Department of Psychology, Institute of Education, China West Normal University, Nanchong, 637002, China.
College of Preschool and Primary Education, China West Normal University, Nanchong, 637002, China.
J Youth Adolesc. 2021 Apr;50(4):599-612. doi: 10.1007/s10964-020-01388-7. Epub 2021 Jan 15.
Anxiety in youth has been found to be a risk factor for the development of psychological problems and psychiatric symptoms in adulthood. Interparental conflict is considered an important factor in the emergence of symptoms of youth anxiety because conflicts between parents negatively affect parent-child and sibling relationships. Whereas some meta-analyses have investigated the association between interparental conflict and youth anxiety, the exact roles of certain moderators in this association are still not fully clear. Based on the PRISMA method, the present study used a three-level meta-analysis to obtain reliable estimates of effect sizes and examined a range of moderators (sample, publication, study design and outcome, and assessment characteristics). After a systematic search for articles published before September 2020, the present study identified 38 studies, with 12,380 young people and 222 effect sizes. The analysis revealed a significant positive association between interparental conflict and youth anxiety. Moreover, the present study found a significant moderating effect of interparental conflict variable. More specifically, youth anxiety was more strongly associated with parents' use of overt conflict style than with their use of cooperative conflict style. Study design was also found to be a significant moderator of the association between interparental conflict and youth anxiety. This association was smaller in longitudinal than in cross-sectional studies. Finally, the present results demonstrated that informant of interparental conflict was a significant moderator. A stronger correlation between these two variables was found when interparental conflict was reported by children than by parents. The results support the growing consensus that interparental conflict should be addressed when treating youth anxiety.
研究发现，青少年时期的焦虑是成年后患心理问题和精神症状的一个风险因素。父母间的冲突被认为是青少年焦虑症状出现的一个重要因素，因为父母之间的冲突会对亲子关系和兄弟姐妹关系产生负面影响。虽然一些荟萃分析已经调查了父母间冲突与青少年焦虑之间的关系，但这种关系中某些调节因素的确切作用仍不完全清楚。本研究采用三级元分析方法，基于 PRISMA 方法，使用可靠的效应量估计值，并考察了一系列调节因素（样本、发表情况、研究设计和结果以及评估特征），以获得可靠的效应量估计值。在系统搜索了截至 2020 年 9 月之前发表的文章后，本研究确定了 38 项研究，涉及 12380 名年轻人和 222 个效应量。分析结果表明，父母间冲突与青少年焦虑之间存在显著的正相关。此外，本研究还发现父母间冲突变量存在显著的调节作用。更具体地说，青少年焦虑与父母使用公开冲突风格的相关性比与使用合作冲突风格的相关性更强。研究设计也被发现是父母间冲突与青少年焦虑之间关系的一个显著调节因素。与横断面研究相比，这种关系在纵向研究中较小。最后，本研究结果表明，父母间冲突的报告者是一个显著的调节因素。当父母间冲突是由孩子而不是父母报告时，这两个变量之间的相关性更强。这些结果支持了越来越多的共识，即治疗青少年焦虑时应考虑父母间冲突。
