Marital Conflict and Children's Emotions: The Development of an Anger Organization

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between anger‐based marital conflict and the development of an anger organization in children between the ages of 4 and 8 years old. Anger organization was defined as an adversarial approach to relationships demonstrated through (a) short‐term anger expressions during social interaction and (b) aggression in relationships. Seventy‐one children from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, their mothers, and their teachers participated in the study. Mothers completed questionnaires on anger‐based marital conflict and on children's aggression. Sociometric ratings of anger and aggression were obtained from peers. Teachers supplied reports of children's aggression. Children's short‐term emotional expression and the circumstances that elicited emotions were observed during peer interaction. Anger‐based marital conflict was found to be strongly associated with peer, maternal, and teacher reports of aggression, but not with reports of internalizing symptomatology. Anger‐based marital conflict was also associated with short‐term anger expressions, but not with short‐term expressions of sadness. I argue that children develop an emotional organization in which anger predominates when they are exposed to high levels of anger‐based marital conflict.     

Understanding Grandfamilies: Characteristics of Grandparents,Nonresident Parents,and Children

Using data from the Year 9 Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N ～ 3,182), we investigated the characteristics grandfamilies (grandparents raising their grandchildren with no parent present, N = 84) and compared them to other key groups, including children's nonresident parents and other economically disadvantaged families with children. Results show that grandparents raising their grandchildren were generally better off in terms of educational attainment, marital status, and economic well‐being than the child's parents. Grandparents raising their grandchildren also had characteristics very similar to other disadvantaged mothers. Academic and socioemotional well‐being were poorer among children in grandfamilies compared with those living with their mothers, but parenting practices were very similar. These findings suggest that although children in grandfamilies may be at a disadvantage academically and socioemotionally, grandparent caregivers are in many ways similar to other fragile‐family mothers. Overall, this study enhances our knowledge of an important yet understudied family type.     

Observed Infant Reactions During Live Interparental Conflict

Associations between interparental conflict and infant reactions were examined. Infants' history of exposure to interparental conflict and infant reactive temperament were examined as moderators. A community sample of 74 infants, aged 6–14 months, participated with their parents. Behavioral observations were made of parents' marital conflict and their infants' reactions. Parents reported on their emotional states during conflict, infants' history of exposure to interparental conflict, and infant temperament. Multilevel modeling indicated that infants showed differential responses to marital conflict; destructive and depressive conflict were associated with increased infant discussion attending and negative reactions, whereas constructive conflict was associated with decreased discussion attending and negative reactions. Infants' history of exposure to marital conflict and infant reactive temperament emerged as moderators.     

“It Was Like This,I Think”: Constructing an Adoption Narrative for Chinese Adopted Children

Using qualitative survey data from 35 adoptive parents of children from China, I explore the type of narrative parents construct about their child's “abandonment.” Parents tell the story they know best—the child's adoption story—being careful to not overly burden the child with harsh abandonment realities. Most parents opt to tell a dominant narrative, portraying the child's Chinese birth parents as parents who loved their child and struggled with the decision to give up their child pressured by outside forces to do so. Any counternarrative told seems to be for the adoptive parents themselves, not for their children.     

Parent and Child Similarities in Divorcing and Non-Divorcing Families

Abstract

It is frequently assumed that the model of their parents' marriage exerts a significant influence on the next generation, but little has been done to examine the part played by personality characteristics of parents and children. This longitudinal study examines the relative contribution of parental divorce, parents' marital (dyadic) satisfaction, conflict resolution style and selected personality qualities on children's personality qualities and self-image as adolescents and adults, and their dyadic satisfaction and conflict resolution style as adults. The samples were 67 adolescents from divorcing and intact families and their parents. Parents and children were interviewed when the children were aged 13-16, and the divorcing families were at the point of divorce. The children were followed up over 10 years until aged 23-26. At Year 1 the parents completed the anxiety, depression, sensitivity and submissiveness scales of the Neuroticism Scale Questionnaire (NSQ), the Spanier Dyadic Satisfaction Scale, and a conflict resolution scale, and made an appraisal of their children's socio-emotional maturity. Adolescents also completed the NSQ and a measure of self-image (Offer Self-Image Questionnaire: OSIQ). Ten years later the children again completed the NSQ and the OSIQ, and those who were currently in a dyadic relationship completed the Spanier and the conflict resolution scales. There were no differences on any measures between the children from divorced and intact homes. Husbands and wives were in reasonable agreement about their dyadic satisfaction and conflict resolution style, but no relationship was found between these and the corresponding self-reports of their adult children. Over the ten years of the study, mother and father depression predicted child depression, mothers' sensitivity predicted childrens' (and especially daughters') sensitivity, and fathers' lack of sensitivity predicted sons' submissiveness. The parents' appraisal of their adolescents' socio-emotional maturity at Year 1 predicted their children's self-image at Years 1 and 10, and their conflict resolution at Year 10; while self-image at Year 10 predicted contemporary Spanier scores. The findings are discussed in the light of current debates on the contribution of personality qualities to divorce and its sequelae for children.     

