Children's empathy moderates the association between perceived interparental conflict and child health.

Interparental conflict is known to negatively impact child well-being, including behavioral and physiological well-being. Children's empathy - that is, vicariously experiencing others' emotions - may increase children's sensitivity to and the biological repercussions of interparental conflict. Although empathy represents a valued trait and is an important part of socioemotional development, its influence on children's physical health is unknown. This study examined whether empathy moderates the association between perceived interparental conflict and both child systemic inflammation and parent-rated overall child health in a sample of children between the ages of seven to nine. Children and their parents participating in the long-term evaluation of the Family Foundations program, a randomized trial of a perinatal preventative intervention, provided data approximately eight years following enrollment into the program. We collected peripheral blood samples via dried blood spots, anthropometric measurements, and child and parent psychosocial questionnaires. Results indicated significant positive main effects of child empathy on both C-reactive protein (CRP; B = 0.26, SE = 0.11, p =.026) and Interleukin-6 (IL-6; B = 0.20, SE = 0.10, p =.045) levels. Further, child affective empathy moderated the associations between perceived interparental conflict and both CRP (B = 0.39, SE = 0.19, p =.050) and parent-reported child health (B = 0.30, SE = 0.13, p =.021), such that greater empathy strengthened the negative associations between interparental conflict and child health. Overall, findings suggests that there may be a biological cost of being more empathic in high-conflict environments and highlight the need for tools to help more empathic children appropriately manage vicarious emotions.

A tale of two marital stressors: Comparing proinflammatory responses to partner distress and marital conflict.

Marital quality shares ties to inflammatory conditions like cardiovascular disease and diabetes. For decades, research has focused on marital conflict as a primary mechanism given its potential to trigger inflammatory responses. However, longitudinal evidence suggests that marital conflict declines over time, and little attention has been paid to the inflammatory aftermath of other types of marital exchanges. A spouse's emotional distress is an important but overlooked marital context, as partners are exposed to each other's upsetting emotions throughout adulthood. To directly compare reactivity in proinflammatory gene expression to these two marital stressors and to examine differences by age and marital satisfaction, 203 community adults ages 25-90 (N = 102 couples) provided blood samples and rated their negative mood before and after they 1) watched their partner relive an upsetting personal memory and, in a separate visit 1-2 weeks later, 2) discussed a conflictual topic in their relationship. Controlling for age, sex, race/ethnicity, BMI, alcohol use, smoking, and comorbidities, increases in proinflammatory gene expression were significantly larger after the partner's upsetting disclosure than after marital conflict (B = 0.073, SE = 0.031, p = .018). This pattern paralleled emotional reactivity to the tasks, wherein negative mood rose more in response to the partner's disclosure than to marital conflict (B = 4.305, SE = 1.468, p = .004). In sum, proinflammatory and mood reactivity to spousal distress exceeded reactivity to marital conflict, a well-established marital stressor. Findings reveal spousal distress as a novel mechanism that may link marriage to inflammation-related diseases, and even pose risks for both happy and unhappy couples across adulthood.

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

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 (ß = .27). Wave 2 emotion recognition, in turn, predicted residualized decreases in children's internalizing symptoms at Wave 3 (ß = -.22). Mediational findings were partly attributable to children's accuracy in identifying angry and high-intensity expressions.

Parent-child conflict in Mexican-origin families: Charting development from adolescence to young adulthood.

Grounded in developmental and cultural-ecological perspectives, the current study examined trajectories of parent-youth conflict regarding everyday issues across adolescence and into young adulthood. Data came from 246 Mexican-origin families in the southwestern United States with younger siblings (51% female, Mage = 12.8, SD = 0.58), older siblings (Mage = 15.5, SD = 1.57), mothers (Mage = 39.0; SD = 4.6), and fathers (Mage = 41.7; SD = 5.8) and were collected at four time points over an 8-year period. Multilevel modeling analyses revealed linear declines in mother-youth and father-youth conflict across ages 12-22. Youth, but not parent, familism values were associated with variation in parent-youth conflict. This study extends understanding of culturally and developmentally salient processes of mother-youth and father-youth relationships in Mexican-origin families.

Within-family associations of parent-adolescent relationship quality and adolescent affective well-being.

