame of reference drawn heavily from the theory of Jean Piaget. It was hypothesized that there would be developmental differences in the number of factors the children could consider simultaneously and the levels of abstraction they would utilize in conceptualizing and solving problems involving interpersonal conflicts of interest and in explaining their choices of preferred solutions. The three parts of the problem-solving process analyzed were the children's role-taking skills, solutions to the problem, and general reasoning. Implications for practice are discussed.