Marital conflict and children: retrospect and prospect

Clinical P5ycholqy R&w, Vol. 13, pp. 75438, 1993 Printed in the USA. All rights reserved.

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MARITAL CONFLICT AND CHILDREN: RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT Frank D. Fincham Lori N. Osborne University

of Illinois

ABSTRACT. Although a relation between marital furutioning and child adjustment is widely accepted among clinicians and researchers, empirical data show that the magnitude of this association is low and varies considerably across studies. Analysis of this circurnstarue reveals the need&r greater specification of the constructs of marital conzict and child adjustment and for relating particular aspects of confltit to spectfic child outcomes. We there&e offer a reappraisal of the construct of marital conflict and identif several conflict dimensions that appear relevant to understanding its potential impact on children. Finally, several avenues for future research are highlighted that might promote greater integration of clinical @r.ctice and research.

Clinicians

from diverse theoretical

orientations

have emphasized

the relation

marital dysfunction and child maladjustment. Case studies illustrating and theoretical accounts of its existence can be found in psychodynamic, and social-learning tioners confronted

between

this association family systems,

therapy literatures (cf. Emery, Joyce, & Fincham, 1987). Many practiwith both serious marital and child problems ask whether initial inter-

vention efforts should focus on the child or on the marriage. Although the clinical literature offers several answers to this question, most are based on clinical observation or untested theoretical assumptions. The few relevant studies available have investigated the role of marital dysfunction in child treatment and found no relation between level of marital satisfaction and immediate treatment outcome (Brody & Forehand, 1985; Dadds, Schwartz, & Sanders, 1987; Oltmanns, Broderick, & O’Leary, 1977). This striking disparity between the clinical literature and treatment outcome data is not unusual: The interplay between marital and child problems emphasized in clinical writings also seems disproportionate relative to the findings of studies investigating the relation between them. The small and inconsistent association documented by researchers raises an obvious question-why is there a disparity between clinical observation and research findings? Based on the assumption that clinical observation and empirical data are equally impor-

Correspondence should be addressed to Frank D. Fincham, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, 603 E. Daniel St., Champaign, IL 61820. 75

76

F: D. Fin&m and L. N. Osborne

tant to informed clinical practice, this article reappraises the relation between marital discord and child maladjustment. It is not our intent to offer a comprehensive review of the literature or to examine all the relevant issues. Instead, the article highlights ways to increase our understanding of this relation primarily by elaborating on the construct of marital conflict and its effects on children in intact families. Children’s effect on marital functioning

and alternative

family structures

MARITAL FUNCTIONING

are not examined

owing to space limitations.

AND CHILD ADJUSTMENT: RETROSPECT

In this section, we first identify two important

characteristics

of research on the association

between marital discord and child problems that prompt the reappraisal offered in this article. Next, we consider whether the association is an artifact of parent depression or disturbed parent-child relationships. The Association

Between Marital

Discord and Child Problems

Since the early 194Os, researchers have documented the existence of an association between marital and child functioning. Most studies present correlations between marital discord and child problems in latency aged children. Several recent reviews of this research are available (see Cummings 1990; McDonald & Jouriles, ourselves to two observations.

1991;

& Davies, in press; Emery, Reid

& Crisafulli,

1990)

1988; Grych & Fincham, and we therefore

limit

First, there is considerable variability in the magnitude of the associations found between marital functioning and child adjustment. This variability has been linked to a number of moderating factors, including gender (boys > girls), source of data (single source > multiple sources), and sample (clinic sample > nonclinic sample). However, results for these variables are not always consistent, and more importantly, variability in findings occurs independently of these moderating factors. Although much of this variability is probably

due to methodological

shortcomings

such as the use of small sample

sizes, unreliable measures, and restricted response ranges, incomplete conceptualization of the constructs investigated.

