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Children’s Coping with Marital Conflict: The Role of Conflict Expression and Gender
Author(s) -
Shelton Katherine H.,
Harold Gordon T.,
GoekeMorey Marcie C.,
Cummings E. Mark
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
social development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.078
H-Index - 91
eISSN - 1467-9507
pISSN - 0961-205X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1467-9507.2006.00338.x
Subject(s) - psychology , aggression , developmental psychology , coping (psychology) , mediation , family conflict , conflict resolution , social psychology , clinical psychology , political science , law
This study compared boys’ and girls’ coping responses to videotaped representations of marital conflict that varied in conflict content, tactic, and the gender of the parent engaging in conflict behaviour. Participants were 398 children (208 boys, 190 girls) aged 12–13 years old living in the United Kingdom. Child‐related conflict exchanges characterized by hostile behaviour (e.g., physical aggression) elicited greater mediation efforts by children. Children were more likely to mediate father‐enacted conflict. Girls, relative to boys, endorsed more mediation to fathers’ physical aggression and mothers’ pursuit of an issue and were more avoiding of mothers’ physical aggression and threats to intactness of the family. Findings underscore the importance of considering parent and child gender in determining children’s coping efforts in the context of interparental conflict.