Individual Differences in Individual’s Subjective Experiences of Interparental Conflict: Examining Heterogeniety in Developmental Risk Pathways

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Robust evidence situates interparental conflict (IPC) as a risk factor for child and adolescent maladjustment, substance use, peer problems, and academic decline. Youths’ subjective evaluations of IPC play a central role predicting these problem outcomes. Youth who perceive IPC as threatening to them or their family, blame themselves for IPC, or exhibit pronounced emotional reactivity are at risk for problems. However, a persistent gap in this literature is to understand heterogeneity in these risks; it remains unclear why some youth are more adversely affected by IPC than others. This symposium applies innovative methods to better understand individual differences in risk for IPC and explore new opportunities for intervention.

The first presentation applies innovative daily diary methods to examine how past exposure to IPC can sensitize adolescents to appraise day-to-day IPC as more threatening. This study leverages within-person analyses to shed new light on individual differences in appraisals of IPC. The second presentation will examine individual differences in HPA axis reactivity underpins developmental changes in their emotional reactivity to IPC. This multi-method, three-wave longitudinal study points to cortisol reactivity as a key precursor to risk. The third presentation focuses on a pilot study of mindfulness-based interventions as a potential avenue for targeting youths’ reactions to IPC through mindfulness strategies, revealing that on days when destructive IPC occurs, adolescents experienced less mindful awareness and self-compassion; two key targets of mindfulness-based interventions. The discussant is a renown expert on IPC and related interventions with keen insights into these processes.

Sub Unit

• Family Context & Processes

Chair

• Gregory M Fosco, Pennsylvania State University, University Park

Discussant

• E. Mark Cummings, University of Notre Dame

Individual Presentations

• Sensitization in Situ: Identifying Individual Differences in Adolescents’ Intra-individual Reactivity to Daily Conflict - Presenting Author: Carlie Sloan, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Non-Presenting Author: Gregory M Fosco, Pennsylvania State University, University Park

• Adrenocortical Reactivity Moderates the Associations between Interparental Conflict, Emotional Reactivity, and School Adjustment - Presenting Author: Joanna Pearson, University of Rochester; Non-Presenting Author: Patrick Davies, University of Rochester; Non-Presenting Author: Melissa L Sturge-Apple, University of Rochester

• Dispositional Mindfulness over the Course of a Mindfulness Intervention Mediates Links between Interparental Conflict and Depressive Symptoms - Presenting Author: Rachel Lucas-Thompson, Colorado State University; Non-Presenting Author: Natasha S. Seiter, Colorado State University; Non-Presenting Author: Stephanie Rayburn, Colorado State University; Non-Presenting Author: Reagan L. Miller, Colorado State University