The goal is to investigate the impact of family discord and violence on child functioning. Specifically, the proposal examines the mediating effects of perceived control in coping strategies used by children from violent and discordant homes. Reviews of both the animal and adult literature identify control as an important mediator of stress. One of the major gaps in the child stress literature is that control has not been conceptualized or studied directly as a stress mediator. The research plan is to compare children (aged 6 to 12 years) of violent couples with children of discordant, nonviolent couples and children of nondiscordant, nonviolent couples on measures of child distress, behavioral functioning, coping, perceptions of control and competence across several life domains, life events stress, and parental conflict. The role of child perceptions of control in general, and specific to family discord/violence in mediating the effects of stress will be assessed. This will provide currently nonexistent data on how perceptions of control relate to outcomes for those children from violent, discordant, and normal families. The expectation is that children who have a realistic view of which aspects of the spousal conflict situation they can control (i.e., those who feel they can control their own behaviors, thoughts, affects but not those of their parents) will show more positive psychological outcomes. It is also of interest to compare the coping strategies of children in each of the groups to determine the relationship between various coping strategies and outcome. Previous research suggests that children who use self-soothing strategies show more positive outcomes. It is exactly this type of emotion-regulation that is missing in violent families. This attempt to integrate coping strategies, perceived control, and outcome for children in violent and discordant homes makes a unique contribution to both the clinical and child development literatures. Further, results will provide the basis for the design of empirically-based interventions to improve children's abilities to cope with marital violence and discord.
| Rossman, B B (1992) School-age children's perceptions of coping with distress: strategies for emotion regulation and the moderation of adjustment. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 33:1373-97 |
| Rosenberg, M S (1987) New directions for research on the psychological maltreatment of children. Am Psychol 42:166-71 |
