The effects of marital conflict on child development are well established in the existing literature. Children residing in high-conflict homes are at significantly greater risk for developing both internalizing and externalizing psychopathology. Unfortunately, existing theoretical explanations neglect the potentially harmful effects of child misbehavior on the expression of marital conflict. The current investigation experimentally manipulated exposure to child deviant behavior and subsequently observed the effects on marital problem-solving communication. Fifty-one families were randomly assigned to participate in either a neutral or negative parent child interaction lasting 30-minutes. Following the parent-child interaction, couples were observed during two separate problem-solving discussions. Results indicated that exposure to child misbehavior led to significant decreases in total couple constructive problem discussion and humor statements during the first communication sample; however, no significant effects were observed during the second 10-minute sample. Examination of the data further indicated that these differences appeared to demonstrate symmetry between the amount of child deviant behavior and subsequent disruptions in couple communication.
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