Responses of Children and Adolescents to Marital Conflict Scenarios as a Function of the Emotionality of Conflict Endings.

Abstract

Responses were examined of children (7-9 year-olds) and adolescents (13-15 year olds) to analogues of marital conflict scenarios varying in initial conflict themes and the emotionality of endings. Children observed videotaped segments in which adults (a) engaged in brief verbal conflicts about child or marital issues, (b) exited behind closed doors, (c) and then returned to engage in a harmonious or hostile conflict ending thematically unrelated to the topic of the conflict. Harmonious (positive) emotional endings elicited more positive, and less negative, responses across a range of responses hypothesized to reflect children's sense of emotional security. Further, responses to the emotionality of conflict endings were not influenced by whether the initial conflicts were about child or adult issues. Thus, explicit verbal resolution of conflict issues was not necessary for reducing children's emotional insecurity when faced with analogues of marital conflict; changes in the emotionality of adult interactions were sufficient. Indicative of gender differences in coping with adult conflict, females reported more fear than males, whereas males proposed more task oriented interventions than females.

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