title: Family relationships and the psychosocial adjustment of school-aged children in intact families.
abstract: The authors investigated whether the quality of three family relationships (i.e., marital, parent-child, sibling) in intact families are associated with each other and with children's psychosocial adjustment. Data were collected by means of maternal and child reports (N = 88) using standardized instruments (i.e., Marital Satisfaction Scale, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire). The findings confirm associations between the marital and the parent-child relationship, and between the parent-child and the sibling relationship, Further, both father-child relationships and sibling relationships predict children's adjustment. Father-child conflicts contribute to children's problem behavior, while father-child acceptance and sibling affection contribute significantly to children's general self-esteem. However, contrary to previous studies no support was found for the association between marital relationship and sibling relationship, or for that between marital relationship quality and children's adjustment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Education, Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Prinsengracht 130, 1090 GE Amsterdam, The Netherlands. E.M.Hakvoort@uva.nl
authors.forename: Esther M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Hakvoort
authors.forename: Henny M W
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Bos
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: van Balen
authors.forename: Jo M A
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Hermanns
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D054541:Family Conflict / Q000523:psychology; D005195:Family Relations; D005219:Father-Child Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D012649:Self Concept; D012801:Sibling Relations; D012917:Social Adjustment; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires