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Trajectories of interparental conflict and children's emotional-behavioural functioning at 10-11 years: an Australian

Rebecca Giallo1,2, Monique Seymour3, Alison Fogarty3

  • 1Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, 50 Flemington Road, Parkville, Australia. rebecca.giallo@mcri.edu.au.

European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
|January 5, 2021
PubMed

Insights

High interparental conflict (IPC) negatively impacts children's emotional well-being. Even temporary exposure to parental conflict, regardless of duration, is linked to increased emotional-behavioural difficulties in children.

Area of Science:

  • Child psychology
  • Developmental psychology
  • Family studies

Background:

  • Interparental conflict (IPC) is a known risk factor for adverse child outcomes.
  • Understanding the long-term effects of IPC severity and chronicity is crucial for child mental health.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To identify distinct trajectories of interparental conflict (IPC) over 10-11 years.
  • To examine the association between IPC trajectories and children's emotional-behavioural functioning at age 10-11.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized data from a large, nationally representative longitudinal study of Australian families (N=4875).
  • Employed latent class growth analysis to identify IPC trajectories based on maternal reports.
  • Assessed children's emotional-behavioural functioning using maternal and teacher reports.

Main Results:

  • Identified four distinct IPC trajectories: consistently low, persistently elevated, increasing, and decreasing exposure.
  • Maternal reports indicated higher child emotional-behavioural difficulties in trajectories with elevated IPC at any point.
  • Teacher reports showed no significant differences in child emotional-behavioural functioning across IPC trajectories.

Conclusions:

  • High levels of interparental conflict (IPC) at any stage represent significant adversity for children's mental health.
  • Early interventions targeting parents experiencing high IPC are critical for mitigating negative child outcomes.
  • Discrepancies between maternal and teacher reports highlight the complexity of assessing child functioning in relation to IPC.

Keywords:
ChildrenEmotional–behavioural functioningInterparental conflictMental healthParents

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