it no doubt also reflects our

Second, the magnitude of the association found between marital discord and child problems is small. In a recent meta-analysis of 33 studies investigating marital discord and disorders of undercontrol in boys, Reid and Crisafulli (1990) found that the mean effect size was .16, only slightly larger than what is considered a small effect size (. lo), and about half the magnitude of a moderate effect size (.30). M oreover, over half of the observations used to compute this mean effect size (45 of 80 observations) used data from a single source (parents), which is known to inflate the association between marital discord and child problems. Jouriles, Farris, and McDonald (1991) portray the state of the art in this field of research in a perhaps even more striking manner. Using 48 1 correlations from 26 studies, they found that 370 of the correlations were less than .30 (77%) and 466 (97%) were below .50. Thus the vast majority of data show that marital discord and child problems share less than 10% of their variance. These findings stand in marked contrast to clinical observation and prompt concern about statistical versus clinical significance. This disparity has led at least one prominent researcher to question the results of this research (O’Leary, 1984). Clearly, clinical experience is an important and compelling source of information concerning an association between marital discord and child maladjustment. Research confirms the existence of such an association, but both the variability of findings and their magnitude raise questions about their clinical utility. Should clinical claims be moderated in the light of existing

Marital Con@& and Children

data? Alternatively,

should existing

offered? In the remainder

data be ignored

of this article we attempt

77

until more compelling

to steer a course between

evidence

is

the Scylla and

Charybdis represented by these two questions. Our view is that the failure to specify constructs in greater detail is a significant barrier to understanding more completely the marital discord-child problem association. On the one hand, it allows legitimate clinical observations to result in inappropriately general claims, often without awareness that the claim represents a generalization of observations made in quite specific circumstances. On the other hand, generalizations supported by research are likely to remain limited as long as a variety of issues are unwittingly investigated as a single phenomenon. Analogous to the evolution of psychiatric nosology, increased differentiation of the constructs of marital discord and of child adjustment is critical to advancing understanding in this domain. To some degree, such differentiation has already begun in research on the marital discord-child problem association. Before documenting the advances that this more differentiated approach has brought, we address whether the association at hand is simply an artifact. This is necessary as attempts to provide third-variable explanations for the association have become increasingly Is the Marital

Discord-Child

common. Problem Association

an Artifact?

Two variables have gained considerable attention as factors that might account relation between marital discord and child adjustment; each is discussed in turn.

for the

Depression. The list of child outcomes associated with parental depression is almost identical to that found for marital discord. Because depression and marital discord are related in both clinic and nonclinic samples (see Beach, Sandeen, & O’Leary, 1990), it seems reasonable to suggest that the marital discord-child adjustment association results from the fact that both covary with parental depression. The only evidence to support this contention comes from a study of separated parents. Shaw and Emery (1987) found that marital conflict did not explain a significant proportion of variance in child internalizing problems when parental depression had already been entered in the regression equation (neither conflict nor depression was related to externalizing problems). In contrast, research on intact families paints a different picture. Emery, Weintraub, and Neale (1982) report that both marital discord and parents’ mental health explain unique variance in adjustment of children of bipolar and unipolar depressed patients (but not in children of schizophrenics). Smith and Jenkins (1991) found that a measure of marital quality that included marital conflict explained a significant proportion of variance in child externalizing symptoms after controlling for maternal mental health. While parental depression does not account for the correlation between marital discord and child adjustment, work by Rutter (197 1) suggests that depression facilitates or potentiates the relationship. Consistent with this idea, Shaw and Emery (1987) also found that the coexistence of both marital than either variable alone.

discord and depression

predicted

child outcomes

better

Parent-Child Relations. Marital discord could reflect a more general tendency to engage in all sorts of conflictual relationships, including parent-child conflict. This would suggest that a conflictual parent-child relationship, not marital conflict per se, causes child adjustment problems.