Parental Predivorce Relations and Offspring Postdivorce Well‐Being

This 2‐part study uses national longitudinal interview data from parents and their adult children to examine the way in which predivorce marital conflict influences the impact of divorce on children. In the 1st study, we find that the dissolution of low‐conflict marriages appears to have negative effects on offspring's lives, whereas the dissolution of high‐conflict marriages appears to have beneficial effects. The dissolution of low‐conflict marriages is associated with the quality of children's intimate relationships, social support from friends and relatives, and general psychological well‐being. The 2nd study considers how parents in low‐conflict marriages that end in divorce differ from other parents before divorce. We find that low‐conflict parents who divorce are less integrated into the community, have fewer impediments to divorce, have more favorable attitudes toward divorce, are more predisposed to engage in risky behavior, and are less likely to have experienced a parental divorce.     

Intergenerational Exchanges of Middle‐Aged Adults With Their Parents and Parents‐In‐Law in Korea

The authors investigated patterns of support exchanges between Korean adult children and their parents and parents‐in‐law, gender differences in these patterns, and implications of children's marital quality for exchange patterns. Data were from a nationally representative sample of married adults (N = 920, age 30–59 years) with at least 1 living parent and 1 living parent‐in‐law. Latent class analysis was applied to 12 indicators of exchanges (financial, instrumental, emotional support given to and received from parents and parents‐in‐law). Five classes of exchanges were identified, 3 showing balanced patterns of exchanges with parents and parents‐in‐law across three types of support and 2 classes with unbalanced patterns (e.g., giving instrumental and financial but not emotional support). The findings revealed variability in intergenerational exchange patterns, with a mix of patrilineal traditional and balanced patterns. Significant associations of exchange patterns with adult children's marital quality suggest the importance of balanced exchanges with parents for marriage.     

Feeling Caught Between Parents: Adult Children's Relations With Parents and Subjective Well‐Being

Research on divorce has found that adolescents’ feelings of being caught between parents are linked to internalizing problems and weak parent‐child relationships. The present study estimates the effects of marital discord, as well as divorce, on young adult offspring's feelings of being caught in the middle (N =632). Children with parents in high‐conflict marriages were more likely than other children to feel caught between parents. These feelings were associated with lower subjective well‐being and poorer quality parent‐child relationships. Offspring with divorced parents were no more likely than offspring with continuously married parents in low‐conflict relationships to report feeling caught. Feelings of being caught appeared to fade in the decade following parental divorce. These results suggest that, unlike children of divorce, children with parents in conflicted marriages (who do not divorce) may be unable to escape from their parents’ marital problems—even into adulthood.     

Marital Conflict and Children's Emotional Security in the Context of Parental Depression

Evidence has emerged for emotional security as an explanatory variable linking marital conflict to children's adjustment. Further evidence suggests parental psychopathology is a key factor in child development. To advance understanding of the pathways by which these family risk factors impact children's development, the mediational role of emotional security for children with parents who have potentially clinical levels of depression compared to children whose parents have lower levels of symptomatology was examined (i.e., moderated mediation). Participants included 297 families assessed annually for 3 years. Paternal depression moderated pathways, such that marital conflict was associated with greater child emotional insecurity 2 years later in the context of paternal depression. Testing alternative pathways, emotional insecurity mediated relations between maternal depression and externalizing problems.     

Conscription of children in armed conflict—a form of child abuse. A study of 19 former child soldiers

Armed combat in childhood is a form of child abuse. It may lead to serious consequences, including post‐traumatic stress disorder. The inherent emotional abuse and acts or omissions by caregivers may cause behavioural, cognitive, emotional or mental disorder in the child. Nineteen former child soldiers were interviewed in a rehabilitation centre using a standard questionnaire. Reasons for recruitment included: volunteered (18), hatred of enemy (revenge) (5), virtue of being a freedom fighter (martyrdom) (9), as a means of supporting their family (economic) (3). One child was abducted, 7 joined for fear of the ‘enemy’ abducting them, and in 5 a family member was killed by ‘enemy’ or own group. The children were involved in manual labour (15), guard duty (15), front‐line fighting (7), bomb manufacture (5), setting sea/land mines (5) and radio and communication (2). Fifteen were trained in firearms and 14 in self‐destruction. Twelve children attempted to or did run away and 11 refused to obey orders or argued. This led to various punishments, including kitchen duty, beatings, imprisonment, blackmail or death threats. A majority of the children felt sad and emotionally upset when they remembered their mother and family. Children's involvement in war, whatever the ‘justifications’ may be, should always be considered as forced, as they cannot truly comprehend their action in war. The responsibility must be taken by the adult caregivers. The following definition of the abuse of children in armed conflict is proposed: ‘The involvement of dependent, developmentally immature children and adolescents in armed conflict they do not truly comprehend, to which they are unable to give informed consent, and which adversely affects the child's right to unhindered growth and identity as a child’. Firm international agreement on guidelines for the lower age limit of recruitment of children into armed forces is required. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Effect of Stepfamily Status on Impressions of Children's Report Card Information

Abstract

This study was designed to compare university students' perceptions of stepchildren to perceptions of children from intact, biological families. Two hundred and eleven participants were asked to view an 8-year-old child's report card. Participants were given background information that indicated that the child lived with his mother and father (or mother and stepfather). The participants were then asked to rate their first impressions of the child's scholastic, social, and emotional functioning, and make predictions about the child's behaviour in school. The results indicated that male (but not female) participants rated stepchildren less positively than biological children with respect to their social and emotional functioning. Scholastic functioning was not influenced by family status information, nor was the child's predicted behaviour in school. The results are discussed in relation to their implications for stepchildren in today's society.     

Family Involvement in the Residential Treatment of Children: A Systemic Perspective

When children are placed in residential treatment, a number of underlying messages are often conveyed: the child is the problem, the child's parents are the problem, and the treatment centre has the answers. Consequently children may feel rejected and parents may feel blamed. These views reflect lineal perspectives which have not been adequately addressed in the literature on residential treatment. The aim of residential treatment is to change the child's behaviour in ways which parents are unable to achieve at home. This paper proposes that the child who is placed in residential care may be caught between the parents and the treatment setting: if the child positively responds to treatment, parents could easily feel inadequate or incompetent, a dynamic which is obviously counter productive to successful treatment. The paper argues from Milan and other systemic views, that family and treatment systems be taken into consideration in planning treatment strategies.     

EDITORIAL

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the results of an exploratory study that examined the preparation of children for adoption from the perspective of 55 adoptive parents and 26 caseworkers. Results indicate little consistency in practice and highlight the pivotal role of the adoptive parent. From the caseworker perspective, preparation for adoption is often seen as a process that ends at placement with the adoptive family. Adoption issues often arise at developmentally significant times in a child's life and adoptive parents may need to continue working with the child, building on the foundation of preparation work done by the child's caseworker or therapist. If the preparation work is insufficient or ineffective, adoptive parents may face greater challenges as they help the child resolve issues related to their past, present and future.     

Parental Modeling and Deidentification in Romantic Relationships Among Mexican‐Origin Youth

This study investigated youth's modeling of and deidentification from parents in romantic relationships using two phases of data from adolescent siblings, mothers, and fathers in 246 Mexican‐origin families. Each parent reported his and her marital satisfaction and conflict, and youth reported on parent–adolescent warmth and conflict at Time 1. Youth's reports of modeling of and deidentification from their mothers and fathers and three romantic relationship outcomes were assessed at Time 2. Findings revealed that higher parental marital satisfaction, lower marital conflict, and higher warmth and lower conflict in parent–adolescent relationships were associated with more modeling and less deidentification from parents. Moreover, higher deidentification was linked to a greater likelihood of youth being involved in a romantic relationship and cohabitation, whereas more modeling was linked to a lower likelihood of cohabitation and older age of first sex. Discussion underscores the importance of assessing parental modeling and deidentification and understanding correlates of these processes.     

Teachers' and School Children's Stereotypic Perception of the Child of Divorce: 20 Years Later

ABSTRACT

This is a replica of a study carried out in 1988. Its main objective is to reexamine after 20 years how teachers' and 8th-grade students' evaluations of a child's academic, social, and emotional functioning are affected by the knowledge that the child's parents are divorced. One hundred and twenty junior high school students and 115 female teachers watched a specially produced film of a child engaged in various activities. The child's gender and family structure were experimentally manipulated. The main results show that whereas in the earlier study both teachers and the students rated the child of divorce more negatively than the child of an intact family, in this study this was true only for the teachers. These and other results are discussed in the context of cultural attitudes, the more extensive contact teachers have with children of divorce, and the risk that they and their students become trapped in the Pygmalion cycle.     