BACKGROUND: Parent-adolescent relationship quality is theorized to be an important correlate of adolescent affective well-being. Little is known about the within-family processes underlying parent-adolescent relationship quality and affective well-being over a period of months. This three-wave, preregistered study examined within- and between-family associations between parent-adolescent relationship quality (support and conflict) and adolescent well-being (negative and positive affect). In addition, we examined whether the associations differed between mothers and fathers, and for adolescents' affective well-being in different social contexts (at home, at school, with peers). METHODS: The sample consisted of 244 Dutch adolescents (61.5% girls; age range: 12-17 years; mean age = 13.8 years). Random-intercept cross-lagged panel models were used. RESULTS: At the between-family level, higher levels of support and lower levels of conflict were associated with higher levels of positive affect and lower levels of negative affect. At the within-family level, increases in support and decreases in conflict were concurrently associated with increases in positive affect and decreases in negative affect. More parent-adolescent conflict than typical also predicted increases in negative affect, 3 months later, and more negative affect and less positive affect than typical predicted increased conflict, 3 months later. These within-family effects were largely similar for fathers and mothers. Associations for conflict occurred through bidirectional processes: Parent-adolescent conflict shaped and was shaped by adolescents' emotions at home, at school, and with peers. CONCLUSION: Results suggest that parent-adolescent relationship quality (especially conflict) and adolescent affective well-being cofluctuate and predict each other over time within families.

Interparental conflict and adolescent emotional security across family structures.

This study investigated whether interparental conflict was differentially related to forms of emotional security (i.e., family, interparental, parent-child) and whether forms of emotional security were differentially associated with mental health problems for adolescents in married versus divorced/separated families. Participants were 1032 adolescents (ages 10-15; 51% male, 49% female; 82% non-Hispanic White, 9% Black/African American, 5% Hispanic, 2% Asian or Pacific Islander, 2% Native American) recruited from a public school in a middle-class suburb of a United States metropolitan area. We used multiple group multivariate path analysis to assess (1) associations between interparental conflict and multiple measures of emotional insecurity (i.e., family, interparental, and parent-child), (2) associations between measures of emotional insecurity and internalizing and externalizing problems, and (3) moderation effects of parent-child relationships. The patterns of association were similar across family structures. A high-quality parent-child relationship did not mitigate the harmful effects of interparental conflict on emotional insecurity or mental health problems. Findings suggest that regardless of family structure, emotional security across multiple family systems may be a critical target for intervention to prevent youth mental health problems, in addition to interventions that reduce conflict and improve parent-child relationships.

Daily implementation of health-protective behaviors and family life during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has necessitated the use of health-protective behaviors (HPB), such as social distancing, staying at home, frequent handwashing, and wearing facemasks to mitigate the transmission of disease. An investigation of interpersonal costs associated with the use of HPB can help inform strategies to promote their sustained implementation. This study examined the daily associations between the implementation of HPB and family functioning and assessed moderation by coparenting quality, economic strain, and the number of days that state-level stay-at-home policies had been in effect, during the early days of the pandemic. Mothers and fathers from 155 families with children who were 9 years old, on average, completed daily reports of HPB, parental stress, and family relationship quality over eight consecutive days in April or May of 2020. Hierarchal linear models showed that HPB was associated with increased levels of parental stress and interparental conflict. Negative coparenting relations exacerbated the next-day association between HPB and interparental conflict. HPB was also associated with increased levels of parent-child and interparental closeness, but these linkages dissipated for families who had spent more days under state-level stay-at-home policies. Although crucial for public health, the implementation of HPB may have detrimental short-term effects on daily family life. Family support and interventions are necessary to minimize the psychosocial burden of these important public health measures and increase their sustained adherence.

The impact of cultural stress on family functioning among Puerto Rican displaced families and the effect on mental health.

Hurricane María caused significant devastation on the island of Puerto Rico, impacting thousands of lives. Puerto Rican crisis migrant families faced stress related to displacement and relocation (cultural stress), often exhibited mental health symptoms, and experienced distress at the family level. Although cultural stress has been examined as an individual experience, little work has focused on the experience as a family. To address this gap, we conducted a mixed-methods study designed to examine the predictive effects of cultural stress on family conflict and its mental health implications among Puerto Rican Hurricane María parent and child dyads living on the U.S. mainland. In the quantitative phase of the study, 110 parent-child dyads completed an online survey assessing cultural stress, family dynamics, and mental health. As part of our primary analysis, we estimated a structural equation path model. Findings from the quantitative phase showed a significant positive relationship between family cultural stress and family conflict, as well as individual parent and child mental health symptoms. In the qualitative phase of the study, 35 parent-child dyads participated in individual interviews. Findings from the interviews revealed variations in difficulties related to language, discrimination, and financial burdens, with some participants adapting more quickly and experiencing fewer stressors. Findings also highlight the impact on mental health for both parents and youth, emphasizing the family-level nature of cultural stress, while noting a potential discrepancy between qualitative and quantitative findings in the discussion of family conflict.

