Socialization of adolescent emotion regulation through interparental conflict: Adolescent versus parent report

Objective

Guided by the emotional security theory and tripartite model of children's emotion regulation (e.g., Davies & Cummings, 1994; Morris et al., 2007), this study examined the indirect influence of both adolescent and parent reported interparental conflict on the concurrent link between parent and adolescent emotion regulation.

Background

There is strong empirical evidence of a direct link between parent and offspring emotion regulation. However, very little is known about how interparental conflict might serve as a mechanism linking parent and adolescent emotion regulation.

Method

The sample consisted of 70 parents and their adolescent children (M_age = 14.59, SD = 1.44). Both parents and adolescents self-reported on levels of interparental conflict and their own emotion regulation difficulties through Qualtrics software.

Results

Findings from a structural equation model indicated that parental emotion dysregulation was associated with higher levels of self- and adolescent-reported interparental conflict. However, only adolescent-reported interparental conflict was associated with adolescent emotion dysregulation, which further emerged as a significant indirect effect. Post hoc analyses indicated that conflict frequency may drive the parent–child emotion regulation link.

Conclusion

These results highlight interparental conflict as a potential mechanism in the parent–child emotion regulation link and also emphasize the importance of considering children's reports of interparental conflict.

Implications

Interparental conflict might be an important target for intervention efforts when trying to implement healthy emotion regulation development in adolescence.