Parental conflict and male adolescent problem behavior

Mothers in 30 clinical and 35 nonclinical families completed a behavior checklist for a target son and all other sons in the family who were between 13 and 17 years old. Each of these male adolescents completed two perceived parental conflict questionnaires for their biological parents. In each group, child behavior problems and parental conflict were correlated under two conditions: (a) using information pertaining to the target adolescent and (b) using information pertaining to the male adolescent experiencing the greatest behavior difficulties. Correlations increased in the nonclinical group when the information used was for the adolescent experiencing the greatest behavior difficulties.