The Influence of Pubertal Development on Early Adolescent Sleep and Changes in Family Functioning.

Pubertal development has been separately linked to adolescents' sleep problems and larger family functioning, but research connecting these inter-related processes remains sparse. This study aimed to examine how pubertal status and tempo were related to early adolescents' sleep and their family functioning. Using longitudinal data from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development study, the study's sample (N = 4682) was 49.2% female, was an average of 9.94 years old at baseline, and was 60.1% white. Analyses in the current study modeled the indirect associations between pubertal change and changes in family conflict via adolescent sleep duration and variability of duration. The results suggested that pubertal status and tempo predicted shorter adolescent sleep durations and greater variability in those durations, which predicted residual increases in family conflict. The findings highlight the role of adolescents' pubertal changes in their sleep and how such changes can negatively affect family functioning.

Longitudinal Links Between Parental Emotional Distress and Adolescent Delinquency: The Role of Marital Conflict and Parent-Child Conflict.

The mediating processes linking parental emotional distress and changes in adolescent delinquency over time are poorly understood. The current study examined this question using data from 457 adolescents (49.5% female; 89.5% White; assessed at ages 11, 12, and 15) and their parents, part of the national, longitudinal Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD). Maternal depression was only directly associated with changes in adolescent delinquency. Paternal depression was indirectly associated with changes in adolescent delinquency through a partner effect on mother-child conflict. The findings indicate the salience of parental depression and mother-child conflict for increases in adolescent delinquency and highlight the importance of including parental actor and partner effects for a more comprehensive understanding of the tested associations.

COPING ARRANGEMENT OF SPOUSES WITH EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN FAMILY CONFLICTS.

Along with several social institutions, the family has its unique place as the foundation of a strong state. For this reason, family problems are at the center of research in modern psychological science aimed at identifying key factors of health, well-being and a prosperous life in the family. The purpose of this work is to identify the ability of spouses to cope with family difficulties or conflict situations and to study their correspondence to the manifestations of a person's emotional intelligence as a guarantee of satisfaction and family health. At different stages of its development the family very often faces problems, for which the spouses use a conscious toolkit. Emotional intelligence, being one of the fundamental components of personality, influences the choice of a person's coping strategy in conflict situations: Studies have shown that a person's high levels of emotional intelligence (EQ or EI) have a reciprocal relationship with coping, a rational problem-solving orientation. It also leads to personal satisfaction, creating the basis for family well-being and a healthy psychological atmosphere. We can conclude that the higher a person's perception and recognition of his own and others' emotions, emotional states, the easier and faster he distinguishes between his own and others' emotional manifestations and expressions, and of course is able to freely manage them, the more a person is able to show organization when facing various difficulties, the better he can regulate actions, as well as control the current situation. As a result, the person experiences satisfaction with family life.

The moderating role of adrenocortical reactivity in the associations between interparental conflict, emotional reactivity, and school adjustment.

This study tested whether the associations between interparental conflict, children's emotional reactivity, and school adjustment were moderated by children's cortisol reactivity in a sample of young children (N = 243; mean age = 4.6 years at Wave 1; 56% female, 44% male) and their parents. Using a longitudinal, autoregressive design, observational assessments of children's emotional reactivity at Wave 2 mediated the relationship between an observational measure of Wave 1 conflict between parents and teacher's report of children's school adjustment at Wave 3. However, children's cortisol reactivity to parent conflict at Wave 1 moderated the first link, such that emotional reactivity operated as a mediator for children with heightened cortisol reactivity but not children with low cortisol reactivity. Moderation was expressed in a "for better" or "for worse" form hypothesized by biological sensitivity to context theory. Thus, children with high cortisol reactivity experienced greater emotional reactivity than their peers when faced with more destructive conflict but also lower emotional reactivity when exposed to more constructive interparental conflict. Results are discussed as to how they advance emotional security and biological sensitivity to context theories.

