Adolescent Adjustment to Perceived Marital Conflict

Abstract

The cognitive-contextual framework of Grych and Fincham (1990) and the emotional-security framework of Davies and Cummings (1994) were used to explore both the direct and indirect pathways between marital conflict and adolescent adjustment. Two hundred and three non-clinic adolescents (114 females and 89 males) from intact families completed self-report questionnaires concerning their adjustment behavior, perceptions of parental conflict, and attachment to parents and peers. Marital conflict was found to have a direct effect upon adolescent adjustment, with adolescents from high-conflict homes displaying greater adjustment difficulties. Indirect effects of conflict were evident through both the adolescents' cognitive appraisals of conflict, and the adolescents' perceptions of the parent-child relationship. Differential gender effects were obtained, highlighting the importance of adolescent gender as a mediating variable. These findings were used to propose that an integrated, cognitive-emotional framework might be necessary to fully understand the conflict/adjustment relationship.