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Published on: September 19, 2019
Children's influence in the marital relationship
Alice C Schermerhorn1, E Mark Cummings, Catherine A DeCarlo
1Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 046566, USA.
Summary
Children
Area of Science:
- Child Psychology
- Family Studies
- Developmental Psychology
Background:
- Interparental discord can negatively impact child development.
- Children's behaviors may influence marital dynamics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the bidirectional relationship between interparental discord and children's behaviors.
- To investigate how children's negative emotional reactivity, agentic behavior, and dysregulated behavior affect marital relationships.
Main Methods:
- A 3-wave longitudinal study involving 232 cohabiting families.
- Data collected via questionnaires and a marital conflict resolution task.
Main Results:
- Interparental discord predicted children's negative emotional reactivity.
- Children's agentic behavior was linked to reduced marital discord, while dysregulated behavior increased discord.
- Distinct child profiles emerged, associated with different marital and psychosocial outcomes.
Conclusions:
- Children's behaviors, particularly agentic and dysregulated responses, play a role in marital functioning.
- Mechanisms like parental awareness of child distress may mediate child effects on marital conflict.
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