78

F D. Fin&am and L. N. Osborne

Jouriles, Barling, and O’Leary (1987) found a high correlation between children witnessing marital conflict and being the recipient of parental aggression. Furthermore, the experience of parent-child aggression was associated with child adjustment problems, while having witnessed marital conflict was not. Similarly, Hughes, Parkinson, and Vargo (1989) found that children in shelters for battered women who had experienced parentchild aggression exhibited adjustment problems. It seems likely, however, that the trauma resulting from experiencing

parental abuse directly would outweigh any disturbance

asso-

ciated with witnessing marital conflict (Grych & Fincham, 1990). The fact that most of these children were living in a battered women’s shelter is consistent with the contention of Fantuzzo et al. (1991) that the experiences of being abused and living in a shelter constitute unique stressors that may obscure the effects of witnessing marital aggression. Because marital and parent-child

aggression

tend to covary (McDonald

& Jouriles,

1991)

it

may be quite difficult to document the independent effects of each on children. A related argument is that marital discord disrupts parenting, which in turn gives rise to child problems (e.g., Fauber & Long, 1991; J ouriles, Farris, & McDonald, 1991; Vincent, Harris, & Plog, 1991). One difficulty in testing this hypothesis is that parenting, in part, is a response to child behavior. As a consequence, it will always covary more with child behavior than other factors (e.g., marital discord) that may also potentially explain child behavior but that are not necessarily direct responses to the behavior (Emery, Fincham, & Cummings, in press). Studies that statistically control parent effects to determine whether marital discord explains unique variance in child outcomes have yielded evidence that is consistent (e.g., Fauber, Forehand, Thomas, & Wierson, 1990) and inconsistent (e.g., Jenkins & Smith, 1990) with the hypothesis that parenting accounts for the relation between marital discord and child problems. Similarly, observational studies comparing parent-child interactions in high- and low-marital-discord groups have revealed some differences (e.g., frequency of mothers’ disapproving statements-Jouriles, Pliffner, & O’Leary, 1988; sensitivity of fathers while child completes a puzzle-Goldberg & Easterbrooks, 1984) but no consistent picture results from these studies and they do not go on to connect parenting behavior to child adjustment. Finally, analogue experiments show parental conflict influences directly children’s cognitions, emotions, physiology, and 1989; Grych & Finchovert behavior (e.g., Cummings, Vogel, Cummings, & El-Sheikh, am, in press; O’Brien,

Margolin,

John,

& Krueger,

1991).

In sum, the association between marital discord and child adjustment does not appear to be an artifact of depression or disturbed parent-child relations, even though both factors are critical for a complete understanding of the association. In the next section, we document how a shift in focus from marital discord to marital conflict has advanced understanding in this domain of inquiry before offering a more differentiated conceptualization of the construct

TOWARDS

of marital conflict.

A MORE COMPLETE UNDERSTANDING OF MARITAL AND CHILD ADJUSTMENT

FUNCTIONING

The goal of this section is to offer an analysis that will facilitate greater precision in future clinical writing and in research. Our thesis is that global concepts such as marital discord and child adjustment have outlived their usefulness in this field, and that significant advances will occur only when we identify relations between particular aspects of marital functioning and specific child outcomes. We begin by showing how greater specificity has already led to gains in this area of research.

79

Marital Confrict and Children

From Marital

Discord To Marital

Conflict

Although the construct of marital quality (variously referred to as “marital adjustment,” “marital satisfaction:’ or some similar synonym) is the most investigated topic in the marital literature (Adams, 1988), the exact nature of the construct remains unclear (cf. Fincham & Bradbury, 1987). Not surprisingly, a number of different item contents of differing epistemological status have been included in commonly used measures of marital quality (e.g., Dyadic Adjustment Scale), including reports of conflict, judgments of overall satisfaction with the marriage, and reports of specific behaviors. Some of the content of these measures may not be related directly to child adjustment, making the documentation of a reliable association between marital and child functioning a noteworthy achievement. marker

In other words, the global marital for aspects of marital

comes. Clinical

observation

functioning

indices used in most research that are more directly

may be a poor

relevant for child out-

shows that marital discord can take many forms. For example,

the

lifeless, devitalized marriage of disengaged partners is quite different from the stormy atmosphere manifest in a marriage characterized by frequent, overt conflict. Spouses in these two very different marital states may nonetheless obtain the same scores on a measure of marital quality even though their responses to similar items may differ dramatically. In view of the fact that children become aware of marital discord primarily through exposure to interparental conflicts, it is perhaps not surprising that overt marital conflict has become a focus of investigation. Initial research that focused on marital conflict per se used parent reports of conflict. Porter and O’Leary (1980) found that conflict which took place in front of children, but not overall marital satisfaction, predicted a variety of child adjustment problems in boys. More recently, Johnson and O’Leary (1987) showed that mothers of conduct-disordered girls did not differ from a control group in marital satisfaction, but did differ in reports of overt conflict that took place in front of their daughters.

