Children exposed to frequent, aggressive, and poorly resolved interparental conflict are at risk for developing a wide range of adjustment problems, peer difficulties, and abusive relationships with romantic partners in adulthood. However, little is known about the process by which conflict leads to these negative outcomes. This proposal describes a prospective longitudinal study designed to investigate a mechanism by which exposure to interparental aggression may affect children's short- and long-term functioning. It examines the hypothesis that children's experience with parental disagreements leads to the development of a schema pertaining to the expression and resolution of interpersonal conflict. These schemas are proposed to consist of expectations about what typically happens when parents disagree, the emotions associated with conflict, and a repertoire of responses available to children, and are hypothesized to guide children's perceptions of and responses to interparental conflict. Specifically, children with more negative schemas are likely to find interparental conflict more emotionally upsetting and stressful and to be more likely to become embroiled in conflicts when they occur. The proposal also examines the idea that schema are generalized to other social contexts by examining links between mental representations of interparental conflict and children's peer and sibling relationships. Finally, it tests a model that incorporates both direct and indirect mediating pathways between exposure to interparental conflict and child maladjustment. This model integrates social cognitive, emotional, and family processes to provide a more comprehensive examination of the impact of conflict on children's functioning. Research on conflict schemas also has the potential to identify avenues for intervening with children exposed to marital aggression and preventing the transmission of violence to their adult relationships.
| Kunz, Jennifer Hauser; Grych, John H (2013) Parental Psychological Control and Autonomy Granting: Distinctions and Associations with Child and Family Functioning. Parent Sci Pract 13:77-94 |
| Fosco, Gregory M; Grych, John H (2008) Emotional, cognitive, and family systems mediators of children's adjustment to interparental conflict. J Fam Psychol 22:843-54 |
| Fosco, Gregory M; Grych, John H (2007) Emotional expression in the family as a context for children's appraisals of interparental conflict. J Fam Psychol 21:248-58 |
| Grych, John H; Harold, Gordon T; Miles, Claire J (2003) A prospective investigation of appraisals as mediators of the link between interparental conflict and child adjustment. Child Dev 74:1176-93 |