Adolescent Psychosocial Adjustment during COVID-19: An Intensive Longitudinal Study.

OBJECTIVE: COVID-19 has presented threats to adolescents' psychosocial well-being, especially for those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. This longitudinal study aimed to identify which social (i.e., family conflict, parental social support, peer social support), emotional (i.e., COVID-19 health-related stress), and physical (i.e., sleep quality, food security) factors influence adolescents' same- and next-day affect and misconduct and whether these factors functioned differently by adolescents' economic status. METHOD: Daily-diary approaches were used to collect 12,033 assessments over 29 days from a nationwide sample of American adolescents (n =546; Mage = 15.0; 40% male; 43% Black, 37% White, 10% Latinx, 8% Asian American, and 3% Native American; 61% low-income) at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS: Peer support, parent support, and sleep quality operated as promotive factors, whereas parent-child conflict and COVID-19 health-related stress operated as risk factors. Although these links were consistent for adolescents irrespective of economic status, low-income adolescents experienced more conflict with parents, more COVID-19 health-related stress, less peer support, and lower sleep quality than higher-income adolescents. Food insecurity was connected to decreased same- and next-day negative affect for low-income adolescents only. Low-income adolescents also displayed greater negative affect in response to increased daily health-related stress relative to higher-income adolescents. CONCLUSION: These results highlight the role of proximal processes in shaping adolescent adjustment and delineate key factors influencing youth psychosocial well-being in the context of COVID-19. By understanding adolescents' responses to stressors at the onset of the pandemic, practitioners and healthcare providers can make evidence-based decisions regarding clinical treatment and intervention planning for youth most at risk for developmental maladjustment.

Do work-family conflict or family-work conflict mediate relationships between work-related hazards and stress and pain?

INTRODUCTION: Previous research has identified associations between work-family conflict (WFC) and health outcomes (e.g., musculoskeletal pain). This study investigated whether WFC and family-work conflict explain relationships between exposure to work-related hazards and musculoskeletal pain and stress for workers undertaking some or all of their work at home. Possible differences by home workspace location were also explored. METHODS: Longitudinal survey data were collected from workers in Australia engaged in work from home for at least two days per week. Data was collected at four timepoints approximately 6 months apart (Baseline [October 2020] n = 897; Wave 1 [May/June 2021] n = 368; Wave 2 [October/November 2021] n = 336; Wave 3 [May 2022] n = 269). Subjective measures of work-related psychosocial hazards, occupational sitting and physical activity, musculoskeletal pain, and stress were collected via an online questionnaire. Mediation analyses were conducted using the R package "mediation." Analyses were also conducted with the data set stratified by home office location, using R version 4.1.3. RESULTS: Both WFC and family-work conflict acted as mediators between psychosocial work-related hazards and musculoskeletal pain and stress. WFC mediated more relationships than family-work conflict. Location of home workspace was important, particularly for those working in a space at home where they may be subject to interruptions. CONCLUSION: Addressing WFC is a legitimate means through which musculoskeletal pain and stress can be reduced. Organizational risk management strategies need to address all work-related risks, including those stemming from work-life interaction.

Emotional Reactivity to Daily Family Conflicts: Testing the Within-Person Sensitization.

Although the sensitization hypothesis posits that heightened reactivity to interparental conflict is linked to adolescent psychopathology, limited studies tested whether sensitization would emerge in parent-adolescent conflict and across ethnicity or culture. This study revisits the sensitization hypothesis by examining adolescent emotional reactivity to interparental and parent-adolescent conflicts on a daily timescale. The sample included 163 adolescents (55% girls; Mage = 12.79) and their parents (78% females; Mage = 45.46) who completed a 10-day reports in Taiwan. Multilevel modeling results showed that, instead of interparental conflict, adolescents with greater histories of parent-adolescent conflict exhibited higher emotional reactivity when parent-adolescent conflict was higher. The findings underscore the importance of parent-adolescent conflict in evaluating adolescent developmental risk.

Recreating diasporic identity and community: Examination of transgender and nonbinary latinx healing from family rejection.

