Marital Conflict and Children’s Adjustment: The Mediating and Moderating Role of Children’s Coping Strategies

This prospective, longitudinal study examined the role of children’s coping strategies in the link between interparental conflict and children’s psychological adjustment. Using a sample of 100 parents and children aged 11–14 years, this study investigated children’s venting of negative emotion, social support seeking, and problem solving strategies as mediators and moderators of the relationship between marital conflict and child adjustment. Venting negative emotion mediated the long-term effects of marital conflict on children’s psychological adjustment. This coping response also moderated the relationship between marital conflict and children’s anxiety-depression. The role of non-constructive coping strategies as a mechanism through which marital conflict affects children’s psychological well-being is discussed, together with the need for research to identify intervention strategies aimed at improving children’s coping efficacy in the context of interparental conflict.