Children's Responses to Angry Adult Behavior as a Function of Marital Distress and History of Interparent Hostility

Abstract

Responses of 2-5-year-old children to angry adult behavior were examined as a function of parental report of marital distress, history of interparent verbal hostility, and history of interparent physical hostility. A trained actor engaged the child's mother in an emotionally expressive verbal exchange while the child played in the same room. The exchange was standardized and consisted of a 7-episode sequence of shifting background conditions (no emotion, friendly, no emotion, angry, no emotion, reconciliation, no emotion). Preoccupation with anger, expressed concern and support-seeking, and accepting of social responsibility (e.g., providing physical or verbal comfort to the mother) were greater in response to background anger than in response to prosocial conditions. The parents' marital adjustment was positively associated with expressed concern and support-seeking by children in response to anger. Form and degree of marital conflict interacted with age and sex in predicting children's response to anger as well. In particular, children whose parents engaged in physical aggressiveness showed increased preoccupation, concern and support-seeking, and social responsibility responses with increasing age. Implications of these findings for the study of the effects of marital discord on children are discussed.

Child Development and Marital Relations

“…Cummings, Pellegrini, Notarius, & Cummings, 1989; O'Brien, Margolin, John, & Krueger, 1991). In a similar vein, Katz and Gottman (1994) use the developmental context of the marriage to account for their finding that a withdrawn marital interaction style, but not a "hot" engaged style, is associated with child anger; they posit that withdrawn marriages may be closer to dissolution.…”

The Development of a Typology of Abusive Coaching Behaviours within Youth Sport

“…Background anger (BA) is defined as the presence of a verbal, nonverbal, or physical conflict between two or more individuals (typically adults) that children observe as bystanders 20,21 . Omli and LaVoi astutely consider the importance of examining the nature, frequency, and outcomes associated with background anger with the understanding that although conflicts in youth sport are often reported between adults (parents, coaches, officials), they occur in the presence of children 22,23 .…”

“…For example, Cummings [20] reported that in dysfunctional family settings, young children responded to BA with heightened symptoms of stress, negative emotional responses, and by becoming more aggressive with peers. Additionally, Cummings et al [21] report that all angry exchanges, even those that are non-verbal, evoke negative emotions in children. While physical-verbal altercations are interpreted as the most consequential in regards to children's emotions, unresolved anger induces more distress in children than resolved anger.…”

Ingreso familiar y variables psicológicas asociadas a la pobreza como predictores de la calidad de la representación del apego en niños preescolares en Chile

“…(Duncan & BrooksGunn, 2000). A nivel de las relaciones del cuidador principal, elementos como el soporte social y la calidad de la relación de pareja (Conger et al, 2002;Cummings, Pellegrini, Notarius, & Cummings, 1989;McLoyd, 1998). A nivel del cuidador principal, incluir la calidad del apego del adulto y el nivel de sensibilidad materna.…”