Finally, Jouriles,

Murphy,

and

O’Leary (1989) reported that a measure of marital verbal and physical aggression predicted child adjustment in families seeking marital therapy, after controlling for marital satisfaction. Parental reports, however, are not optimal measures of children’s exposure to marital conflict. Children may perceive some parental disagreements as conflictual even when parents do not experience conflict, and vice versa. Moreover, parents may not be aware of all instances of children’s exposure to conflict, and their reports do not index the degree of attention the child pays to the conflict. These are important considerations because children’s responses to conflict are likely to be mediated by their appraisals of it (cf. Grych & Fincham, 1990). Emery and O’Leary (1982) f ound that boys’ perceptions of marital conflict were a stronger predictor of their adjustment than either marital satisfaction or maternal ratings of interparental conflict. In a similar vein, Grych, Seid, and Fincham (1992) showed that parent reports of interparental conflict and marital satisfaction not as consistently related to child adjustment as child reports of marital conflict;

were only

child reports of interparental conflict correlated with child adjustment assessed across different informants. In sum, gains have already been made by moving away from a global index of marital functioning to a specific aspect of marital discord. Marital conflict, and particularly children’s perceptions of it, appear to be related more strongly and consistently to child adjustment than marital discord in general. However, conflict occurs to some extent in all marriages, and most children are not adversely affected by such exposure. In fact, observ-

80

F D. Fincham and L. N. Osborlzp

ing their parents resolve disagreements may even be beneficial for children by, for example, helping them develop their own conflict-resolution skills. Just as the construct of marital discord proved to be too broad, the construct

of marital conflict is likely to suffer a

similar fate. In fact, Vincent et al. (1991) recently noted that “if the research on the construct of interparental conflict is to have any meaning, some consensus on the definition must be achieved” (p. 52). construct of marital conflict.

Marital

C onsequently,

we turn to consider

more

closely

the

Conflict: A Reappraisal

Although construct

it has been the subject of psychological research for over two decades, the of marital conflict has not been clearly specified. A large number of studies

document the behaviors associated with marital satisfaction during conflict resolution discussions, but conceptual analyses of marital conflict are rare (for exceptions, see Christensen, this issue; Fincham & Bradbury, 1991; Margolin, 1988). Not surprisingly, Margolin (1988, p. 193) has noted that “the marital conflict literature, confusing.” Recent attempts to draw upon analyses of conflict in the broader ture have emphasized

goal incompatibility

in general,

is quite

psychological

as the defining characteristic

of conflict.

literaHow-

ever, because “a discrepancy of interests gives rise to difficulties only if the different meanings husband and wife attach to their marriage cannot be realized simultaneously” (Lewin, 1948, p. 98), attention has been placed on perceived goal incompatibility. Spouse perceptions are important for understanding marital conflict, but it is the behuior flowing from such perceptions,

particularly

children’s exposure to and appraisals of the behavior,

that is likely to be central in understanding the association between marital conflict and child adjustment. Thus, the marital literature does not provide a conceptual analysis of conflict that is suited to our purposes, and our observations therefore draw upon a variety of sources,

including

the social psychological

literature,

systems theory,

and analogue

research on children’s reactions to adult anger. There is consensus in prior analyses that conflict

can be characterized along four dimensions: (a) frequency, (bj intensity, (c) duration, and (d) diversity of content (cf. Peterson, 1983). As in the marital conflict literature (cf. Margolin, 1988), most research in this area relates to the first two dimensions, and there is evidence that each has an adverse impact on children. We highlight a feature of research on each of these two dimensions before identifying Frequency.

