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Dimensions of Family Conflict and Their Influence on Child and Adolescent Adjustment
Author(s) -
Acock Alan C.,
Demo David H.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
sociological inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.446
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1475-682X
pISSN - 0038-0245
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-682x.1999.tb00890.x
Subject(s) - socioemotional selectivity theory , salience (neuroscience) , psychology , developmental psychology , family conflict , longitudinal study , adolescent development , longitudinal data , social psychology , demography , sociology , medicine , pathology , cognitive psychology
Using the first (1987‐1988) and second (1992‐1994) waves of the National Survey of Families and Households, this study examines the concurrent and longitudinal influences of interparental conflict and parent‐child conflict on child and adolescent adjustment. Analyses focus on 542 intact families, each with a randomly selected focal child aged 5 to 11 at time 1 and aged 10 to 17 at time 2. Results indicate that both parent‐child and parent‐adolescent conflict are critical predictors of children's and adolescents’socioemotional adjustment. Interparental conflict, by contrast, is less important for adjustment in middle and late childhood as well as in adolescence. The findings extend previous research by suggesting that the salience and threat of interparental conflict subside as children make the transition into adolescence.