Conflict in families and the psychological adjustment of preadolescent children.

Abstract

We examined the cross-sectional association between conflict in families and child psychological adjustment in 72 4th-5th graders. Multiple informants (parents, children, and teachers) assessed conflict and anger in the social climate of the home, marital discord, negative emotional tone in the parent-child relationship, and child adjustment. As predicted, child adjustment was more strongly related to family conflict than to marital discord. There was a stronger association between family conflict and maladjustment in girls. Moreover, the association between a general climate of conflict at home and child maladjustment was independent of anger and discord in the marital or parentchild relationships. During the study of the effects of interpersonal conflict at home, it appears to be important to identify the locus of anger and aggression. Findings suggest that researchers should distinguish between a general climate of conflict in the family and interparental discord. We examined anger and conflict in families and related it to preadolescent children's psychological adjustment. The term conflict is used here to describe behaviors between family members that range from verbal disagreements and criticism to acts of physical aggression. Different theoretical perspectives, such as attachment theory, social learning theory, and cognitive theory, agree that children are placed at increased risk for the development of behavioral and emotional problems by child-rearing environments in which interpersonal relations are characterized by anger and conflict (cf. Grych & Fincham, 1990; Margolin, 1981; Marvin & Stewart, 1990). It is therefore not surprising that adolescents' descriptions of high levels of family conflict have been associated with self-reported distress and psychological symptoms in recent We would like to thank the principals, teachers, parents, and children who participated in the study. We are also grateful to Andy Christensen, Steve Lopez, Gayla Margolin, and three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this article. Rena L. Repetti's participation in the preparation of this article was supported by a FIRST award R29-48595 from the National Institute of Mental Health. Correspondence concerning this article should be