several additional dimensions

More

frequent

of conflict.’

conflict appears to sensitize children

ciated with a greater incidence

of adjustment

problems.

to conflict,

and is asso-

In a study of naturally

occurring

episodes of interparental anger, children exposed to more frequent marital conflict reacted more intensely when exposed to a later episode of parental conflict than did children who had experienced less frequent conflict (Cummings, Zahn-Waxler, & Radke-Yarrow, 1981). Additionally, children who had witnessed two angry confrontations between adult experimenters behaved more aggressively toward a playmate after the second exposure than after

‘The duration

and diversity

of conflict

of marital conflict on children discussed frequency,

further,

duration

do not appear to be as central

as the dimensions

and diversity

mode of expression).

identified

for un’derstanding

in our reappraisal.

are likely to be related

Although

to the dimensions

the impact they are not

discussed

(e.g.,

81

Marital ConJict and Children

the first (Cummings,

Iannotti,

ined only children’s

immediate

& Zahn-Waxler, reaction

exposure to conflict may have increasingly

1985). Although these latter studies exam-

to displays of anger, they suggest that increased negative effects.

Intensify. The impact of conflict intensity has been documented primarily by showing that physical aggression is more upsetting to children and is more closely linked to behavior problems than less intense forms of conflict. For example, children who report a history of physical conflict between their parents exhibit greater distress (E. M. Cummings et al., 1989) and increased efforts to comfort their mother when she is angrily confronted during an experimental session (Cummings, Pellegrini, Notarious, & Cummings, 1989), as compared to children not reporting such conflicts. However, the degree of physical aggression present during conflict is only one possible operationalization of intensity, and appears to confound the intensity of conflict with the mode in which it is expressed. Intensity of marital conflict can also be conceptualized as the degree of negative affect or hostility expressed by parents in conflicts that take different forms. Mode of Expression. Conflict

expression

can take many forms,

and we are able only to

distinguish among physical, verbal, and nonverbal (nonphysical) forms in the present context. The importance of physical expressions of anger is emphasized by the fact that 25-70% of children from maritally aggressive families manifest clinically significant behavior problems (McDonald & Jouriles, 1991). Exposure to such conflicts is likely to be associated with externalizing disorders because children are likely to learn through modeling inappropriately aggressive ways of coping. Although witnessing angry exchanges between adults that include physical aggression is more distressing than witnessing only verbal anger (E. M. Cummings et al., 1989; Fantuzzo et al., 1991), there is recent evidence to show that, compared to less severe verbal conflicts,

intense

verbal

conflicts

have a greater

affective

impact

on children,

lead to

greater helplessness, and greater reluctance to use direct interventions to try and stop the conflict (Grych & Fincham, in press). Existing data also show that children’s immediate responses to nonverbal anger are quite similar to their responses to verbal anger (Cummings & Davies, in press). Nonetheless, it is useful to distinguish verbal and nonverbal conflict for at least two reasons. First, the absence of open discussion may result in nonverbal conflict taking longer to resolve and may lead to a chronically tense home environment. Second, nonverbal conflict is likely to lead to greater ambiguity and uncertainty for children. Consequently, individual differences in children’s sensitivity to social cues may be especially important

here, and the uncertainty

their own feelings and anxieties, with internalizing disorders.

they experience

suggesting

may prevent them from expressing

that this form of conflict may be associated

Content. Regardless of the mode of expression, what parents fight about is likely to be important for understanding its impact on children. Grych and Fincham (1990) hypothesized that child-related conflict is more distressing to the child than non-child-related conflict, and thus may be more closely related to behavior problems. Addressing the first element of their hypothesis, they demonstrated in an analogue study that exposure to child-related conflicts increased children’s reports of shame, self-blame, fear of being drawn into the conflict, and endorsement of direct and indirect interventions as coping responses (Grych & Fincham, in press). Evidence to support the second part of their hypothesis has also emerged. Jouriles, Murphy, Farris, Smith, Richters, and Waters

