Divorce Proneness as a Predictor of Triangulation: A Prospective design

• In Event: Advancing Developmental and Family Models of Risk: Explicating and Integrating Youth Triangulation into Parental Conflict

Abstract

Introduction: Triangulation, or the inclusion of children in parental disputes, has been well established as a risk factor for negative outcomes in offspring (Buehler & Welsh, 2009; Valls-Vidal et al., 2016). Very little research, however, has examined risk factors for divorce, such as divorce proneness, as a possible predictor of triangulation. Given the negative consequences of triangulation on children’s well-being, it is important to identify possible antecedents to design family interventions around preventing triangulation (Camisasca et al., 2019). The purpose of the present study was to examine the prospective association between parental divorce proneness when children were in sixth grade and triangulation when children were in ninth grade. Building on research linking interparental conflict with both divorce proneness and triangulation, we also controlled for child-related disagreements, one of the most common forms of conflict between parents (Camisasca et al.; Fosco & Bray, 2016; Gottman & Gottman, 2017). A second purpose of this study was to examine the moderating effects of child gender. Research has demonstrated significant differences in family dynamics between families with daughters and families with sons (Lee, 2019).

Hypotheses: First, we hypothesized that, controlling for divorce proneness when children were in 9th grade and child-related conflict when children were in 6th grade, divorce proneness at W1 would be associated positively with children’s triangulation in parents’ disputes three years later. Next, we hypothesized that child gender would moderate the association between divorce proneness and later triangulation.
Study population: The sample consisted of 416 families from the southeastern United States. Each of the families consisted of different-sex married couples with a target child (51% female) in sixth grade (M = 11.86 years) at the first wave of data collection. 91% of the sample self-identified as European American; 3% as African American; and 6% identified as other ethnicities. The average educational status of the adults in the sample was an associate degree or two years of college. The median household income for families in the sample was $70,000.

Methods: Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling (Amos 7.0). To test the first hypothesis, a model was fit in which directional paths led from divorce proneness and child-related conflict to triangulation during 9th grade. Predictors were allowed to correlate.

Results: Hypothesis 1 was supported. Controlling for child-related conflict and current divorce proneness, there was a significant association between divorce proneness during 6th grade and triangulation three years later (b = .14, β = .32, p < .05). Support for Hypothesis 2 was not found. Results of the omnibus test of path comparisons demonstrated that the association between divorce proneness during 6th grade and later triangulation was similar for families with sons and daughters, Δχ 2(3) = 6.541, p = .088. Though not a central focus of the current study, follow-up examinations of the critical ratios suggested that the association between parents’ child-related disagreements during 6th grade and later triangulation was stronger for daughters than for sons (though statistically significant for both).

Authors

• Kiki Leis, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  Presenting Author

• Cheryl Buehler, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  Non-Presenting Author