We investigated whether (a) short and irregular sleep are related to aggressive behavior in early adolescence and (b) whether they moderate the relation between interparental conflict and aggressive behavior. 176 early adolescents (mean age 11.6 years, 89 girls) reported their bed and wake times on weekdays and on weekends and their aggressive behavior. Interparental conflict was rated by their mothers and adolescents reported whether they felt threatened by the conflict. No direct association between early adolescents' sleep and aggression was found. However, short sleep duration on weekday nights, long sleep duration on weekends, and a large weekday to weekend difference in sleep duration moderated the relation between interparental conflict and early adolescents' aggression. Findings are consistent with the hypothesis that irregular sleep is a vulnerability factor for early adolescents' aggression and underscore the importance of sufficient and regular sleep for resilience.

This study investigated the link between spouses’ demanding and withdrawing behavior during conflict and their subjective well-being (SWB) in a community sample of 126 couples. Demand and withdrawal were analyzed in combination in the demand/ withdraw pattern, as well as individually. Results showed that the model with the individual conflict behavior provided a better representation of the data than the demand/withdraw pattern model. Women’s, as well as men’s, demands were directly associated with men’s SWB. Furthermore, the individual conflict behavior was indirectly linked with both spouses’ SWB via their own marital satisfaction. Results highlight the potential importance of couple’s conflict behavior for spouses’ SWB.

Guided by the emotional security hypothesis and the cognitive-contextual framework, the authors investigated whether the associations between negative parental conflict resolution styles and children's internalizing and externalizing problems were mediated by children's appraisals of threat and self-blame and their emotion regulation. Participants were 192 Swiss 2-parent families with children aged 9-12 years (M age = 10.62 years, SD = 0.41 years). Structural equation modeling was used to test the empirical validity of the theoretical model. Results indicated that children's maladaptive emotion regulation mediated the association between negative parental conflict resolution styles and children's internalizing as well as externalizing problems. Whereas perceived threat was related only to children's internalizing problems, self-blame did not mediate the links between negative parental conflict resolution styles and children's adjustment. Implications for understanding the mechanisms by which exposure to interparental conflict could lead to children's maladjustment and limitations of the study are discussed.

Cognitive appraisals and family dynamics have been identified as mediators of the relationship between marital conflict and children's adjustment. Surprisingly little research has investigated both meditational processes in the same study. Guided by the cognitive-contextual framework and the spillover hypothesis, the present study integrated factors from both theories early adolescents' appraisals of threat and self-blame, as well as perceived parenting quality as mediators of the link between early adolescents' perception of marital conflict and their self-evaluations (self-esteem and scholastic competence). Analyses were based on the first two waves of an ongoing longitudinal study. Participants were 176 two-parent families, and their early adolescents (50.5% girls) whose mean age was 10.61 years at Time 1 (SD =0.40) and 11.63 years at Time 2 (SD=0.39). Structural equation modeling analyses indicated that parenting quality and early adolescents' perceived threat provided indirect pathways between marital conflict and early adolescents' self-esteem 1 year later when controlling for their initial level of self-esteem. With respect to scholastic competence, only fathers' parenting was an indirect link. Self-blame did not play a role. Implications for understanding the mechanisms by which exposure to marital conflict predicts early adolescents' maladjustment are discussed.

Background: Research on couples is receiving increased attention. There are some questionnaires assessing relationship quality available in German. However, they are not assessing all relevant dimensions of relationship quality. Therefore, an alternative questionnaire to measure relationship quality (FPQ) is presented in this study. Methods: The measure was tested with a total of 244 adults, who were all in a close relationship at that time. The dimensional structure was tested with exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Results: Scale analyses revealed a questionnaire consisting of six subscales (fascination, commitment, sexuality, future of the partnership, mistrust, and constraint autonomy). The internal scale consistencies vary between .78 and .92. Additionally, by using structural equation modeling, a superior factor relationship quality was found. The discriminative validity was confirmed by a group comparison (satisfied and unsatisfied people). Moderate to high correlations with a traditional questionnaire measuring relationship quality and other relevant constructs indicate satisfying convergent validity. Zusammenfassung Hintergrund: Im deutschen Sprachraum kommt der Partnerschaftsforschung zusehends mehr Gewicht zu. Zwar gibt es im deutschsprachigen Raum einige Fragebögen zur Messung der Partnerschaftsqualität, diese erfassen aber nicht alle relevanten Dimensionen. Deshalb wird in der vorliegenden Studie als Ergänzung zu den bisherigen Fragebögen ein neues Instrument zur Messung der Partnerschaftsqualität (FPQ) vorgestellt. Methodik: Der Fragebogen wurde an einer Stichprobe von 244 Personen getestet, die sich zum Zeitpunkt der Erhebung in einer Partnerschaft befanden. Die dimensionale Struktur wurde mittels explorativer und konfirmatorischer Faktorenanalysen geprüft. Ergebnisse: Die faktorielle Validitätsprüfung ergab einen Fragebogen bestehend aus sechs Subskalen (Faszination, Engagement für die Beziehung, Sexualität in der Beziehung, Zukunftsperspektive der Beziehung, Misstrauen gegenüber dem Partner und Einschränkung der Freiheit/Unabhängigkeit). Die interne Konsistenz der sechs Subskalen liegt zwischen .75 und .94. Zusätzlich liess sich ein übergeordneter Faktor Partnerschaftsqualität konstruieren. Die diskriminative Validität wurde durch einen Gruppenvergleich (zufriedene und unzufriedene Personen) bestätigt. Die moderaten bis hohen Korrelationen des neuen Fragebogens mit dem Partnerschaftsfragebogen PFB zur Messung der Partnerschaftsqualität und anderen relevanten Konzepten unterstützen die konvergente Validität.