The role of mothers' and fathers' adrenocortical reactivity in spillover between interparental conflict and parenting practices.
Guided by the affective spillover hypothesis, the present study examined the mediational role of parental adrenocortical reactivity to interparental conflict in explaining associations between interparental conflict and subsequent changes in mothers' and fathers' parenting practices over a 2-year period in a sample of 202 parents and their 6-year-old children. Results of autoregressive path models indicated that marital withdrawal was associated with increases in adrenocortical reactivity to conflict for mothers but not fathers. Furthermore, elevated adrenocortical reactivity in turn predicted greater psychologically controlling parenting practices and inconsistent discipline over time for mothers, but was not associated with changes in maternal warmth. Implications for clinicians and therapists working with maritally distressed parents and families are discussed.
Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA. Melissa_sturge-apple@urmc.rochester.edu
Melissa L
ML
Sturge-Apple
Patrick T
PT
Davies
Dante
D
Cicchetti
E Mark
EM
Cummings
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D054541:Family Conflict; D005220:Fathers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000378:metabolism*; D007030:Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System / Q000378:metabolism; D008032:Limbic System / Q000378:metabolism; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting; D010913:Pituitary-Adrenal System / Q000378:metabolism; D012463:Saliva / Q000378:metabolism
D006854:Hydrocortisone