Family Members as Third Parties in Dyadic Family Conflict: Strategies, Alliances, and Outcomes

Abstract

Systems theorists have argued that triads rather than dyads need to be considered as a basic interaction unit, particularly in regard to episodes of conflict. While theoretically appealing, the description of the strategies used and alliances formed when third parties intervene in dyadic conflict presents a number of conceptual and empirical challenges. In the present report, a reliable system for coding such third-party participation in verbal conflicts is described and is used to analyze routine family conflicts that were observed during dinner. A number of specific findings of interest are reported, including that girls were more likely than boys to intervene in all family disputes except marital conflicts, that mothers and fathers rarely sided against each other when intervening as third parties, and that the third-party strategies most commonly used corresponded with family roles: fathers used authority strategies, mothers used mediational tactics, and children used distraction. Of greater importance, however, are the general findings that document the influence of third parties on dyadic conflict. Additional family members frequently joined dyadic family conflicts, they were about equally likely to attempt to end or to continue the conflict, they formed alliances about half of the time, and their intervention strategies were related to the outcome of the conflict as well as its patterning.

Family members' helping behavior: Alliance formations during naturalistic polyadic conflicts

“…These questions were addressed by comparing conflicts when the original combatants were parent-child dyads versus sibling dyads. Although each additional party role has been identified as present in various conflicts (e.g., Ross et al, 1992Ross et al, , 1994, we predicted that alliances would be formed most often compared to the other roles (e.g., judge and additional combatant; Vuchinich et al, 1988). Moreover, we hypothesized that given the children's young ages, standoffs would be the least likely conflict resolution, and disputes would be more likely to end in submissions or compromise (Howe et al, 2002).…”

Parental Denigration Boomerangs Versus Alienates: Parent–Child Closeness, Reciprocity, and Well‐Being Using Multiple Informants

“…For example, Cummings and Davies (2011) found that child-focused, angry, and verbally or physically aggressive conflict is particularly harmful. However, family systems (Emery, Fincham, & Cummings, 1992) and emotional security (Cummings & Davies, 2011) theory, clinical observations (Emery, 2011;Maldonado, 2014), and research on children caught in the middle (Buchanan, Maccoby, & Dornbusch, 1991;Buehler et al, 1997;Vuchinich, Emery, & Cassidy, 1988) all suggest that children do not have to directly observe parental disputes to be harmed by them. Denigration may be one form of harmful conflict in which children do not directly observe a dispute.…”

The Primary Triangle and Variation in Nuclear Family Functioning

“…In addition, a few studies have coded taped family interactions (Vuchinich et al 1988;Wood et al 1989). Most of the triangle research has studied the effects of triangling on the development and functioning of children and adolescents.…”

“…One study (Belsky and Isabella 1985) examined the intergenerational effects of the primary triangle relationships on new parents' attachment styles with their children. Vuchinich et al (1988) demonstrated how third parties influence dyadic conflict in family interaction.…”