Abstract
Skin conductance level reactivity (SCLR) was examined as a longitudinal mediator and moderator of relations between parental marital conflict and psychopathology among children and young adolescents. Participants were 157 boys and girls (M age at T1 = 9.31 years; SD = 1.97); there was a 2-year lag between T1 and T2 assessments. At T1, participants’ SCLR was assessed in response to lab challenges. Parents completed measures of aggressive marital conflict and child adjustment at T1 and T2. Supportive of moderation effects, T1 marital conflict interacted with T1 SCLR and gender in the prediction of changes in maladjustment. The link between marital conflict and increased internalizing and externalizing symptoms was stronger for girls with higher SCLR than girls with lower SCLR. Marital conflict predicted increased externalizing behaviors for boys with lower SCLR but not higher SCLR, although levels of externalizing behaviors were similar among boys with lower and higher SCLR especially at higher levels of marital conflict. Findings build on the literature by illustrating the importance of examinations of both family risk and youth biological vulnerability for the prediction of psychopathology.
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Notes
Children’s adjustment problems were examined through mothers’ reports at T1 and both mothers’ and fathers’ reports at T2. To ensure that the addition of fathers’ reports at Time 2 did not account for the change in adjustment problems over time, we conducted additional analyses using only mothers’ reports at T2. Results of these analyses (i.e., only mothers’ reports at Time 2) were nearly identical to results reported in the text using composites of mothers’ and fathers’ reports at T2. Specifically, using only mothers’ reports of outcomes at Time 2, marital conflict predicted greater internalizing problems at T2 for the sample, γ = 0.19, p < 0.001, and child gender moderated this effect, γ = 0.24, p < 0.01. Marital conflict was more strongly associated with internalizing problems for girls than boys. Marital conflict at T1 also predicted greater child externalizing problems at T2, γ = 0.24, p < 0.001, and this association was not moderated by child gender. The significance of these main effect and interaction results are identical to those using the mother–father composite score at Time 2.
When only mothers’ reports of outcomes were used at Time 2, results were identical to results reported in the text using composites of mothers’ and fathers’ reports at Time 2. That is, using only mothers’ reports of outcomes at Time 2, SCLR in response to the argument predicted neither internalizing nor externalizing problems. Controlling for SCLR in response to the argument did not alter relations between marital conflict and children’s adjustment problems.
Results were very similar when the outcomes at T2 were assessed with mothers’ reports alone. Three out of the four significant three-way interactions that emerged with mother–father composite scores at T2 were also significant using only mothers’ reports of outcomes at Time 2. The only exception was the interaction between gender, conflict, and SCLR in response to the star-tracing task in prediction of children’s internalizing problems. However, similar to findings based on the mother–father composite scores, follow-up analyses using mothers’ reports only revealed that the SCLR Star-Tracing by conflict interaction was significant for girls but not for boys, providing some support for this three-way interaction.
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This research was supported by NIH Grant R29 AA10591.
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El-Sheikh, M., Keller, P.S. & Erath, S.A. Marital Conflict and Risk for Child Maladjustment over Time: Skin Conductance Level Reactivity as a Vulnerability Factor. J Abnorm Child Psychol 35, 715–727 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-007-9127-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-007-9127-2