To explicate the interplay between marital conflict and parental psychological symptoms in the prediction of children's adjustment levels, relations among diary reports of marital conflicts occurring in the home and measures of broader parent and child functioning will be examined. As part of a broader research study (Marital Conflict Resolution and Child Development; 5R01 HD36261 04), a community sample of 116 husbands and wives completed detailed records following interparental conflicts that occurred at home during a 15-day reporting period. Husbands and wives and their 8- to 16-year-old children (58 boys and 58 girls) also rated parental and child psychological symptoms and child behavior problems. Analyses will relate conflict characteristics (spouses' emotions, behaviors, and cognitions) to both parental psychological symptoms and child adjustment to elucidate the role of day-to-day marital conflict in broader family functioning. In addition, analyses will assess whether parental symptoms and marital conflict moderate each other in the prediction of child functioning. Analyses will also distinguish between conflicts in which children were present or absent, to examine implications of the context of conflict (i.e., whether children are present) in predictions of broader parent and child functioning. [Finally, child age and gender will also be tested as potential moderator variables.]
