Harold Gordon T, Aitken Jessica J, Shelton Katherine H
School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2007 Dec;48(12):1223-32. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2007.01793.x.
Previous research suggests a link between inter-parental conflict and children's psychological development. Most studies, however, have tended to focus on two broad indices of children's psychological adaptation (internalizing symptoms and externalizing problems) in considering the effects of inter-parental conflict on children's development. The present longitudinal study extends this body of research by considering the impact of inter-parental conflict on children's low academic attainment among a sample of 230 schoolchildren (age 11-13 years) living in the United Kingdom.
Controlling for teacher reports of children's initial levels of aggression (Time 1), the proposed theoretical model linked parent and child reports of inter-parental conflict at Time 1 (1999) to children's perceptions of negative parent-child relations, appraisals of self-blame for marital conflict and teacher reports of children's aggressive behavior at Time 2 (2000), which in turn were linked to children's performance on standardized academic tests (English, Math, Science) at Time 3 (2001). Structural equation modeling was used to test all hypothesized relations in the proposed theoretical model.
Support was found for the role of children's self-blaming attributions for parents' marital arguments, not negative parenting behavior, as a mechanism through which variation in their academic attainment is explained.
Contrary to the focus emphasized in most current family and school-based intervention programs, findings suggest that the attributional processes engendered in children who live in households marked by high levels of inter-parental conflict and hostility have important implications for their long-term academic success.
先前的研究表明父母间冲突与儿童心理发展之间存在联系。然而，大多数研究在考虑父母间冲突对儿童发展的影响时，倾向于关注儿童心理适应的两个宽泛指标（内化症状和外化问题）。本纵向研究通过考察父母间冲突对230名居住在英国的学童（年龄在11至13岁之间）学业成绩低下的影响，扩展了这一研究领域。
在控制教师对儿童初始攻击水平的报告（时间1）的情况下，所提出的理论模型将时间1（1999年）父母和儿童报告的父母间冲突与儿童对负面亲子关系的认知、对婚姻冲突自责的评估以及时间2（2000年）教师对儿童攻击行为的报告联系起来，而这些又与儿童在时间3（2001年）标准化学业测试（英语、数学、科学）中的表现相关。采用结构方程模型来检验所提出理论模型中的所有假设关系。
研究发现，儿童对父母婚姻争吵的自责归因而非消极养育行为，是解释其学业成绩差异的一种机制。
与当前大多数家庭和学校干预项目所强调的重点相反，研究结果表明，生活在父母间冲突和敌意程度较高家庭中的儿童所产生的归因过程，对其长期学业成功具有重要影响。
