Interparental conflict dimensions and children's psychological problems: Emotion recognition as a mediator

Patrick T Davies; Kassidy C Colton; Carson Schmitz; Brandon E Gibb

doi:10.1111/cdev.14067

journal article Jul 01, 2024

Interparental conflict dimensions and children's psychological problems: Emotion recognition as a mediator

Patrick T Davies

Kassidy C Colton

Carson Schmitz

Brandon E Gibb

Child Development Vol. 95 No. 4 pp. 1333-1350 · Oxford University Press (OUP)

View at Publisher Save 10.1111/cdev.14067

Abstract

Abstract
This study tested children's emotion recognition as a mediator of associations between their exposure to hostile and cooperative interparental conflict and their internalizing and externalizing symptoms. From 2018 to 2022, 238 mothers, their partners, and preschool children (Mage = 4.38, 52% female; 68% White; 18% Black; 14% Multiracial or another race; and 16% Latinx) participated in three annual measurement occasions. Path analyses indicated that Wave 1 observations of hostile interparental conflict predicted residualized increases in children's emotion recognition accuracy (i.e., angry, sad, and happy) at Wave 2 (β = .27). Wave 2 emotion recognition, in turn, predicted residualized decreases in children's internalizing symptoms at Wave 3 (β = −.22). Mediational findings were partly attributable to children's accuracy in identifying angry and high-intensity expressions.

Topics

No keywords indexed for this article. Browse by subject →

References

58

[1]

Ablow "The MacArthur three-city outcome study: Evaluating multi-informant measures of young children's symptomatology" Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (1999) 10.1097/00004583-199912000-00020

[2]

Arbuckle (2021)

[3]

Assed "Facial emotion recognition in maltreated children: A systematic review" Journal of Child and Family Studies (2020) 10.1007/s10826-019-01636-w

[4]

Bennett "Antecedents of emotion knowledge: Predictors of individual differences in young children" Cognition and Emotion (2005) 10.1080/02699930441000201

[5]

Berzenski "The differential influences of parenting and child narrative coherence on the development of emotion recognition" Developmental Psychology (2017) 10.1037/dev0000395

[6]

Callaghan "The stress acceleration hypothesis: Effects of early-life adversity on emotion circuits and behavior" Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences (2016) 10.1016/j.cobeha.2015.11.018

[7]

Castro "Bidirectional linkages between emotion recognition and problem behaviors in elementary school children" Journal of Nonverbal Behavior (2018) 10.1007/s10919-017-0269-9

[8]

Cooper "Facial emotion recognition in children with externalising behaviours: A systematic review" Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry (2020) 10.1177/1359104520945390

[9]

Cummings (2010)

[10]

Davies "Children's coping and adjustment in high-conflict homes: The reformulation of emotional security theory" Child Development Perspectives (2014) 10.1111/cdep.12094

[11]

Davies "Marital conflict and child adjustment: An emotional security hypothesis" Psychological Bulletin (1994) 10.1037/0033-2909.116.3.387

[12]

Davies "Child emotional security and interparental conflict" Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development (2002)

[13]

Davies "The multiple faces of interparental conflict: Implications for cascades of children's insecurity and externalizing problems" Journal of Abnormal Psychology (2016) 10.1037/abn0000170

[14]

Davies "The reformulation of emotional security theory: The role of children's social defense in developmental psychopathology" Development and Psychopathology (2013) 10.1017/s0954579413000709

[15]

Davies "Delineating the sequelae of destructive and constructive interparental conflict for children within an evolutionary framework" Developmental Psychology (2012) 10.1037/a0025899

[16]

Davies "Advances in the formulation of emotional security theory: An ethologically based perspective" Advances in Child Development and Behavior (2007) 10.1016/b978-0-12-009735-7.50008-6

[17]

Dede "Relationships between facial emotion recognition, internalizing symptoms, and social problems in young children" Personality and Individual Differences (2021) 10.1016/j.paid.2020.110448

[18]

Hidden talents in harsh environments

Bruce J. Ellis, Laura S. Abrams, Ann S. Masten et al.

Development and Psychopathology 2022 10.1017/s0954579420000887

[19]

Fine "First grade emotion knowledge as a predictor of fifth grade self-reported internalizing behaviors in children from economically disadvantaged families" Development and Psychopathology (2003) 10.1017/s095457940300018x

[20]

Flett "Disguised distress in children and adolescents “flying under the radar” why psychological problems are underestimated and how schools must respond" Canadian Journal of School Psychology (2013) 10.1177/0829573512468845

[21]

Frankenhuis "The hidden talents approach: Theoretical and methodological challenges" Trends in Cognitive Sciences (2020) 10.1016/j.tics.2020.03.007

[22]

Garner "Emotion knowledge and self-regulation as predictors of preschoolers' cognitive ability, classroom behavior, and social competence" Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment (2012) 10.1177/0734282912449441

[23]

