Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T08:50:19.617Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

20 - Interparental Conflict, Parental Relationship Dissolution, and the Development of Children’s Coping

from Part V - Social Contexts and the Development of Coping

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 June 2023

By
Karey L. O’Hara ,
Irwin N. Sandler ,
Sharlene A. Wolchik  and
C. Aubrey Rhodes
Edited by
Ellen A. Skinner  and
Melanie J. Zimmer-Gembeck
Ellen A. Skinner
Affiliation:
Portland State University
Melanie J. Zimmer-Gembeck
Affiliation:
Griffith University, Queensland
Get access

Summary

This chapter presents a new contextual coping model that integrates several major theoretical frameworks for studying children’s coping in the context of exposure to interparental conflict (IPC) after parental separation and divorce. We first provide a brief overview of the literature on postdivorce IPC and its risks to children’s development and well-being. We then consider how a new contextual coping model advances how we understand the complexity of children’s coping with IPC after parental separation/divorce. We discuss how this approach incorporates elements of other models that have been applied to children’s response to IPC more broadly. We review prior research and present new analyses that illustrate the utility of using a contextual coping model to understand children’s strategies for coping with post-separation/divorce IPC. We end the chapter with a discussion of implications of a contextual coping model for theory advancement and intervention strategies to promote children’s adaptive coping with post-separation/divorce IPC.