F D. Fin&am and L N. Osborne

82

(1991)

have shown that child-rearing

disagreements

account

for variance

in indices of

adjustment in 3-year-olds that is not attributable to general marital disagreements. One possible reason why child-related conflicts, are more distressing is because they lead children to feel more responsible for the conflict. Such attributions may also lead to intervention in the conflict, turning marital conflict into parent-child conflict or family conflict. A further important conflict dimension therefore concerns explanations for the conflict. Explanation. Whether parents offer an explanation for the conflict, and the type of explanation given, may also affect its impact. Grych and Fincham (in press) showed that, relative to no explanation, explanations absolving the child of blame for the conflict decreased children’s fears of becoming involved in it, their beliefs that they could end the conflict, and their endorsement of coping responses that involved either direct or indirect intervention in the conflict. Child-blaming explanations resulted in greater shame, sadness, and anger. Similarly, Cummings reports that adults’ provision of explanations for their angry interchanges and how they made up their differences have beneficial effects on children’s emotional responses (cf. Cummings & Davies, in press). This last finding points also to the importance of conflict resolution. Resolution. Parents who successfully resolve their conflicts provide positive models of problem-solving for their children that may lead to increased social competence, whereas poor conflict resolution may produce continued tension in the family and lead to more frequent episodes of conflict. In fact, Cummings and Davies (in press) argue that how conflicts end “may be as important, or more important, than how adults fight to child outcomes.” A series of- studies by Cummings and colleagues provides support for this claim.

For example,

children

manifest

the most anger in response

to unresolved

fights

between adults, less anger to partially resolved fights, and the least anger to fully resolved fights (Cummings, Ballard, El-Sheik, & Lake, 1991). In addition to the outcome of the conflict, the means through which the outcome occurs is likely to be important. This is especially relevant when marital conflict ends because of children’s involvement in it.

Child Involvemenf. children

perceive

The analogue studies reviewed earlier suggest that in many instances themselves to be responsible for resolving interparental conflict and

report coping strategies that involve intervention in the conflict. Parents also deal with their own conflicts by involving children. The clinical literature, especially family systems theory, documents many processes by which children become involved in marital conflict. For example, the process of scapegoating or detouring allows parents to ignore their own conflict and focus instead on the child’s behavior. Whether children become involved either directly or indirectly in marital conflict is likely to be critical for understanding its impact on them. Once aggression, which will families where physical ing the child’s physical may make a difference,

party to the conflict, the child is at risk for becoming the target of increase dramatically the level of threat he or she experiences. In aggression occurs, such threat often reflects realistic fear concernsafety. Although the nature of children’s involvement in the conflict we speculate that such effects will be small relative to those that

result from the mere fact of involvement. Coda. Lest it appear otherwise, the reappraisal offered above is not intended to be complete or without problems. The dimensions highlighted reflect, in part, their importance for children’s appraisals of marital conflict (see Grych et al., 1992) but we have not described these appraisals or how they are theoretically linked to children’s coping re-

83

Marital Conf2ictand Children

sponses (see Grych & Fincham, 1990, in press). In a similar vein, our analysis is not as straightforward as it might first appear. For example, some of the dimensions may be difficult to investigate independently because they covary (e.g., mode of conflict expression may covary with conflict intensity). Nonetheless, the reappraisal identifies several dimensions that provide a more differentiated view of marital conflict that has the potential to increase our understanding of its relation to child adjustment. A similar, more differentiated view of “child adjustment” is also needed to advance research and clinical practice, but is beyond the scope of this article. In the remainder of this section we identify several issues that need to be addressed to advance future research and clinical thinking in this domain. Quo Vadis? A striking feature of the research literature

on marital functioning

and child adjustment

is

the number of important issues that it fails to address. Several of these are critical to fostering the integration of clinical and empirical endeavors represented by the scientistpractitioner ideal. Below we identify and discuss briefly five of these issues. From Correlation

To Causation.

conflict and child adjustment though theoretical statements

The documentation

of a correlation

between

marital

raises the question of why such an association exists. Alidentify a number of causal mechanisms that may account

for the marital conflict-child adjustment association (e.g., modeling), there are few noncorrelational data that can be used to evaluate them. In addition, virtually no attempt has been made to examine bidirectional causal relationships. This is due in part to the significant ethical and practical difficulties encountered in attempts to examine causal questions in this area of research, and the methodological and statistical sophistication needed to examine

reciprocal

causality.