Gibb "Reported history of childhood abuse and young adults' information-processing biases for facial displays of emotion" Child Maltreatment (2009) 10.1177/1077559508326358

[24]

Gilbert "Depression and stress: A biopsychosocial exploration of evolved functions and mechanisms" Stress (2001) 10.3109/10253890109115726

[25]

Gordis "Parents' hostility in dyadic marital and triadic family settings and children's behavior problems" Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology (2001) 10.1037/0022-006x.69.4.727

[26]

Greenberg "Social and emotional learning as a public health approach to education" The Future of Children (2017) 10.1353/foc.2017.0001

[27]

Halberstadt "A meta-analysis of family expressiveness and children's emotion expressiveness and understanding" Marriage & Family Review (2002) 10.1300/j002v34n01_03

[28]

Harold "Annual research review: Interparental conflict and youth psychopathology: An evidence review and practice focused update" Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (2018) 10.1111/jcpp.12893

[29]

Heinze "Emotion knowledge, loneliness, negative social experiences, and internalizing symptoms among low-income preschoolers" Social Development (2015) 10.1111/sode.12083

[30]

Hughes "A person-centred analysis of teacher–child relationships in early childhood" British Journal of Educational Psychology (2014) 10.1111/bjep.12029

[31]

Jenness "Misclassification and identification of emotional facial expressions in depressed youth: A preliminary study" Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology (2015) 10.1080/15374416.2014.891226

[32]

Johnston (2009)

[33]

Jouriles (2016)

[34]

Kerig "Assessing the links between interparental conflict and child adjustment: The conflicts and problem-solving scales" Journal of Family Psychology (1996) 10.1037/0893-3200.10.4.454

[35]

Laamanen (2022) 10.1111/sode.12526

[36]

Lee "The associations of constructive and destructive interparental conflict to child well-being among low-income families" Journal of Interpersonal Violence (2021) 10.1177/0886260519835872

[37]

Lemerise "An integrated model of emotion processes and cognition in social information processing" Child Development (2000) 10.1111/1467-8624.00124

[38]

A Test of Missing Completely at Random for Multivariate Data with Missing Values

Roderick J. A. Little

Journal of the American Statistical Association 1988 10.1080/01621459.1988.10478722

[39]

MacKinnon "Distribution of the product confidence limits for the indirect effect: Program PRODCLIN" Behavior Research Methods (2007) 10.3758/bf03193007

[40]

Matsumoto (1988)

[41]

Maxwell "Bias in cross-sectional analyses of longitudinal mediation" Psychological Methods (2007) 10.1037/1082-989x.12.1.23

[42]

McCoy "Constructive and destructive marital conflict, parenting, and children's school and social adjustment" Social Development (2013) 10.1111/sode.12015

[43]

Morris "The role of the family context in the development of emotion regulation" Social Development (2007) 10.1111/j.1467-9507.2007.00389.x

[44]

Murray "Developmental cascades from aggression to internalizing problems via peer and teacher relationships from early to middle adolescence" Journal of Youth and Adolescence (2021) 10.1007/s10964-021-01396-1

[45]

Parke (1994)

[46]

Pollak "Development of perceptual expertise in emotion recognition" Cognition (2009) 10.1016/j.cognition.2008.10.010

[47]

Raver "Poverty, household chaos, and interparental aggression predict children's ability to recognize and modulate negative emotions" Development and Psychopathology (2015) 10.1017/s0954579414000935

[48]

Repetti "Allostatic processes in the family" Development and Psychopathology (2011) 10.1017/s095457941100040x

[49]

Schermerhorn "Associations of child emotion recognition with interparental conflict and shy child temperament traits" Journal of Social and Personal Relationships (2019) 10.1177/0265407518762606

[50]

Schlomer "Best practices for missing data management in counseling psychology" Journal of Counseling Psychology (2010) 10.1037/a0018082

Showing 50 of 58 references

Metrics

4

Citations

58

References

Details

Published: Jul 01, 2024
Vol/Issue: 95(4)
Pages: 1333-1350
License: View

Authors

P

Patrick T Davies

Department of Psychology, University of Rochester , Rochester, New York ,; Mt. Hope Family Center, University of Rochester , Rochester, New York ,

K

Kassidy C Colton

Department of Psychology, University of Rochester , Rochester, New York ,; Mt. Hope Family Center, University of Rochester , Rochester, New York ,

C

Carson Schmitz

Department of Psychology, University of Rochester , Rochester, New York ,; Mt. Hope Family Center, University of Rochester , Rochester, New York ,

B

Brandon E Gibb

Department of Psychology, Binghamton University , Rochester, New York ,

Funding

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Award: R01 HD094829

Cite This Article

Patrick T Davies, Kassidy C Colton, Carson Schmitz, et al. (2024). Interparental conflict dimensions and children's psychological problems: Emotion recognition as a mediator. Child Development, 95(4), 1333-1350. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.14067

Interparental conflict dimensions and children's psychological problems: Emotion recognition as a mediator

You May Also Like