ABSTRACT This research adapt and develop measures and to construct a research paradigm that will allow researchers to investigate how children perceive marital conflict between their parents. The long-term goal is to determine how children learn to balance their own goals with those of others by observing and participating in conflicts that occur in the course of enduring relationships. Specifically, the researcher will extend her own methodological expertise to expand inquiry in the area of social conflict and child development. The PI will learn an established methodology for observing, coding, and analyzing marital conflict working with Dr. John Gottman at the University of Washington, and adapt it, as necessary, to operationalize the construct of "balancing own and others' goals". She will pilot an interview protocol for obtaining young children's perceptions of marital conflict and develop criteria for coding those perceptions. When the piloting process for the child perception measure is complete, the PI will collect and compare child perceptions with the same events as recorded by a trained observer, as well as with coding affect and behavior observed when children viewed the marital conflict.