Two relatively simple steps can be taken to increase confidence in causal inference. First, a temporal dimension can be introduced into correlational studies. Data on marital conflict and child adjustment from at least two different time points allows one to examine whether marital conflict (a) precedes the onset of child adjustment problems and (b) predicts later adjustment independently of earlier adjustment. The converse temporal relations can also be examined, allowing investigation of bidirectional relations. Although data from such longitudinal studies are still correlational, they do permit one to make slightly stronger causal inferences. Second, treatment outcome studies allow experimental manipulation and, therefore, stronger causal inference. Surprisingly few treatment outcome studies have been conducted in this area (see section, From Basic Research To Applied Research (and Back Again). Although outcome studies have the potential to provide useful information, it is important to recall that factors which maintain problem are not necessarily those that initiate it.

or alleviate a

From Microsocial Processes To Clinical Syndromes. An impressive body of data exists that ir relevant to causal questions. These data come largely from analogue studies that examine microsocial processes and provide a wealth of important information on children’s immediate responses to experimentally manipulated characteristics of adult anger and interparental conflict. However, a theoretical and empirical chasm still exists between the correlational literature showing a link between marital conflict and child adjustment and the microsocial process, analogue studies inspired by this linkage. Although the link between the two literatures has not been entirely neglected, it warrants much greater

84

F D. FihAam and L. N. Osborne

attention. Simply stated, how do children’s immediate lead to clinically significant syndromes?

responses to interparental

conflict

A preliminary step in this regard is to show that children who display adjustment problems differ in their responses to interparental conflict from those who do not display such problems. In addition, it would be useful to illustrate how children’s responses might be theoretically linked to the particular adjustment problem they display before embarking on research to examine how their immediate responses lead to their adjustment problems. From Dydd~ TO Family Systems. One means whereby immediate responses to interparental conflict may lead to clinically significant dysfunctions is when they become institutionalized via changes in family members’ roles. Family systems theorists, in particular, discuss changes in family relationships that might occur as a result of children trying to manage conflict loyalties induced by interparental conflict (see Emery, in press; Emery, Joyce, & Fincham, 1987). However, empirical work investigating familial alliances remains sparse. This is probably due in part to the difficulty of operationalizing many family systems concepts (e.g., undifferentiated ego mass, generational boundary). The fact that family alliances often need to be analyzed at the triadic, rather than the dyadic, level presents an additional methodological difficulty. Recent advances hold much promise for changing this circumstance. For example, Christensen and Margolin (1988) employed sequential analyses to show that in distressed families (maritally distressed with one conduct-disordered child), but not nondistressed families, marital conflict increased the probability of parent-child and sibling conflict. Other forms of family conflict increased the likelihood of marital conflict in distressed, but not nondistressed families. Vuchinich, Emery, and Cassidy (1988) have developed a scheme for coding third-party involvement in family conflict (Third Party Intervention Coding System, or TPICS) that allows identification of alliances, strategies used, and outcomes. Using this system, Vuchinich et al. found that daughters intervene in all sorts of family conflict except interparental conflict. From Gender

Neutrality

To Gender

Specificity.