The purpose of this study was to explore the experience of healing from family rejection among transgender and nonbinary Latinx individuals. Participants were asked how they navigated family dynamics related to gender identity and specific behaviors or resources that promoted their healing from experiences of family rejection. Data from 12 interviews with Latinx nonbinary and transgender adults were analyzed through a critical-constructivist grounded theory method resulting in a hierarchy composed of three clusters related to the core category (healing from family rejection leads to the recreation of diasporic identity and community as one learns to live authentically in their ethnic/racial gendered expression). These clusters included recreation of the family system, community-based cultural healing, and autonomy in trans identity and psychological well-being. Relevant contributions to research and implications for psychologists are reviewed: (a) Latinx diasporic identity formation is facilitated through the reconstruction of familial relationships and cultural healing, and (b) chosen family and supportive community networks may adopt the responsibility of ethnic-racial socialization after proximity to family of origin is lost. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Asian American child-parent cultural value discrepancies, family conflict, life satisfaction, and self-esteem.

We examined Asian American college students' adherence to traditional values that are salient in Asian cultures, the students' perceptions of their mother's and father's adherence to the same values, and the discrepancies between the students and their mothers and fathers on the levels of adherence to these values. Based on the data from 301 participants who self-identified as Asian Americans, paired-samples t tests revealed that the child-parent cultural value discrepancies were present across all generational statuses of the participants with the children adhering less strongly to most of the value dimensions than their parents. The results based on correlational analyses showed that many types of value discrepancies were positively associated with the likelihood and seriousness of conflict. Several types of value discrepancies also were inversely associated with the participants' life satisfaction and self-esteem. In addition, the results from the PROCESS Macro for mediation analysis revealed significant mediation role of family conflict on the relationships between various types of value discrepancies and life satisfaction. The significant mediators were the likelihood and seriousness of family conflict and the family conflict about education and career decisions, and the value discrepancies centered on the values of conformity to norms, family recognition through achievement, and humility. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Parental Problem Drinking and Maladaptive Personality Features in Children: The Role of Marital Conflict.

The personality characteristics of children of exposed to parental problem drinking have been of interest to clinicians and researchers for several decades, but personality research on this population often focuses on identifying a unique cluster of adult personality traits. The current study adopts a cutting-edge dimensional approach to understanding personality pathology as extreme variants of the five factor model, and examines pathways of risk to personality pathology through marital conflict and emotional insecurity. Participants were 199 two-parent families with a child between the ages of 6 and 12 years. Parents completed questionnaire measures of their problem drinking, marital conflict, child emotional insecurity (i.e., emotional reactivity to conflict), and child maladaptive personality traits. Structural equation models found an indirect pathway from mother and father problem drinking to pathological child disagreeableness, introversion, emotional instability, and compulsivity via greater mother destructive marital conflict behavior and child emotional reactivity to conflict. There was also some evidence that this pathway of effects was stronger for girls than for boys. Findings support the use of a dimensional approach to understanding maladaptive personality among individuals exposed to parental problem drinking.

Interparental conflict as a quadratic predictor of children's reactivity to interparental conflict and school adjustment: Steeling effects or risk saturation?

This study examined interparental conflict as a curvilinear predictor of children's reactivity to interparental conflict and, in turn, their school problems across three annual measurements. Participants included 243 preschool children (Mage  = 4.60 years; 56% girls) and their parents from racially (e.g., 48% Black; 16% Latinx) diverse backgrounds. Interparental conflict was a significant quadratic predictor of children's emotional reactivity (ß = .23) and behavioral dysregulation (ß = .27) to conflict over a 1-year period. The robust association between interparental conflict and behavioral dysregulation weakened at high levels of interparental conflict. In contrast, interparental conflict more strongly predicted children's emotional reactivity as conflict exposure increased. Children's emotional reactivity, in turn, predicted their greater school problems 1 year later (ß = .25).

Delineating the developmental sequelae of children's risky involvement in interparental conflict.

The present study examined the developmental value of parsing different forms of children's risky involvement in interparental conflict as predictors of children's subsequent psychological adjustment. Participants included a diverse sample of 243 preschool children (Mage = 4.6 years) and their mothers across two measurement occasions spaced 2 years apart. Three forms of risky involvement (i.e., cautious, caregiving, and coercive) were identified using maternal narratives describing children's emotional and behavioral reactivity during and immediately following interparental conflict. Utilizing a multimethod, multi-informant design, findings revealed that each form of involvement prospectively predicted unique configurations of children's developmental outcomes. Greater coercive involvement was associated with higher levels of externalizing problems, callous and unemotional traits, and extraversion. Higher levels of caregiving involvement were linked with greater separation anxiety. Finally, cautious involvement predicted more separation anxiety and social withdrawal.