title: Tracing the cascade of children's insecurity in the interparental relationship: the role of stage-salient tasks.
abstract: This study examined whether children's difficulties with stage-salient tasks served as an explanatory mechanism in the pathway between their insecurity in the interparental relationship and their disruptive behavior problems. Using a multimethod, multi-informant design, 201 two-year-old children and their mothers participated in 3 annual measurement occasions. Structural equation modeling analyses indicated that coder ratings of children's insecure responses to interparental conflict from a maternal interview predicted observer ratings of their difficulties with stage-salient tasks (i.e., emotion regulation, autonomy, resourceful problem solving) 1 year later after controlling for initial stage-salient task performance. Stage-salient task difficulties, in turn, predicted experimenter reports of children's behavior problems 1 year later. Associations remained robust in the broader context of other pathways hypothesized in prevailing developmental cascade models.
authors.affiliation: University of Rochester. patrick.davies@rochester.edu
authors.forename: Patrick T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.forename: Liviah G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Manning
authors.forename: Dante
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cicchetti
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D054541:Family Conflict / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011340:Problem Solving; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013694:Temperament