Associations between Parent and Child Reports Of Interparental Conflict/Violence And Child Difficulties in A Family Mediation Setting*

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12176
• Author: Amy Hotzworth‐Munroe,Brian M. D'Onofrio,John E. Bates,Amy G. Applegate,Brittany N. Rudd,Robin H. Ballard
• Published date: 01 October 2015
• Date: 01 October 2015

ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN PARENT AND CHILD REPORTS

OF INTERPARENTAL CONFLICT/VIOLENCE AND CHILD

DIFFICULTIES IN A FAMILY MEDIATION SETTING*

Brittany N. Rudd, Amy Hotzworth-Munroe, Amy G. Applegate, Brian M. D’Onofrio,

Robin H. Ballard, and John E. Bates

We examined the association between parents’ (N552 mothers and 52 fathers) and children’s (N527) reports of interparental

conflict and child difficulties in a family mediation setting. Parents’ reports of conflict were moderately associated with child-

ren’s reports of exposure to parental conflict, but only fathers’ reports of conflict were associated with children’s reports of

negative responses to parent conflict. While mothers and fathers agreed on their child’s difficulties, only mothers’, not fathers’,

report of child difficulties were moderately related to child reports of child difficulties. Mothers’ and fathers’ reports of conflict

generally were not strongly associated with reports of child difficulties. In contrast to parent reports, children’s reports of expo-

sure to parents’ conflict were moderately and significantly related to self-reported child difficulties and moderately related to

parents’ reports of child academic difficulties. The magnitude of the association between the child’s report of interparental con-

flict and self-report of difficulties was stronger than the association between parent report of conflict and parent report of child

difficulties, suggesting that parents may not fully understand their child’s exposure to parent conflict/violence or the problems

their child is experiencing.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:

Family law stakeholders prioritize the creation of parenting arrangements that are in the best interest of the child; how-

ever, it is unclear how to gather information about the child and the child’s perspective in order to inform such

arrangements.

The study results suggest that parents may not agree with each other or with the child about important family issues,

such as parent conflict and child difficulties. For example, parents may not fully understand their child’s exposure to

parental conflict/violence when in the midst of custody negotiations.

More research is needed to determine the best method for gathering information about the child during custody pro-

ceedings. In the meantime, it is important to gather information from multiple sources and to consider the agreement

and differences across such sources of information.

Keywords: Child Difficulties; Family Mediation; Parent and Child Agreement; and Parental Conflict.

Parental separation, interparental conflict, and intimate partner violence (IPV) are interrelated

problems that can adversely impact children. In the United States, 50% of marriages end in divorce

(Kreider & Ellis, 2011). Additionally, 41% of children in the United States are born to unmarried

parents (Martin et al., 2011), and these relationships are even more prone to disruption (Osborne,

Manning, & Smock, 2007). Overall, millions of children are exposed to parental separation prior to

the age of 18 and are, therefore, at risk for negative outcomes. Indeed, children with divorced

parents, on average, score lower than children from intact families on emotional, behavioral, social,

health, and academic outcomes (Amato, 2010). Critical variables associated with poorer outcomes in

children after parental separation include sustained interparental conflict, a lack of cooperative co-

parenting, a decrease in household income, poor parenting, and lack of contact with the nonresident

parent (Fabricius & Luecken, 2007; King & Sobolewski, 2006; Martinez & Forgatch, 2002).

High interparental conflict is a factor closely linked to child psychopathology (Amato, Loomis, &

Booth, 1995). Even among intact families, parents’ conflict is associated with negative outcomes for

children, including decreased cognitive, social, academic, and psychobiological functioning

Correspondence: bnrudd@indiana.edu

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 53 No. 4, October 2015 602–616

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C2015 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts