Citation

Papp LM, Goeke-Morey MC, Cummings EM. J. Child Fam. Stud. 2004; 13(4): 469-482.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1023/B:JCFS.0000044728.34058.c0

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A community sample of 51 mother-father dyads with a school-age child rated marital functioning, parental psychological symptoms, and children's adjustment problems. Parents with more psychological symptoms reported lower marital satisfaction levels. Mothers' and fathers' marital functioning and symptomatology individually related to children's adjustment in the expected directions. In addition, interaction tests revealed that, for mothers but not fathers, the combination of poorer marital functioning and higher levels of psychological symptoms amplified the negative effects on children's adjustment problems. These findings support the hypothesis that parental psychopathology and marital adjustment together affect children's functioning in an interactive way, underscoring the need to consider multiple family influences in studies of child development.