Although interparental discord has been consistently associated with parenting difficulties, there is still considerable variability in child-rearing practices of parents experiencing marital distress. Several conceptualizations have underscored the significance of gender in models of parental conflict and parenting, however methodological and conceptual difficulties in previous research have limited powerful, systematic tests of gender-as-moderator models. Thus, the overarching aim of this project is to empirically test the viability of three main conceptual models delineating the role of gender, including the parent gender hypothesis, the child gender hypothesis and the parent and child gender hypothesis. In addition, from a process-oriented perspective, the task of cataloguing the moderating effects of gender needs to be supplemented with attempts to understand why gender serves as a significant moderator. Accordingly, a second set of aims in this proposal is to systematically examine the processes that are hypothesized to explain or mediate the moderating effects in the conceptual models. As part of a larger research study (Family Process, Emotional Security, and Child Adjustment; NIMH Grant ROl MH57318), 236 5-year old children (107 boys and 129 girls) and their parents participated in a two-wave longitudinal study. Only wave one data will be used for the present proposal. Constructs examined in the present proposal were measured using multiple methods and multiple informants.
