Interparental Conflict and Chinese Children’s Social Development

Abstract

Interparental relationship is one of the substantial factors that affect children’s mental well-being and emotional development in a family. Interparental conflicts are pervasive in most families, which may have adverse effects on children. However, interparental conflict in China received restricted attention, and social research about marital conflict has limited focus on children. A cross-sectional survey of 846 students was conducted to explore the correlations between interparental conflict and Chinese children’s social anxiety and life adjustment. The results showed that more perceived threat, persistent and unresolved conflicts, older age, and lower coping efficacy were associated with increased social anxiety in children while paternal education of high school was related to lower social anxiety. Child-related and unresolved conflicts, greater intensity of the conflict, frequent conflict, and paternal education of college and above were associated with impaired children’s life adjustment development. Perception of interparental conflicts was closely associated with children’s social development.