Parental marital conflict and youth maladjustment
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Timothy Wright Boyd II (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- Susan Calkins
Abstract: Linkages between parental reports of marital conflict and youth maladjustment have been established, but less is known about the role of youth's own perceptions of and their involvement in parental marital conflict. Drawing on family systems and social learning perspectives, a primary goal of this study was to examine the association among three indicators of parental marital conflict and both youth maladjustment and sibling conflict. The three measures of marital conflict examined here included: 1) parental and 2) youth reports of the frequency of parental marital conflict and 3) youth reports of their involvement in parental marital conflict. A secondary goal of this study was to test whether linkages between parental marital conflict and outcomes differed by age and sex. Data came from 165 youth, ages 9 to 18 years old (M = 11.6, SD = 2.0). Hierarchical regression analyses in STATA were used to test all study hypotheses. Results indicated that none of the marital conflict variables were associated with maternal reports of maladjustment when common covariates of both marital conflict and youth adjustment (i.e., maternal depressive symptoms and parent-child relationship) had been taken into account. Youth-report of parental marital conflict was associated with youth reports of maladjustment. Furthermore, both maternal and youth reports of marital conflict explained significant variance in sibling conflict. Assessing youth reports of marital conflict over and above parental reports of marital conflict may further help understand associations between parental marital conflict and both youth adjustment and relationship qualities.
Parental marital conflict and youth maladjustment
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Created on 5/1/2012
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Thesis
- Language: English
- Date: 2012
- Keywords
- Marital conflict, Parental marital conflict, Sibling conflict, Youth involvement, Youth maladjustment
- Subjects
- Marital conflict $x Social aspects $x Research $z United States
- Youth Development $x Research $z United States
- Families $z United States $x Psychological aspects $x Research