Hostile Interparental Conflict and Youth Maladjustment

Key words: coparental relationship, marital conflict, marital hostility, youth maladjustment. Frequent and/or intense hostile conflict between parents often is associated with a range of indicators of youth maladjustment, including externalizing problems, internalizing problems, and poor academic performance (see Fauber, Forehand, Thomas, Grych, Seid, Guidubaldi, Cleminshaw, Perry, Nastasi, Katz Tschann, Johnston, Kline, Guidubaldi et al., 1986). The concept of interparental conflict is broad and has been used in different ways by various researchers. Many researchers have not distinguished between conflict and conflict management strategies/styles. This distinction is important empirically and in practice (Cummings Buehler Camara Fincham Grych Tschann et al., 1989). Thus, to examine explanations of how interparental conflict affects youth maladjustment, we focus on overt hostile conflict styles between parents. Overt hostile behaviors include yelling, screaming, threatening, slapping, and hitting. …