Keywords

children’s copingdevelopmentinterparental conflictdivorce/separationchild mental health
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of the Development of Coping , pp. 489 - 509
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amato, P. R. (2000). The consequences of divorce for adults and children. Journal of Marriage and Family, 62(4), 1269–1287. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2000.01269.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amato, P., & Cheadle, J. (2008). Parental divorce, marital conflict and children’s behavior problems: A comparison of adopted and biological children. Social Forces, 86(3), 1139–1161. https://doi.org/10.1353/sof.0.0025Google Scholar
Ayers, T. S., Sandler, I. N., West, S. G., & Roosa, M. W. (1996). A dispositional and situational assessment of children’s coping: Testing alternative models of coping. Journal of Personality, 64(4), 923–958. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.1996.tb00949.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bonanno, G. A. (2021). The end of trauma: How the new science of resilience is changing how we think about PTSD. Basic Books.Google Scholar
Boring, J. L., Sandler, I. N., Tein, J.-Y., Horan, J. J., & Vélez, C. E. (2015). Children of divorce – coping with divorce: A randomized control trial of an online prevention program for youth experiencing parental divorce. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 83(5), 999–1005. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039567CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Buchanan, C. M., Maccoby, E. E., & Dornbusch, S. M. (1991). Caught between parents: Adolescents’ experience in divorced homes. Child Development, 62(5), 1008–1029. https://doi.org/10.2307/1131149CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cheng, C., Lau, H.-P. B., & Chan, M.-P. S. (2014). Coping flexibility and psychological adjustment to stressful life changes: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 140(6), 1582–1607. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037913CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coatsworth, D., & Sandler, I. N. (1993). Multi-rater measurement of competence in children of divorce. Paper presented at the biennial conference of the Society for Community Research and Action, Williamsburg, VA.Google Scholar
Compas, B. E., Banez, G. A., Malcarne, V., & Worsham, N. (1991). Perceived control and coping with stress: A developmental perspective. Journal of Social Issues, 47(4), 23–34. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1991.tb01832.xGoogle Scholar
Compas, B., Connor, J., Osowiecki, D., & Welch, A. (1997). Effortful and involuntary responses to stress. In Gottlieb, B. H. (Ed.), Coping with chronic stress (pp. 105–130). Springer US. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9862-3_4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Compas, B. E., Connor, J. K., Saltzman, H., Thomsen, A. H., & Wadsworth, M. (1999). Getting specific about coping: Effortful and involuntary responses to stress in development. In Lewis, M. & Ramsay, D. (Eds.), Soothing and Stress (pp. 229–256). Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Compas, B. E., Connor-Smith, J. K., Saltzman, H., Thomsen, A. H., & Wadsworth, M. E. (2001). Coping with stress during childhood and adolescence: Problems, progress, and potential in theory and research. Psychological Bulletin, 127(1), 87–127. https://doi.org/10.1037//0033-2909.127.1.87Google Scholar
Compas, B. E., Jaser, S. S., Bettis, A. H., Watson, K. H., Gruhn, M. A., Dunbar, J. P., Williams, E., & Thigpen, J. C. (2017). Coping, emotion regulation, and psychopathology in childhood and adolescence: A meta-analysis and narrative review. Psychological Bulletin, 143(9), 939–991. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000110CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Connor-Smith, J. K., Compas, B. E., Wadsworth, M. E., Thomsen, A. H., & Saltzman, H. (2000). Responses to stress in adolescence: Measurement of coping and involuntary stress responses. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68(6), 976–992. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.68.6.976CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crick, N. R., & Dodge, K. A. (1994). A review and reformulation of social information-processing mechanisms in children’s social adjustment. Psychological Bulletin, 115(1), 74–101. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.115.1.74CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cummings, E. M., Ballard, M., El-Sheikh, M., & Lake, M. (1991). Resolution and children’s responses to interadult anger. Developmental Psychology, 27(3), 462–470. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.27.3.462Google Scholar
Cummings, E. M., & Davies, P. (2010). Marital conflict and children: An emotional security perspective. Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Davies, P. T., & Forman, E. M. (2002). Children’s patterns of preserving emotional security in the interparental subsystem. Child Development, 73(6), 1880–1903. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.t01-1-00512Google Scholar
Fabricius, W., & Luecken, L. (2007). Postdivorce living arrangements, parent conflict, and long-term physical health correlates for children of divorce. Journal of Family Psychology, 21(2), 195–205. https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-3200.21.2.195Google Scholar
Fauber, R., Forehand, R., McCombs Thomas, A., & Wierson, M. (1990). A mediational model of the impact of marital conflict on adolescent adjustment in intact and divorced families: The role of disrupted parenting. Child Development, 61(4), 1112–1123. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1990.tb02845.xGoogle Scholar
Fischer, T., de Graaf, P., & Kalmijn, M. (2005). Friendly and antagonistic contact between former spouses after divorce: Patterns and determinants. Journal of Family Issues, 26(8), 1131–1163. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X05275435Google Scholar
Fosco, G. M., & Bray, B. C. (2016). Profiles of cognitive appraisals and triangulation into interparental conflict: Implications for adolescent adjustment. Journal of Family Psychology, 30(5), 533–542. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000192CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goeke-Morey, M. C., Papp, L. M., & Cummings, E. M. (2013). Changes in marital conflict and youths’ responses across childhood and adolescence: A test of sensitization. Development and Psychopathology, 25(1), 241–251. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579412000995CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grall, T. (2020). Custodial mothers and fathers and their child support: 2017 (Current Population Reports). US Census Bureau. www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2020/demo/p60-269.pdfGoogle Scholar
Grych, J. H. (1998). Children’s appraisals of interparental conflict: Situational and contextual influences. Journal of Family Psychology, 12(3), 437–453. https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-3200.12.3.437Google Scholar
Grych, J. H., & Fincham, F. D. (1990). Marital conflict and children’s adjustment: A cognitive-contextual framework. Psychological Bulletin, 108(2), 267–290. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.108.2.267Google Scholar
Grych, J. H., Harold, G. T., & Miles, C. J. (2003). A prospective investigation of appraisals as mediators of the link between interparental conflict and child adjustment. Child Development, 74(4), 1176–1193. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00600CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grych, J. H., Seid, M., & Fincham, F. D. (1992). Assessing marital conflict from the child’s perspective: The Children’s Perception of Interparental Conflict Scale. Child Development, 63(3), 558–572. https://doi.org/10.2307/1131346Google Scholar
Harter, S. (1995). Manual for the Self-Perception Profile of Children (revision of the Perceived Competence Scale for Children). University of Denver.Google Scholar
Hetherington, E. M., Cox, M., & Cox, R. (1982). Effects of divorce on parents and children. In Lamb, M. E. (Ed.), Nontraditional families: Parenting and child development (pp. 233–288). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Hetherington, E. M., & Kelly, J. (2002). Divorce reconsidered: For better or worse. Norton.Google Scholar
