Spillover to triadic and dyadic systems in families with young children.

Abstract

Research has evidenced support for the spillover model, which asserts that parents' marital functioning influences their parenting and coparenting behavior in dyadic (mother-child and father-child) and triadic (mother-father-child) family contexts. However, few studies have simultaneously investigated the spillover model in both parenting and coparenting systems, preventing examination of whether spillover impacts both systems equally or differentially. Further, little research has examined whether quality of the marital system influences children's behavior toward their parents, as well as their parents' behavior, in dyadic interactions. We examined the spillover model using observational measures of parent and child behavior in parent-child dyadic interactions as well as coparenting in triadic interactions. We also explored parent and child gender differences in spillover effects. Participants were families with children aged 3 to 6 years (n = 149). Findings indicated that spillover occurs to multiple family systems, but the effects varied according to whose behavior (mother, father, child) was explored. In families of boys and girls, the marital system influenced warmth in triadic interactions, as well as fathers' responsiveness and children's responsiveness to mothers in dyadic interactions. Spillover effects were largely equivalent for girls and boys, but spillover to coparenting hostility in triadic interactions was limited to families raising girls. Parent gender also moderated associations between marital functioning and parent-child interactions: Spillover was significantly stronger for fathers' responsiveness (vs. mothers' responsiveness) and child responsiveness to mothers (vs. child responsiveness to fathers).

Cognitive and Contextual Factors Mediating the Relation Between Interparental Conflict and Adolescents’ Psychological Maladjustment

“…The present findings partially support the spillover hypothesis which suggests that negative interparent relationship is likely to affect parental-child relationship negatively (Stroud et al 2011;Whiteside-Mansell et al 2009). A large number of studies on spillover effects show that parental negative attitudes and behaviors toward children resulting from interparent relational problems have negative effects on children's lifespan development, including psychological distress (Shelton and Harold 2008), emotional adjustment , social skill development (Whiteside-Mansell et al 2009) and academic achievement in school (Sturge-Apple et al 2010).…”

“…The spillover model suggests that negative emotions and behaviors experienced and displayed during spousal conflict can spillover into parenting behavior and negatively affect child-parent relationship and child development (Benson et al 2008;Bradford et al 2004;Buehler et al 2006;Krishnakumar et al 2003;Stroud et al 2011;Whiteside-Mansell et al 2009). Parents who display aggression toward their spouse may be in increasing risk of displaying the same behavior toward their children, which may make children vulnerable to behavior problems (Almeida et al 1999;Bradford et al 2004;Buehler et al 2006;Harold and Conger 1997).…”

Parenting stress and harsh discipline in China: The moderating roles of marital satisfaction and parent gender

“…Marital dissatisfaction, in contrast, may lead to mothers feeling more stressed by their childcare responsibilities (Goldberg & Easterbrooks, 1984), which may increase the possibility that the stressed mothers would use harsh discipline with their children. This finding suggested that unlike in American contexts where fathering may be more influenced by their marital relationship (Coiro & Emery, 1998;Cummings et al, 2010;Davies et al, 2009;Stroud et al, 2011), in Chinese contexts, mothering may be more likely determined by the state of the marital relationship than fathering. That is, although there is some research with Western samples supporting fathering-vulnerability hypothesis (Cummings et al, 2010;Davies et al, 2009;Stroud et al, 2011), the present research provided at least some support for the mothering-vulnerability hypothesis in Chinese societies.…”

“…According to this perspective, the associations between marital satisfaction and harsh discipline may be different for mothers and fathers. Indeed, in the few studies that investigated the spillover effects between marital relationship and parent-child relationship, it was found that negative marital relations had stronger effects on father-child relationships than on mother-child relationships, supporting fathering-vulnerability hypothesis (Cummings, Merrilees, & George, 2010;Davies, Sturge-Apple, Woitach, & Cummings, 2009;Stroud, Durbin, Wilson, & Mendelson, 2011). Given the theoretical hypothesis and empirical findings, it is possible that unsatisfying marital relationship may be more likely to lead the fathers who experienced parenting stress to use harsh discipline compared to the mothers with similar experiences.…”

Early Family Relationships Predict Children’s Emotion Regulation and Defense Mechanisms

“…According to family systems perspective, problems in the marital subsystem can spillover into the parenting subsystem and thereby influence children (Stroud, Durbin, Wilson, & Mendelsohn, 2011), although the marital subsystem has at least some unique contribution over the parenting subsystem (Crockenberg et al, 2007;Finger, Hans, Bernstein, & Cox, 2009). Thus, it is possible that in our study, to some extent, the effects of marital problems on children's emotion regulation and defense mechanisms were mediated through the quality of parenting.…”