A New Twist in Divorce

Development of highly accurate genetic tests in combination with recent legislative changes and judicial rulings have facilitated challenges to the presumption of legitimate birth in wedlock, even where the husband wishes to maintain his status as a parent. In many jurisdictions divorcing mothers may now contest their spouse's paternity of children of the marriage, and prove their denial by means of court-ordered blood tests. This article analyzes the family policy challenge posed by this innovation, and recommends a statutory remedy to protect a marital father's developed relationship with his child against termination through non-paternity action. The normative premise of the argument is the importance of preserving a child's relationship with its de facto marital father, as opposed to a legal definition of child-parent relationships based exclusively on biological parentage.     

Marital Relationships Following the Korean Economic Crisis: Applying the Family Stress Model

In response to the recent economic crisis in Korea and its negative effects on families, the current study examined the interrelationships among economic pressure, emotional distress, marital conflict, and marital satisfaction for 236 Korean couples. The family stress model ( Conger & Elder, 1994 ; Conger, Rueter, & Conger, 2000 ; Conger, Rueter, & Elder, 1999 ) was tested using structural equation modeling. The results generally supported the theoretical model, showing that economic pressure negatively affects marital satisfaction via emotional distress and marital conflict. The results also implied cultural differences in the process of family stress. Korean husbands' emotional distress did not affect marital conflict or marital satisfaction, suggesting that Korean husbands may differ from their wives in their reaction to emotional distress from economic pressure.     

“His” and “her” marriage expectations: Determinants and consequences

This article uses couple‐level data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N= 2,263) to investigate factors associated with unmarried parents’ expectations about marriage and the association between their expectations and subsequent union transitions. In most couples, both partners expect to marry, and their shared expectations are the strongest predictor of marriage and separation following their child's birth. Although men's expectations are somewhat more consequential for union transitions, marriage and relationship stability are more likely when at least one parent expects to marry. Factors such as children from previous relationships, distrust, conflict, and shared activities are also associated with union transitions. Findings about how expectations and other factors relate to marriage and separation may inform new marriage promotion initiatives.     

Caseworkers' perspective on risk factors in the family environment influencing mothers' difficulties in meeting children's needs

ObjectivesThis study examines, from the caseworkers' point of view, which needs of children are the most difficult for parents in neglectful contexts to respond to and which risk factors make this response more difficult.MethodA sample of 55 parents being followed by child protection services for neglect or high risk of neglect accepted to participate in the study. Their caseworker filled out a grid regarding the response provided to the children's needs and the risk factors in the family environment.ResultsThe results indicate that the children's age is related to the difficulties of responding to their needs. The caseworkers are particularly concerned about guidance and boundaries provided to preschool-age children, but less so about that provided to school-age children. When the children's age is controlled for, parents' mental health problems explains a significant proportion of the variance in parents' response to their children's need for stimulation, emotional warmth, and guidance and boundaries. Caseworkers' worries about drug and alcohol misuse also explain a significant proportion of their concerns about the mothers' ability to ensure their child's safety.ConclusionCaseworkers are more worried about the parental response offered to preschool children than to school-age ones. However, a constant and coherent response to growing children is still important for their developmental trajectories. Moreover, mental health and substance abuse explain caseworkers' concerns about mothers' engagement toward their child. These data raise questions about which type of services to offer, because intervening in families where parents deal with personal issues while addressing child neglect is complex.     

Foster parents' emotional investment and their young foster children's socio-emotional functioning

Emotional investment may be defined as a willingness to accept and become committed to a child, and being aware of influencing the child's development. Research in this field is limited, and has shown that commitment in particular is associated with foster children's socio-emotional functioning. Our aim was therefore to investigate 60 foster parents' acceptance, commitment and awareness of influence to their early placed foster children at 2 years, as well as to investigate the association between these three concepts and the foster children's social-emotional functioning (externalizing, internalizing, dysregulation and competence) at 2 (T1) and 3 (T2) years of age. The caregivers were interviewed with “This is My Baby”, and completed the questionnaire “Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment”. Results showed that on average the foster parents were rated quite high on emotional investment. Linear regressions, including one predictor and one outcome variable, revealed associations between emotional investment and foster children's socio-emotional functioning. Moreover, in regressions including all three predictors, commitment significantly negatively predicted externalizing behavior in the foster children at T1, while acceptance significantly negatively predicted dysregulation at T2. Lastly, among others for externalizing, the coefficient of commitment was significantly higher at T1 than at T2. Our results indicate a possible short-term influence of commitment on externalizing- and a possible long-term influence of acceptance on dysregulation behavior in foster children. We will therefore highlight the clinical importance of emotional investment in foster care, in order to help the young foster child towards a healthy social-emotional functioning.