{"title":"Marital conflict, sibling closeness, and youth adjustment in Mexican-origin families: A multilevel moderation analysis.","authors":"Yunyan Zhao, Jenny Padilla","doi":"10.1037/fam0001491","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Marital conflict is a well-documented family stressor linked to youth maladjustment. However, limited research has examined protective factors that may buffer these effects in Mexican-origin families, where cultural values emphasizing familial harmony may intensify the negative impact of marital conflict. Guided by family systems theory, this multi-informant, longitudinal study investigated how mother- and father-reported marital conflict related to youth-reported adjustment and whether sibling closeness moderated these associations. Participants included 246 two-parent Mexican-origin families with two adolescent siblings (49.59% girls, <i>M</i><sub>age</sub> = 14.49, <i>SD</i> = 1.85 at Time 1), assessed across three time points. Multilevel moderation models were used to examine between-family, within-person, and cross-level effects. Results revealed that, within families, increases in parent-reported marital conflict over time were not significantly associated with decreases in youth depressive symptoms or risk behaviors. However, compared to other families, higher levels of mother-reported marital conflict were associated with greater youth-reported depressive symptoms and risk behaviors. Further, sibling closeness moderated the association between father-reported marital conflict and youth depressive symptoms at the between-family level. Specifically, in families characterized by high sibling closeness, lower levels of marital conflict were linked to fewer youth depressive symptoms. However, in families with low sibling closeness, youth reported elevated depressive symptoms regardless of marital conflict levels. These results highlight the nuanced ways marital conflict relates to youth outcomes and underscore the importance of examining multiple family subsystems at multiple levels. They also inform culturally relevant frameworks by identifying sibling closeness as a potential protective factor in family-based interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48381,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Family Psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4000,"publicationDate":"2026-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13489682/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Family Psychology","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0001491","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"FAMILY STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Marital conflict is a well-documented family stressor linked to youth maladjustment. However, limited research has examined protective factors that may buffer these effects in Mexican-origin families, where cultural values emphasizing familial harmony may intensify the negative impact of marital conflict. Guided by family systems theory, this multi-informant, longitudinal study investigated how mother- and father-reported marital conflict related to youth-reported adjustment and whether sibling closeness moderated these associations. Participants included 246 two-parent Mexican-origin families with two adolescent siblings (49.59% girls, Mage = 14.49, SD = 1.85 at Time 1), assessed across three time points. Multilevel moderation models were used to examine between-family, within-person, and cross-level effects. Results revealed that, within families, increases in parent-reported marital conflict over time were not significantly associated with decreases in youth depressive symptoms or risk behaviors. However, compared to other families, higher levels of mother-reported marital conflict were associated with greater youth-reported depressive symptoms and risk behaviors. Further, sibling closeness moderated the association between father-reported marital conflict and youth depressive symptoms at the between-family level. Specifically, in families characterized by high sibling closeness, lower levels of marital conflict were linked to fewer youth depressive symptoms. However, in families with low sibling closeness, youth reported elevated depressive symptoms regardless of marital conflict levels. These results highlight the nuanced ways marital conflict relates to youth outcomes and underscore the importance of examining multiple family subsystems at multiple levels. They also inform culturally relevant frameworks by identifying sibling closeness as a potential protective factor in family-based interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
期刊介绍：
Journal of Family Psychology offers cutting-edge, groundbreaking, state-of-the-art, and innovative empirical research with real-world applicability in the field of family psychology. This premiere family research journal is devoted to the study of the family system, broadly defined, from multiple perspectives and to the application of psychological methods to advance knowledge related to family research, patterns and processes, and assessment and intervention, as well as to policies relevant to advancing the quality of life for families.
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