Marital Conflict and Children An Emotional Security Perspective

From leading researchers, this book presents important advances in understanding how growing up in a discordant family affects child adjustment, the factors that make certain children more vulnerable than others, and what can be done to help. It is a state-of-the-science follow-up to the authors' seminal earlier work, Children and Marital Conflict: The Impact of Family Dispute and Resolution. The volume presents a new conceptual framework that draws on current knowledge about family processes; parenting; attachment; and children's emotional, physiological, cognitive, and behavioral development. Innovative research methods are explained and promising directions for clinical practice with children and families are discussed.

E. Mark Cummings, PhD, is Professor and Notre Dame Endowed Chair in Psychology at the University of Notre Dame. His research focuses on relations between family processes and child development. Dr. Cummings has served as Associate Editor of Child Development and on the editorial boards of numerous other journals. Patrick T. Davies, PhD, is Professor of Psychology in the Department of Clinical and Social Sciences at the University of Rochester. Like Dr. Cummings, Dr. Davies also studies relations between family processes and child development. He is Associate Editor of Developmental Psychology and Development and Psychopathology.

I. New Directions in the Study of Children and Marital Conflict 1. Marital Conflict and Risky Families 2. The Emergence of Process-Oriented Approaches: Emotional Security Theory II. Child Effects of Exposure to Marital Conflict 3. Identifying Constructive and Destructive Marital Conflict 4. Testing Process-Oriented Models of the Direct Effects of Exposure to Marital Conflict III. Contextualizing Marital Conflict 5. The Role of Parenting in the Context of Marital Conflict: Indirect Pathways and Processes 6. Contextual Vulnerability and Protective Models 7. Development over Time in Contexts of Marital Conflict IV. Future Directions 8. Applications of Findings and Translational Research 9. Beyond the Marital Dyad: From Bowlby to Political Violence Appendices: Coding Systems and Methodology A. Conflict in the Interparental System (CIS)–Observational Coding B. Security in the Interparental Subsystem Scale (SIS)–Child Report C. Security in the Marital System–Parent Report (SIMS-PR) Scale D. Advanced Measurement and Research Design Issues for a Process-Oriented Approach