Johnston, J. R. (1994). High-conflict divorce. The Future of Children, 4(1), 165–182. https://doi.org/10.2307/1602483CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kalmijn, M. (2016). Father–child contact, interparental conflict, and depressive symptoms among children of divorced parents. European Sociological Review, 32(1), 68–80. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcv095Google Scholar
Kelly, J. B. (2000). Children’s adjustment in conflicted marriage and divorce: A decade review of research. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 39(8), 963–973. https://doi.org/10.1097/00004583-200008000-00007Google Scholar
Kliewer, W., Fearnow, M. D., & Miller, P. A. (1996). Coping socialization in middle childhood: Tests of maternal and paternal influences. Child Development, 67(5), 2339–2357.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kliewer, W., Sandler, I., & Wolchik, S. (1994). Family socialization of threat appraisal and coping: Coaching, modeling, and family context. In Nestmann, F. & Hurrelmann, K. (Eds.), Social networks and social support in childhood and adolescence (pp. 279–291). Walter De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110866377.271Google Scholar
Kreider, R. M., & Ellis, R. (2011). Living arrangements of children: 2009 (Current Population Reports, pp. 70–126). US Census Bureau. www.census.gov/library/publications/2011/demo/p70-126.htmlGoogle Scholar
Lazarus, R. S. (2006). Stress and emotion: A new synthesis. Springer.Google Scholar
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. Springer.Google Scholar
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1987). Transactional theory and research on emotions and coping. European Journal of Personality, 1(3), 141–169. . https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2410010304Google Scholar
Lengua, L. J., Sandler, I. N., West, S. G., Wolchik, S. A., & Curran, P. J. (1999). Emotionality and self-regulation, threat appraisal, and coping in children of divorce. Development and Psychopathology, 11(1), 15–37. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579499001935Google Scholar
Mehl, M. R., & Conner, T. S. (Eds.). (2011). Handbook of research methods for studying daily life. Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Miller, P. A., Lloyd, C. A., & Beard, R. (2017). Preadolescents’ coping goals and strategies in response to postdivorce interparental conflict. Qualitative Psychology, 4(3), 260–280. https://doi.org/10.1037/qup0000067CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O’Hara, K. L., Rhodes, C. A., Wolchik, S. A., Tein, J.-Y., & Sandler, I. N. (2021). Fear of abandonment as a mediator between the longitudinal effect of exposure to post-divorce interparental conflict on children’s mental health problems: Does parenting quality play a buffering role? Child Development, 92(4), 1476–1493. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13539Google Scholar
O’Hara, K. L., Sandler, I. N., Wolchik, S. A., & Tein, J.-Y. (2019). Coping in context: The effects of long-term relations between interparental conflict and coping on the development of child psychopathology following parental divorce. Development and Psychopathology, 31(5), 1695–1713. https://doi.org/10.1017/S09545794190009811–19Google Scholar
Orgilés, M., Carratalá, E., & Espada, J. P. (2015). Perceived quality of the parental relationship and divorce effects on sexual behaviour in Spanish adolescents. Psychology, Health & Medicine, 20(1), 8–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/13548506.2014.911922CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pedro-Carroll, J. L., & Cowen, E. L. (1985). The Children of Divorce Intervention Program: An investigation of the efficacy of a school-based prevention program. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 53(5), 603–611. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.53.5.603Google Scholar
Rothbaum, F., Weisz, J., & Snyder, S. (1982). Changing the world and changing the self: A two-process model of perceived control. Journal of Personality Social Psychology, 42(1), 5–37. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.42.1.5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandler, I. N. (2001). Quality and ecology of adversity as common mechanisms of risk and resilience. American Journal of Community Psychology, 29(1), 19–61. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005237110505Google Scholar
Sandler, I. N., Tein, J.-Y., Mehta, P., Wolchik, S., & Ayers, T. (2000). Coping efficacy and psychological problems of children of divorce. Child Development, 71(4), 1099–1118. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00212Google Scholar
Sbarra, D. A., & Emery, R. E. (2005). Coparenting conflict, nonacceptance, and depression among divorced adults: Results from a 12-year follow-up study of child custody mediation using multiple imputation. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 75(1), 63–75. https://doi.org/10.1037/0002-9432.75.1.63Google Scholar
Schaefer, E. S. (1965). Children’s reports of parental behavior: An inventory. Child Development, 36, 413–424. https://doi.org/10.2307/1126465Google Scholar
Sheets, V., Sandler, I., & West, S. (1996). Appraisals of negative events by preadolescent children of divorce. Child Development, 67(5), 2166–2182.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Skinner, E. A., & Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J. (2007). The development of coping. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 119–144. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.58.110405.085705Google Scholar
Skinner, E. A., & Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J. (2011). Perceived control and the development of coping. In Folkman, S. (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of stress, health, and coping (pp. 35–59). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Skinner, E., & Wellborn, J. (1994). Coping during childhood and adolescence: A motivational perspective. In Featherman, D. L., Lerner, R. M., & Perlmutter, M. (Eds.), Life-span development and behavior (pp. 91–133). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Stolberg, A. L., & Garrison, K. M. (1985). Evaluating a primary prevention program for children of divorce. American Journal of Community Psychology, 13(2), 111–124. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00905724Google Scholar
Teleki, J. K., Powell, J. A., & Dodder, R. A. (1982). Factor analysis of reports of parental behavior by children living in divorced and married families. Journal of Psychology, 112, 295–302. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.1982.9915387CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wolchik, S. A., West, S. G., Sandler, I. N., Tein, J.-Y., Coatsworth, D., Lengua, L., Weiss, L., Anderson, E. R., Greene, S. M., & Griffin, W. A. (2000). An experimental evaluation of theory-based mother and mother-child programs for children of divorce. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68(5), 843–856. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.68.5.843Google Scholar
Zeman, J., Cassano, M., Perry-Parrish, C., & Stegall, S. (2006). Emotion regulation in children and adolescents. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 27(2), 155–168. https://doi.org/10.1097/00004703-200604000-00014Google Scholar
Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J., Lees, D. C., Bradley, G. L., & Skinner, E. A. (2009). Use of an analogue method to examine children’s appraisals of threat and emotion in response to stressful events. Motivation and Emotion, 33(2), 136–149. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-009-9123-7Google Scholar
Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J., & Skinner, E. A. (2011). The development of coping across childhood and adolescence: An integrative review and critique of research. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 35(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025410384923Google Scholar
Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J., Skinner, E. A., Morris, H., & Thomas, R. (2013). Anticipated coping with interpersonal stressors: Links with the emotional reactions of sadness, anger, and fear. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 33(5), 684–709. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431612466175Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×