Marital adjustment and child conduct problems: a comparison of the correlation across subsamples

This research examines differences in the magnitude of the correlation between marital adjustment and child conduct problems across four pairs of subsamples: (a) families with boys versus families with girls, (b) families of clinic-referred children versus families of nonclinic children, (c) families of lower socioeconomic status (SES) versus families of higher SES, and (d) overcrowded families versus families with an adequate number of rooms in the home. This report is based on a secondary analysis of data from a nationwide sample of 1,107 dual-parent families with a child between 6 and 12 years of age. Data were collected both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Results indicate that the correlation between parents' reports of marital adjustment and child conduct problems is significantly stronger in families of clinic-referred children compared with families of nonclinic children and in families of lower SES compared with families of higher SES.