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

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Understanding family processes by which couple conflict disrupts youth development is critical for nearly all children (McHale, 2019). Yet, triangulation – the process by which youth are drawn into parental conflicts – remains relatively overlooked by family and developmental scientists. Multiple longitudinal studies document triangulation as a key risk factor for youth maladjustment (e.g., Coe et al., 2020; Davies et al., 2015; Fosco et al. 2014), calling for systematic investigation of the factors that explain why families triangulate youth, how triangulation impacts other risk processes, such as cognitive appraisals, and specific aspects of triangulation and their implications for a wider range of youth outcomes. This symposium sheds new light on these important issues.
Presentation 1 examines youth triangulation as a response to family vulnerability for dissolution, finding that divorce proneness – an intermediary step between couple dissatisfaction and divorce – was associated with elevated risk for triangulation three years later. Presentation 2 uses novel daily diary methods to document within-person relations among daily variation in triangulation and couple conflicts, which is exacerbated in families characterized by intense couple conflicts.

Sub Unit

• Family Context & Processes

Chair

• Gregory M Fosco, Pennsylvania State University, University Park

Discussant

• John Grych, Marquette University

Individual Presentations

• Divorce Proneness as a Predictor of Triangulation: A Prospective design - Presenting Author: Kiki Leis, University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Non-Presenting Author: Cheryl Buehler, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

• Examining the Implications of Triangulation for Adolescents’ Appraisals of Interparental Conflict: A Daily Diary Study - Presenting Author: Devin Malloy McCauley, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Non-Presenting Author: Gregory M Fosco, Pennsylvania State University, University Park

• Delineating the Developmental Sequelae of Children’s Risky Involvement in Interparental Conflict - Presenting Author: Morgan J Thompson, Auburn University; Non-Presenting Author: Patrick Davies, University of Rochester; Non-Presenting Author: Rochelle Hentges, University of Calgary (U of C); Non-Presenting Author: Melissa L Sturge-Apple, University of Rochester