Effects of Marital Quality on Children in Brazilian Families

Keywords

Hispanic people, child development, mothers, parenting, childhood mental disorders, parent-child relations, language development, scholarly literature, adolescents

Abstract

There is an extensive literature that has linked parental conflict to developmental difficulties in children. Included in literature are five meta-analytic reviews (Buehler, Krishnakumar, Gaye, Anthony, Pemberton, Gerard, & Barber, 1997; Depner, Leino, & Chun, 1992; Erel & Murman, 1995; Krishnakumar & Buehler, 2000; Reid & Crisafulli, 1990) which document the increased adjustment difficulties that children experience due to their parent's marital conflict and dissatisfaction. For example, the meta-analysis of 68 studies by Buehler et al., (1997) yielded an average effect size of .32, which is considered moderate. Another meta-analysis (Depner et al., 1992) reviewed studies identifying the relationship between marital conflict and behavioral, psychological, and social functioning outcomes. Their study yielded effect sizes of .46, .29, and .33 for the respective outcomes. In addition, narrative review have documented the relationship between marital conflict and child outcomes (Bradford, Barber, Olsen, Maughan, Erickson, Ward, Stolz, 2004; Cummings & Davies, 1994; Fincham & Osborne, 1993; Grych & Fincham, 2001; Katz & Gottman, 1993; Kolko, Blakely, and Engleman, 1996; Zimet & Jacob, 2001).

Original Publication Citation

Stutzman, S. V., Miller, R. B., Hollist, C. S., & Falceto, O. G. (2009). Effects of marital quality on children in Brazilian families. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 40, 475-492.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2009

Permanent URL

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/6777

Publisher

Journal of Comparative Family Studies

Language

English

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Sociology

University Standing at Time of Publication

Full Professor

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