Citation:
Grych, J. H., & Fincham, F. D. (1993). Children's appraisals of marital conflict: Initial investigation of the cognitive-contextual framework. Child Development, 64,215 - 230.
Hypothesis:
Children's conflict appraisals guide their coping responses. In particular, deciding whether or not to intervene in the conflict will be strongly influenced by children's interpretations. For example, children who believe that they are at fault for causing a disagreement may then feel responsible for resolving the dispute, and thus attributions of self-blame are likely to lead to children's involvement in the conflict. Fearing for the safety of one parent also may promote intervention, whereas perceiving a high level of threat to the self may lead children to avoid intervening in a disagreement. Whether they involve themselves in a conflict also depends on children's coping efficacy, which in turn is shaped by prior experiences in the family.
(a) children's appraisals are systematically related to specific dimensions (intensity and content) of marital conflict.
1. It was predicted that high-intensity conflict would be viewed as more likely to escalate than low-intensity conflict, and that child-related conflict would be perceived as more likely to involve the child than nonchild-related conflict.
2. Children who blame themselves for conflict are likely to elicit self-blame than non-child-related content. No specific hypotheses were made for the effect of conflict intensity on self-blame.
3. Children would feel more able to cope with low than with high-intensity conflict.
4. Children would feel more able to do something to stop the disagreement if the child believes they did something to cause the disagreement.
5. High-intensity conflicts would lead to increases in all types of negative affect, but that the child related content would have a more