Citation

Katz LF, Low SM. J. Fam. Psychol. 2004; 18(2): 372-382.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, 98195, USA. katzlf@u.washington.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/0893-3200.18.2.372

PMID

15222844

Abstract

A multimethod approach was used to examine relations between marital violence, coparenting, and family-level processes and children's adjustment in a community-based sample of marital violence. Two hypotheses were tested, one in which family-level and co-parenting processes mediate relations between marital violence and child functioning and one in which marital violence and family-level/co-parenting processes function relatively independently in influencing children's adjustment. Observations of family processes were made within a triadic parent-child interaction, and several dimensions of children's socioemotional adjustment (i.e., peer relations, behavior problems) were examined. Results indicated that hostile-withdrawn co-parenting mediated the relations between marital violence and children's anxiety and depression. Marital violence, co-parenting, and family-level processes also functioned independently in predicting child outcome. Findings are discussed in terms of the family dynamics present in maritally violent homes.

Language: en