Interparental Conflict and Parental Divorce: The Individual, Relative, and Interactive Effects on Adolescents across Four Years

Abstract

Among family stressors that contain the potential for long-term deleterious effects on children and adolescents, divorce is probably the most widely studied and popularly discussed. In the United States, the divorce ate in recent years has been estimated to be nearly one in two (47.5 of first marriages and 49% of second marriages) Walters, Carter, Papp, & Silverstein, 1988). It also has been estimated that nearly one individual in three experiences a parental divorce during childhood or adolescence, and, although the rate stabilized in the early 1980s, researchers do not expect it to decline in the near future (Kalter, 1987). There is a large body of literature documenting the impact that divorce has as a stressor on children and adolescents. Although it is generally accepted that divorce is an event pervaded by upheaval, emotional distress, confusion, and strained relationships for all involved (Emery & Forehand, in press), findings and interpretations often disagree with respect to the degree to which divorce itself produces negative outcomes e.g., Forehand, 1992). Recent data from meta-analyses have suggested that divorce effects may be less detrimental for child and adolescent functioning than was previously hypothesized (Amato & Keith, 1991a, 1991b). Other investigators have reached conclusions similar to those resulting from meta-analyses. For example, Forehand (1992), in a review comparing the scientific evidence and the popular perception of divorce effects on adolescents, concluded that the magnitude of difference in functioning between adolescents from divorced and intact homes is quite small. Furthermore, both Amato (1883) and Forehand (1992) point out that conclusions drawn regarding the relationship between divorce and adolescent adjustment are often oversimplified. In particular, both investigators emphasized that interparental conflict is a family process variable that often has not been assessed but which should be taken into account when studying the influence of divorce on adolescents. A number of studies have examined the effects of divorce and conflict between parents on adolescents. Various conclusions have been reached in these investigations. For example, studies have found that interparental conflict and divorce influence different areas of adolescent functioning (e.g., Long, Forehand, Fauber, & Brody, 1987), conflict between parents has a greater negative effect than does divorce (e.g., Enos & Handal, 1986), and interparental conflict and divorce interact such that a high level of conflict in divorced families is particularly detrimental for some areas of functioning (e.g., Forehand, McCombs, Long, Brody, & Fauber, 1988). Thus, interparental conflict has been found to be equally or more important than parental divorce in influencing the functioning of adolescents. Although direct comparisons of parental marital status and interparental conflict have been made when adolescents are examined, to our knowledge no study has examined the impact of the two family variables at repeated assessments following parental divorce. As a consequence, information is not available to answer questions such as whether interparental conflict takes on increasing importance as the time since divorce increases or whether interpersonal conflict and divorce interact at some postdivorce points in time but not at other times. We propose to test the individual impact of divorce and interparental conflict, compare the influence of each while the other is statistically controlled (i.e., the relative influence of each), and examine the interactive effects of these two family variables. All of these questions will be addressed at four yearly intervals. In addition, the domains of externalizing problems, internalizing problems, social competence, and cognitive competence will each be examined in order to provide the most comprehensive assessment of adolescent functioning at each point in time. …