Poster #135 - Conflict Styles and Chinese Children’s Adjustment: The Role of Psychological Control and Mother-child Conflict Resolution

• In Event: 3-053 - Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Section - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Integrative Statement

The primary purpose of the current study is to advance the current literature by building on previous Western studies, by making a distinction between interparental disagreement (IPC) and conflict styles and by investigating the linkages between overt, covert and avoidant conflict styles and Chinese elementary children’s adjustment (i.e., internalizing and externalizing behaviors) indirectly through maternal psychological control and mother-child conflict resolution. Three hypotheses were tested in this investigation - spillover, compensation, and compartmentalization (Erel & Burman, 1995). Paper-pencil survey data were collected from 111 mother-child dyads of five graders (49 boys and 62 girls) between 11 and 14 years from Shantou, a second-tier city, Guangdong, China. Ten children (9%) were from one-child families. Sixty-two children (55.9%) had one sibling and 31(27.9%) had two siblings. All mothers were married and in their first marriages. About half of the mothers (41.4%) were not working or looking for jobs and 36% had a high school education. The average age of the mothers was 39.5. Children completed questions on behavioral problems, psychological control, and mother-child conflict resolution whereas mothers reported on the frequency of IPC, and the frequency of overt, covert and avoidant conflict styles. All measures used in this study were translated into Chinese by using translation and back-translation techniques. Hierarchical regression analyses result revealed that IPC was not associated with children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors. This finding contradicts what prior researchers have found in the western samples- a weak to moderate direct effect of IPC on child outcomes (e.g., Bradford & Barber, 2005, Camisasca, Miragoli & Blasio, 2016; McCoy, George, Cummings, & Davies, 2013; Pendry & Adam 2013; Tavassolie et al., 2016). A positive relationship was found between overt conflict style and internalizing behaviors and between avoidant conflict style and externalizing behaviors. Maternal psychological control was positively correlated with internalizing behaviors (β = .21, p =.03) and mother-child conflict resolution was negatively associated with both internalizing (β = -.27, p < .005) and externalizing behaviors (β = -.32, p = .001).
Overall, the study findings supported the compartmentalization hypothesis with regard to parenting behaviors and the spillover hypothesis with regard to child behavioral outcomes. It appears that Chinese mothers were able to compartmentalize or keep separate their conflictual relationships with their spouses from affecting the parent-child relationships (Ahrons, 1980). Contrary to the findings with Western populations, the negative emotions and stress from the couple relationship did not spillover into parents’ interactions with their children (i.e., increased psychological control and poor conflict resolution). However, findings indicated that parents modeling of conflictual behaviors in relationships spilled over into children’s hostile interactions with others. The findings of this study indicated that although children are protected from the negativity associated with parent’s aggressive relationship, parents play an influential role in their children’s lives as our findings indicate. The findings from this study have implications for school counselors or practitioners who work with children’s maladjustment in Chinese settings.

Authors

• Xiaoyan Zhang, Syracuse University
  Presenting Author

• Ambika Krishnakumar, Syracuse University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Yanglingye Xuan, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author