Marital Conflict, the Role of Sibling Relationships, and Child Adjustment

婚姻冲突、兄弟姐妹关系的作用以及儿童适应

• 批准号: 8298507
• 负责人: Sonnette M Bascoe
• 金额: $ 2.58万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-01 至 2012-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8298507
• 关键词: Accounting; Address; Area; Buffers; Caregivers; Child; Child Mental Health; Complement; Conflict (Psychology); Development; Dimensions; Elements; Family; Family Process; Generations; Goals; Health; Interview; Knowledge; Link; Literature; Longitudinal Studies; Marital Relationships; Measures; Mediating; Methods; Modeling; Mothers; Outcome; Parents; Pathway interactions; Pattern; Play; Prevention program; Preventive Intervention; Process; Psychopathology; Questionnaires; Research; Research Personnel; Risk; Role; Sibling Relations; Siblings; Societies; Structure; Surveys; System; Systems Theory; Testing; base; cohesion; design; flexibility; informant; innovation; intervention program; longitudinal design; neglect; response; social; social cognitive theory; teacher; theories

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overarching goal of this research is to integrate family systems and developmental psychopathology theory and research to understand the processes underlying the association between destructive marital conflict and children's mental health with a specific emphasis on the role that sibling relationships play for understanding patterns of child adjustment and maladjustment. Destructive marital conflict poses significant risk to children's mental health and adjustment (for a review see Davies & Cummings, 1994) with significant implications for society. Moreover, sibling relations can either exacerbate child difficulties, or alternatively, promote positive child adjustment (for a review see Brody, 1998). Thus, high social importance is attached to understanding the role of sibling relations in the association between marital conflict and child outcomes. Toward this endeavor, there are four main aims of the proposed research. First, this research addresses theoretical and methodological gaps in the field. The sibling relationship literature has been heavily influenced by social learning theory (see Dunn & Davies, 2001; Jenkins, 1992; Stacker & Youngblade, 1999). As a result, the survey measures in the area commonly focus on warmth and conflict measures without consideration of family systems constructs. To address this gap, the first aim of the proposal is to develop and test the validity (i.e., predictive, discriminate, convergent) of a semi-structured interview assessment of sibling relationships based on family systems theory. Next, the processes by which marital conflict is associated with child psychopathology will be explored. Integrating family systems within sibling relationships and child psychopathology, the quality of children's sibling relationships will be examined in three models: additive (Aim 2), mediational (Aim 3), and moderator (Aim 4) to illuminate the link between marital conflict and child maladjustment. To test the proposed pathways, a multi-method, longitudinal study will be completed with children, their primary caregivers, and their teachers. This research complements and advances existing knowledge by (a) elucidating the impact of inter-parental discord on children's mental health; (b) examining children's sibling relations as potential processes that highlight the link between marital conflict and child maladjustment and; (c) incorporating an innovative assessment of children's sibling relationships designed to identify undetected patterns of sibling relations. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The multiple-method, multi- informant, and longitudinal design will yield a rigorous assessment of the study's main constructs. Results will be distributed and discussed as they pertain to future research and prevention/intervention efforts to enhance children's mental health.

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究的总体目标是整合家庭系统和发展心理病理学理论和研究，以了解破坏性婚姻冲突和儿童心理健康之间的关联的过程，特别强调兄弟姐妹关系对理解儿童适应和失调模式的作用。破坏性的婚姻冲突对儿童的心理健康和适应构成重大风险（有关综述，请参见Davies & Cummings，1994），并对社会产生重大影响。此外，兄弟姐妹关系可能会加剧儿童的困难，或者促进积极的儿童适应（有关综述，请参见Brody，1998）。因此，社会高度重视理解兄弟姐妹关系在婚姻冲突和子女结果之间的关联中的作用。为了实现这一奋进，有四个主要目标的拟议研究。首先，这项研究解决了该领域的理论和方法差距。兄弟姐妹关系的文献受到社会学习理论的严重影响（参见Dunn & Davies，2001; Jenkins，1992; Stacker & Youngblade，1999）。因此，该地区的调查措施通常集中在温暖和冲突的措施，而不考虑家庭系统的建设。为了解决这一差距，该提案的首要目标是开发和测试有效性（即，预测，歧视，收敛）的半结构化访谈评估的兄弟姐妹关系的家庭系统理论的基础上。接下来，将探讨婚姻冲突与儿童精神病理学的关系。整合家庭系统内的兄弟姐妹关系和儿童精神病理学，儿童的兄弟姐妹关系的质量将在三个模型：添加剂（目标2），中介（目标3），和主持人（目标4）照亮婚姻冲突和儿童适应不良之间的联系。为了测试所提出的途径，一个多方法，纵向研究将完成与儿童，他们的主要照顾者，和他们的老师。这项研究补充和推进现有的知识：（a）阐明父母之间的不和谐对儿童的心理健康的影响;（B）研究儿童的兄弟姐妹关系作为潜在的过程，突出婚姻冲突和儿童适应不良之间的联系;（c）纳入一个创新的评估儿童的兄弟姐妹关系，旨在确定未被发现的模式的兄弟姐妹关系。公共卫生关系：多方法、多信息者和纵向设计将对研究的主要结构进行严格评估。结果将分发和讨论，因为它们涉及到未来的研究和预防/干预工作，以提高儿童的心理健康。