The Role of Children's Threat Perceptions in the Relationship Between Interparental Conflict and Child Adjustment

Abstract

This thesis integrated the cognitive-contextual model of Grych and Fincham (1990) and the emotional security framework of Davies and Cummings (1994; Cummings & Davies, 1996) to investigate the role played by children's threat perceptions in the relationship between interparental conflict and child adjustment. Past research has emphasised the importance of children's appraisals of the threat posed by parent conflict for understanding links between interparental conflict and child outcomes. However, little is known about what it is that children actually find threatening about parent conflict, and what contributes to children's appraisals of threat in the context of parent conflict. In study 1, children (n = 236) aged 10 to 16 years were recruited to examine the relative contribution of four specific threat subtypes - fear of parent conflict escalating, fear of being drawn into parent conflict, fear of parent conflict resulting in family breakdown, and fear of parent conflict disrupting attachment relationships with parents - in explaining links between interparental conflict and child adjustment. Results showed that boys' fear of being drawn into parent conflict mediated the relationship between conflict severity and child internalising problems, while for girls it was a fear of parent conflict disrupting attachment relationships with parents that mediated this relationship. Threat was not found to mediate relationships between interparental conflict and child externalising problems. In study 2, families (n = 57) were recruited to investigate how aspects of parent conflict, and characteristics of the context in which the conflict occurs, shapes children's appraisals of the four specific threat subtypes in response to interparental conflict. The study adopted broader measures, including independent observations, of conflict, context, and child adjustment to further delineate the pathways linking interparental conflict, specific threat appraisals, and child adjustment. Results indicated that children perceived greater threat in the context of destructive parent conflict resolution behaviour, and lower threat in the context of positive family relationships (particularly the mother/child relationship). Specific aspects of conflict and context were differentially related to the four threat appraisals. Direct, gender-specific relationships were found between aspects of parent conflict resolution behaviour and family relationship security, and child outcomes. However, once these relationships were accounted for, specific threat perceptions were not found to predict child outcomes. Overall, the findings of this study suggested that positive parent/child relationships (in particular the mother/child relationship) modulated the stressfulness of parent conflict for children, making it more benign in terms of its impact on children's threat appraisals, and their longer-term adjustment in the context of conflict. Results of the thesis are discussed in terms of the importance of studying relationships between specific aspects of conflict, context, appraisals, and adjustment to further understand those situations in which children find interparental conflict stressful, and those in which they cope adaptively with interparental conflict.