Agreement between Child and Parent Reports of Children’s Reactions to Interparental Conflict

• In Event: Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: PS 11 Topic - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

Children who experience high levels of interparental conflict (IPC) are at risk of developing both internalizing, externalizing, and sleep problems (Davies et al., 2016; El-Sheikh, Keiley, Erath, & Dyer, 2013; Harold, Elam, Lewis, Rice, & Thapar, 2012). However, children’s own perceptions and reactions of IPCs are still relatively unexplored in the research literature. The aims of this study were twofold. First, we sought to investigate the relationship between parent and child reports of child reactions to IPC across the three dimensions: Emotional Reactions, Involvement Reactions, and Avoidance Reactions. Second, we sought to investigate if disagreement between parent and child reports was related to the intensity/frequency of IPC.

The sample consisted of 388 dyads/triads of mothers, fathers, and 10- to 15-year-old children (M child age = 11.03, SD = 0.29; 52.5% girls). The families were recruited from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study and the Norwegian Family Dynamics study.  To assess children’s reactions to IPC, the Security in the Interparental Subsystem Scale (SIS-child report; Davies et al., 2002a) and the Security in the Marital Subsystem Scale (SIMS-parent report; Davies et al., 2002b) were used. For the current analyses, subscales and items that were identical in both the SIS and the SIMS were selected. Furthermore, the intensity and frequency of IPC was measured with two subscales from the Children’s Perception of the Interparental Conflict Scale (CPIC; Grych, Seid, & Fincham, 1992). Paired-sample t-tests and correlation analyses were used to investigate the absolute and relative agreement between parent and child perceptions. Polynomial regression analyses with response surface plots were used to investigate whether absolute agreement between parent and child reports were related to the intensity/frequency of IPC.

Results show that children reported significantly higher levels of Emotional Reactions, Involvement Reactions, and Avoidance Reactions than parents, and the correlations between the reports were low to moderate. The discrepant reporting was highest for the dimension of Avoidance Reactions and lowest for Emotional Reactions. The absolute agreement between child and parent reports was significantly related to the intensity/frequency of interparental conflict for Emotional Reactions and Avoidance Reactions. The results from this study suggest that parents may not fully grasp and comprehend children’s reactions related to IPC.
Particularly, parents tend to overlook children’s attempts to hide and avoid the conflicts. The importance of acknowledging children’s self-reported reactions is discussed along with clinical implications of the findings.

Authors

• Tonje Holt, Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH)
  Presenting Author

• Maren Sand Helland, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
  Non-Presenting Author

• Linda Larsen, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
  Non-Presenting Author

• Maria Morbech, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kristin Gustavson, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
  Non-Presenting Author

• Anh Ha, University of Notre Dame
  Non-Presenting Author

• E. Mark Cummings, University of Notre Dame
  Non-Presenting Author