Peer-reviewed article
The Associations of Constructive and Destructive Interparental Conflict to Child Well-Being Among Low-Income Families
Joyce Y. Lee, Garrett Todd Pace, Shawna J. Lee, Inna Altschul ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how different types of parental conflict affect young children in low-income American families. The research found that constructive conflict between parents reduced child behavior problems and emotional insecurity, while destructive conflict and intimate partner violence increased these problems. Children's emotional insecurity was a key mechanism linking parental conflict to child behavior difficulties. The findings suggest parents need education about how conflict affects children's sense of security.
Key points
- Constructive conflict was associated with decreased child emotional insecurity and behavior problems
- Destructive conflict was associated with increased child emotional insecurity and behavior problems
- Intimate partner violence was associated with increased child emotional insecurity
- Child emotional insecurity mediated the relationship between all three conflict types and behavior problems
- Sample included 1,297 low-income, unmarried mothers with young children from racially diverse backgrounds
Limitations
This is an observational study examining associations rather than causal effects, so it cannot determine whether conflict causes child problems or whether other factors explain the relationships. The sample is limited to low-income unmarried mothers, so findings may not generalise to other family structures or income levels.
Abstract
Interparental conflict is a well-established precursor to child maladjustment. However, little is understood of the role of different interparental conflict in shaping the developmental outcomes of young children, especially those from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. This study uses data from a large and racially diverse sample of low-income, unmarried mothers with young children ( n = 1,297) to examine the processes linking parental constructive conflict, destructive conflict, intimate partner violence (IPV) to child behavior problems, and child emotional insecurity as a mediator of these processes. Path analyses were conducted to estimate structural paths between (a) conflict constructs and child behavior problems, (b) conflict constructs and child emotional insecurity, and (c) child emotional insecurity and child behavior problems. Results demonstrated that constructive conflict was associated with decreased levels of both child emotional insecurity and child behavior problems, whereas destructive conflict was associated with increased levels of both child outcomes. IPV was associated with increased levels of child emotional insecurity only. Child emotional insecurity mediated the links between all three conflict constructs and child behavior problems. Such findings suggest the need for clinicians to help raise awareness regarding the consequences of children’s exposure to different interparental conflict and educate parents about children’s sense of emotional security in the family.