Abstract
This study examined cognitive and emotional reactions to simulated marital and family conflicts as experienced by college students from homes with physically aggressive (PA) and nonphysically aggressive (NPA) marital relationships. Individuals from PA homes reported experiencing more physiological arousal and negative affect in response to simulated marital and family conflict than did individuals from NPA homes. In addition, PA respondents were less likely to provide spontaneous suggestions regarding how marital conflict could proceed more constructively than were NPA respondents. These results suggest that marital conflict witnessed in the home may influence young adults' thoughts and feelings regarding marital conflict in novel situations, and present the possibility that marital conflict witnessed between one's parents leads to the development of a marital conflict representation which guides social information processing of newly encountered marital interactions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bakeman, R., & Gottman, J. M. (1986).Observing interaction: An introduction to sequential analysis. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Bandura, A. (1986).Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Bugental, D., Blue, J. Cortez, V., Fleck, K., & Rodriguez, A. (1992). Influences of witnessed affect on information processing in children.Child Development, 63, 774–786.
Carlson, B. E. (1990). Adolescent observers of marital violence.Journal of Family Violence, 5, 285–299.
Cliff, N. (1987).Analyzing multivariate data. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Cohen, J. A. (1960). A coefficient of agreement for nominal scales.Educational and Psychological Measurement, 20, 37–46.
Cummings, E. M. (1987). Coping with background anger in early childhood.Child Development, 58, 976–984.
Cummings, E. M., Iannotti, R. J., & Zahn-Waxler, C. (1985). Influence of conflict between adults on the emotions and aggression of young children.Developmental Psychology, 21, 495–507.
Cummings, J. S., Pellegrini, D. S., Notarius, C. I., & Cummings, E. M. (1989). Children's responses to angry adult behavior as a function of marital distress and history of interparent hostility.Child Development, 60, 1035–1043.
Cummings, E. M., Vogel, D., Cummings, J. S., & El-Sheikh, M. (1989).Child Development, 60, 1392–1404.
Cummings, E. M., Zahn-Waxler, C., & Radke-Yarrow, M. (1981). Young children's responses to expressions of anger and affection by others in the family.Child Development, 52, 1274–1281.
Davison, G. C., Feldman, P. M., & Osborn, C. E. (1984). Articulated thoughts, irrational beliefs, and fear of negative evaluation.Cognitive Therapy and Research, 8, 349–362.
Davison, G. C., Robins, C., & Johnson, M. K. (1983). Articulated thoughts during simulated situations: A paradigm for studying cognition in emotion and behavior.Cognitive Therapy and Research, 7, 17–40.
Davison, G. C., & Zighelboim, V. (1988). Irrational beliefs in the articulated thoughts of college students with social anxiety.Journal of Rational-Emotive Therapy, 5, 238–254.
Dodge, K. A. (1993). Social-cognitive mechanisms in the development of conduct disorder and depression.Annual Review of Psychology, 44, 559–584.
Dodge, K. A., Bates, J. E., & Pettit, G. S. (1990). Mechanisms in the cycle of violence.Science, 250, 1678–1683.
Dodge, K. A., & Somberg, D. (1987). Hostile attributional biases among aggressive boys are exacerbated under conditions of threats to the self.Child Development, 58, 213–224.
Doumas, D., Margolin, G., & John, R. S. (1994). The intergenerational transmission of aggression across three generations.Journal of Family Violence, 9, 157–175.
Emery, R. E. (1982). Interparental conflict and the children of discord and divorce.Psychological Bulletin, 92, 310–330.
Epstein, N., & Baucom, D. H. (1993). Cognitive factors in marital disturbance. In K. S. Dobson & P. C. Kendall (Eds.),Psychopathology and cognition. San Diego: Academic Press.
Fantuzzo, J., De Paola, L. M., Lambert, L., Martino, T., Anderson, G., & Sutton, S. (1991). Effects of interparental violence on the psychological adjustment and competencies of young children.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 59, 258–265.
Fiske, S. T., & Taylor, S. E. (1991).Social cognition (2nd ed.). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. (Original publication in 1984).
Fleiss, J. L. (1981).Statistical methods for rates and proportions. New York: Wiley.
Forehand, R., & McCombs, A. (1989). The nature of interparental conflict of married and divorced parents: Implications of young adolescents.Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 17, 235–249.
Grych, J. H., & Fincham, F. D. (1990). Marital conflict and children's adjustment: A cognitive-contextual framework.Psychological Bulletin, 108, 267–290.
Haaga, D. A. F. (1989). Articulated thoughts and endorsement procedures for cognitive assessment in the prediction of smoking relapse.Psychological Assessment, 1, 112–117.
Kalmuss, D. (1984). The intergenerational transmission of marital aggression.Journal of Marriage and the Family, 46, 11–19.
O'Brien, R. G., & Kaiser, M. K. (1985). MANOVA method for analyzing repeated measures designs: An extensive primer.Psychological Bulletin, 97, 316–333.
O'Brien, M., Margolin, G., John, R. S., & Krueger, L. (1991). Mothers' and sons' thoughts and feelings in reaction to simulated family conflict.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 59, 692–703.
Rosenbaum, A., & O'Leary, K. D. (1981). Children: The unintended victims of marital violence.American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 51, 692–699.
Shields, S. A., & Stern, R. M. (1979). Emotion: The perception of bodily change. In P. Pliner, K. R. Blankstein, & I. M. Spigel (Eds.),Perception of emotion in self and others (pp. 85–106). New York: Plenum Press.
Straus, M. A. (1979). Measuring intrafamily conflict and violence: The Conflict Tactics (CT) Scales.Journal of Marriage and the Family, 41, 75–88.
Straus, M. A. (1982).A reevaluation of the Conflict Tactics Scales violence measures and some new measures. Unpublished manuscript, University of New Hampshire, Durham.
Straus, M. A., & Gelles, R. J. (1990).Physical violence in American families. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Wechsler, D. (1981).Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Revised. New York: Psychological Corporation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This research has been supported in part by New York University funding for junior faculty. Our appreciation goes to Kareston Koenen, Kristy Martin, Carla Edelstein, Natalie Kusturic, Hilary Combs, Robin Mayers, Gregory Orenbach, Debra Farbman, and Randi Dorman who assisted with data collection, data transcription, and/or coding. This manuscript has benefited by reviews of earlier drafts by Ian Gotlib and an anonymous reviewer.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
O'Brien, M., Balto, K., Erber, S. et al. College students' cognitive and emotional reactions to simulated marital and family conflict. Cogn Ther Res 19, 707–724 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02227862
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02227862