Although

studies

are more likely to

routinely

examine

gender differences in children exposed to marital conflict, there has been little attempt to examine child gender in relation to each parent’s role in the conflict or in parent-child relations. For example, boys and girls may be exposed to different models during marital conflict. That is, boys may act out more than girls when exposed to conflict, because fathers may be more aggressive than mothers during overt marital conflicts. Marital conflict might create more of a loyalty conflict for boys than for girls, since boys have a primary caretaker relationship with their mothers but identify with their fathers (Block, Block, & Morrison, 1981). In a similar vein, marital conflict may have a differential effect on parent-child relations, depending on which parent-child dyad is examined. Parents enmeshed in marital conflict may come to resent an opposite-sexed child perceived as reminiscent of their spouse. Since the mother is usually the primary caretaker of both children, this sort of resentment may be experienced more frequently by boys (O’Leary, 1984). In the only empirical work to directly address such issues, Gjerde (1988) reports that a measure of parental disagreement about child-rearing practices predicted dysfunctional interactions between mothers and sons during a puzzle-solving task. The much smaller effects obtained for father-son interactions were largely a reflection of education level. While other studies do not systematically investigate this issue, those that report results for

85

Marital Conflict and Children

parent and child gender separately find that some interaction according

to which parent-child

dyad is examined

Jouriles, Pfiffer, & O’Leary, 1988; Stoneman, intriguing and warrant further investigation.

changes due to conflict differ

(Goldberg

Brody, & Burke,

& Easterbrooks, 1989).

1984;

Such findings are

From Basic Research to Applied Research (and Back Again). Existing research contains many potential implications for treatment. For example, children exposed to intense conflict apparently do not adequately process the event (O’Brien et al., 1991) and are more likely to engage in responses that involve them in the conflict, such as direct intervention or comforting a parent u. S. Cummings et al., 1989; Cummings et al., 1981; it may be necessary to help these children interpret O’Brien et al., 1991). Consequently, their experience and teach them strategies to avoid involvement in the conflict. Unfortunately, little attention has been paid to evaluating clinical applications

of basic

research findings, and the few clinical studies that do exist have not always informed clinical implications drawn from the basic research literature. For example, it is asserted that marital conflict is mediated by parent-child relations and, therefore, that intervention should focus on this relationship

(e.g.,

Fauber

& Long,

1991;

for a contrary

view see

Emery et al., in press). In a comparison of maritally distressed and nondistressed parents seeking treatment for a conduct-disordered child, Dadds et al. (1987) found that both groups succeeded equally well immediately following child management training techniques, but that at 6-month follow-up the maritally distressed group was significantly less likely to have maintained these changes. Marital conflict was further implicated in this failure to maintain gains by the fact that distressed parents who received both child management training and partner support training maintained improvements at levels comparable to nondistressed parents. A far greater interplay between basic and applied research is needed to realize the empirically informed clinical practice advocated in this article. In this section we have highlighted some directions for future research without any implication that they will yield a complete understanding of the association between marital conflict and child adjustment. Rather, we have tried to demonstrate how researchers might improve our knowledge of this association and at the same time promote more fully empirically informed clinical practice. However, this represents only one side of the equation. It is equally important for practitioners to offer more precise clinical observations to facilitate clinically informed research.

CONCLUSION Prompted

by the discrepancy

that exists between clinical writings on the relation between

marital functioning and child adjustment and empirical data supporting this association, we set out to offer an analysis that might ultimately change this circumstance. A central theme of the article is that greater specification of the constructs of marital conflict and child adjustment is critical to advancing knowledge, and that future progress lies in relating particular aspects of conflict to specific child outcomes. Towards this end, we presented a reappraisal of the construct of marital conflict and identified several conflict dimensions that appear relevant to understanding its potential impact on children. Consistent with our goal of facilitating empirically informed practice and clinically informed research, we went on to highlight several avenues for future research. Although this brief analysis is necessarily incomplete, it represents an initial step towards the clarity needed

E: D. Fin&m and L. N. Osborne

A6

for a more complete integration between marital functioning authors

Acknowledgements-The

of the clinical and empirical

literatures

on the association

and child adjustment. thank

Susan

ments on an earlier

draft of this article.

Frank Guggenheim

Foundation

Gano-Phillips

Frank

and National

and John

Fincham

Institute

Grych

was supported

of Mental

for their helpful

by grants

Health

(MH

com-

from the Harry

44078).

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