Ethnic Minority Status, Interparental Conflict, and Child Adjustment

Abstract

Bolstered by evidence that marital conflict surrounding divorce, rather than the breakup of the family, is a major source of psychosocial problems in children from divorced households, the impact of interparental conflict on child functioning has emerged as an important focus of study. Marital conflict is associated with a number of adjustment problems, including higher levels of depression, anxiety, and aggression and lower levels of academic achievement and social competence (Emery, 1982; Grych & Fincham, 1990). In this chapter, we focus attention on the role of ethnicity in a range of issues related to interparental conflict and children's development. In particular, we consider the relation of ethnicity to the frequency, nature, and management of interparental conflict and to children's response to interparental conflict. The chapter is divided into four major sections. First, we examine the relation between ethnicity and interparental conflict. Because research on this issue is so sparse, we also include in our discussion studies of ethnicity and marital conflict, even though the samples in these studies may include childless couples. We then turn to studies of the impact of interparental conflict, family conflict, and divorce on children from ethnic minority families. In the third section, we take up the question of whether and how ethnicity moderates children's response to interparental and family conflict. Finally, we highlight several issues whose consideration in future research may advance our understanding of the role of culture and ethnicity in the experience and impact of interparental conflict.