Interparental Relationships and Children's Prosocial Development: Indications for Gender-Specific Susceptibility to the Quality of the Marital Relationships

Introduction. Regarding the link between interparental relationships and children’s social emotional development, much attention has been drawn to the effects of interparental conflict and violence. This paper attempts to contribute to a thorough understanding of the importance of intra-familial patterns by focusing on the role of marital relationship satisfaction and child-rearing agreement in the development of prosocial behavior in young children. Based on Social Learning Theory (Crain, 1980) both relationship components were hypothesized to directly affect prosocial behavior. Attachment Theory (Bowlby, 1988) explained the hypothesized indirect influence of the marital relationship through parental sensitivity. Method. A selective group of 80 Dutch couples (mothers and fathers) with two children of around twelve months (youngest child) and between two-and-a-half and three-and-a-half years of age (oldest child) filled in questionnaires about the level of contentment with their...Show moreIntroduction. Regarding the link between interparental relationships and children’s social emotional development, much attention has been drawn to the effects of interparental conflict and violence. This paper attempts to contribute to a thorough understanding of the importance of intra-familial patterns by focusing on the role of marital relationship satisfaction and child-rearing agreement in the development of prosocial behavior in young children. Based on Social Learning Theory (Crain, 1980) both relationship components were hypothesized to directly affect prosocial behavior. Attachment Theory (Bowlby, 1988) explained the hypothesized indirect influence of the marital relationship through parental sensitivity. Method. A selective group of 80 Dutch couples (mothers and fathers) with two children of around twelve months (youngest child) and between two-and-a-half and three-and-a-half years of age (oldest child) filled in questionnaires about the level of contentment with their marital relationship (Maudsley Marital Questionnaire, Arrindel, Boelens, & Lambert, 1983), the level of experienced child-rearing agreement (Child-Rearing Disagreements Scale, Jouriles, 1991), and their oldest child’s tendency towards prosocial behavior (My Child Questionnaire, Kochanska, DeVet, Goldman, Murray, & Putnam, 1994). Parental sensitivity was measured through semi-structured observations and coded by means of the Emotional Availability Scales (Easterbrooks & Biringen, 2005). Results. Girls were found to display more prosocial behavior as fathers were less satisfied with their interparental relationship. For boys, maternal relationship satisfaction was found to have the strongest effect after including the level of interparental concordance on this topic; in case of high interparental concordance, maternal child-rearing agreement positively predicted prosocial behavior and in case of low concordance, mothers’ rearing agreement appeared to be a negative predictor. Discussion. These findings indicate that the quality of the interparental relationship may affect boys’ and girls’ social emotional development differently and that mother-son and father-daughter relationships may have a differential impact on the growth of prosocial behavior in young children. Future research must pay considerate attention to the potential mediating and/or moderating variables that help clarify why mothers and fathers may have different effects on boys and girls under diverse circumstances.Show less

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Interparental Relationships and Children's Prosocial Development: Indications for Gender-Specific Susceptibility to the Quality of the Marital Relationships