This article reviews available research studies of high-conflict divorce and its effects on children. Interparental conflict after divorce (defined as verbal and physical aggression, overt hostility, and distrust) and the primary parent’s emotional distress are jointly predictive of more problematic parent-child relationships and greater child emotional and behavioral maladjustment. As a group,...

In these two studies, the authors used children's perceptions of family relationships to examine simultaneously direct and indirect links between marital conflict and child adjustment. With data pertaining to 146 sixth and seventh graders, Study 1 supported direct and indirect effects of perceptions of marital conflict on internalizing behaviors, and indirect effects for externalizing behaviors...

According to family systems theory, children's emotional development is likely to be influenced by family interactions at multiple levels, including marital, mother-child, and father-child interactions, as well as by interrelations between these levels. The purpose of the present study was to examine parents' marital conflict and mothers' and fathers' distressed responses to their infant's nega...

This study examined relations among neighborhood disadvantage, parent-child conflict, deviant peer involvement in the neighborhood, and early-starting antisocial trajectories. Antisocial group patterns were identified in 218 low-income boys followed from ages 5 to 11, and neighborhood and family variables were evaluated as predictors in early and middle childhood. Four trajectory groups emerged...

The current study explored the role of teacher-child relationship plays on the relationship between preschooler’s shyness level and externalizing problem. The sample consisted of 463 children from 6 preschools of Shandong province in northern China. Mothers reported the shyness level, aggressive behavior, and attention problem of their children, whereas teachers rated the teacher-child relation...

In modern welfare states, family policies may resolve the tension between employment and care-focused demands. However these policies sometimes have adverse consequences for distinct social groups. This study examined gender and educational differences in working parents' perceived work-family conflict and used a comparative approach to test whether family policies, in particular support for ch...

Postpartum parental depression, even of mild intensity and short duration, has negative consequences on child development, including increased externalizing and internalizing symptoms. Studies revealed that the links between parental depression and child development are mediated by parenting difficulties. On the other hand, the mediating role of problematic family-level relationships, such as l...