Marital conflict and the development of infant–parent attachment relationships.

Abstract

Couples were studied before and after the birth of their 1st child to understand processes by which marital conflict influences child development. Hypotheses were tested concerning direct and indirect processes relating marital conflict to the security of infant-mother and infant-father attachment and disorganized attachment behavior. Findings supported the prediction that chronic marital conflict interferes with sensitive, involved parenting and thereby predicts insecurity in attachment relationships, particularly for fathers. It was also argued that chronic marital conflict presents the infant with experiences of frightened or frightening parents and diminished behavioral options to alleviate accompanying distress. As predicted, disorganized attachment behavior with mother and father was explained by chronic marital conflict and not mediated by parental ego development or sensitive parenting. Marital conflict has been identified as a risk factor that increases the probability of many adjustment problems in children, including both externalizing disorders, such as noncompliance and aggression, and internalizing disorders (Emery, 1982; Holden & Ritchie, 1991; Jouriles, Pfifmer, & O'Leary, 1988; Margolin, 1981; Markman & Leonard, 1985; Rutter, 1994). These studies have clearly established the link between marital conflict and child disorder; however, little has been done to illuminate the mechanisms by which marital discord influences children. In addition, most of the research has been done with older children; there has been little consideration of the impact of marital conflict on infants. In the research reported here, we examined two probable processes in a study of the linkages between marital conflict and infant-parent attachment. We tested the hypothesis that marital conflict is associated with insecure infant-parent attachment as a result of its association with less sensitive, active, and accepting parenting (see Crockenberg & Covey, 1991), and we also examined direct effects of marital conflict on disorganization in attachment behaviors. We studied these linkages both for infant-mother attachment and for infant-father attachment.