Children's Responses to Everyday Marital Conflict: The Influence of Marital Aggression

This study examined parents' past marital aggression as a moderator of children's immediate responses to everyday marital conflict. Also, links between history of marital aggression and parents' everyday marital conflict expressions were examined. Families participated in a laboratory session, in which parents discussed an everyday topic of disagreement. Children watched their parents' discussion and provided emotional, behavioral, and cognitive reactions. Results suggested couples with a history of marital aggression use less constructive, more destructive conflict tactics, and display less positive and more negative emotions during everyday marital disagreements. Children's specific immediate responding to marital conflict was predicted by parents' conflict tactics and emotions. Moreover, children's immediate responses were moderated by parents' history of marital aggression: children whose parents had a history of marital aggression were more sensitive to parents' use of constructive conflict tactics and positive emotions. Implications of these results for prevention and intervention programs are discussed.