Family-level antecedents of children's patterns of reactivity to interparental conflict: Testing the reformulation of emotional security theory.

ABSTRACT: Guided by emotional security theory, this study examined the family-level antecedents of children's reaction patterns to interparental conflict in a sample of 243 preschool children (M age = 4.60 years; 48% Black; 16% Latinx; 56% girls) and their parents in the Northeastern United States. Behavioral observations of children's responses to interparental conflict over two annual measurement occasions assessed their tendencies to exhibit four patterns of defending against threat: secure (i.e., efficiently address direct threats), mobilizing (i.e., high reactivity to potential threat and social opportunities), dominant (i.e., directly defeat threat), and demobilizing (i.e., reduce salience as a target of hostility). Latent profile analyses of interparental, coparental, and parent charac

SUBMITTER: Davies PT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9822861 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature