The link between marital conflict and child adjustment: Parent–child conflict and perceived attachments as mediators, potentiators, and mitigators of risk

Parent–child conflict and perceived attachments to parents were examined as predictors, mediators, and moderators in the marital conflict–child adjustment connection in a sample of older children and young adolescents. After controlling for marital conflict, parent–child conflict predicted additional unique variance mainly for children's externalizing problems, and attachments to parents accounted for unique variance in children's externalizing and internalizing problems. Moderation effects illustrated that a higher level of parent–child conflict was a vulnerability factor, whereas a secure attachment was a protective factor, for behavior problems associated with marital conflict. Mediation effects were also evident and supported the proposition that parent–child conflict and attachment to parents mostly are partial mediators of effects in the marital conflict–child outcomes link. The findings illustrate the aggregation, potentiation, and amelioration of risk for adjustment problems associated with marital conflict, and highlight the importance of assessing multiple systems within the family.This research was supported by NIAAA Grant R29 AA10591. We would like to thank the research participants for their time and effort, and Stephanie Whitson and Karen Martin for their assistance with data collection.