Interparental conflict: Parent-adolescent attachment and personality

The roles of interparental conflict and the child's personality in parent-child attachment were examined for 40 adolescents between the ages of 13 and 19. Participants completed online self-report measures of parent-child attachment, interparental conflict, and personality. Two hypotheses were tested regarding the relationship between parental attachment and interparental conflict using four linear, multiple regression analyses on the total attachment score and the three attachment subscales of parental alienation, communication, and trust. Regression of the conflict variables of frequency, intensity, and resolution on total attachment was statistically significant. Together the combination of the three interparental conflict variables accounted for approximately 36% of the reported differences in overall parental attachment levels. The current study also revealed conflict frequency, conflict resolution, and conflict intensity to be significantly related to subcomponents of parent-child attachment in adolescents, specifically parental-child alienation, parent-child communication, and parent-child trust. Regression of the conflict predictor variables on the subscales of parental alienation, trust, and communication were also statistically significant and accounted for approximately 33% of the variance in each of the three subscales. Poor conflict resolution was specifically related to lower parent-child communication.;The second hypothesis examined the relationship between parent-adolescent, interparental conflict, taking into account the moderating effect of the personality traits of neuroticism and extraversion present in the adolescent as they relate to the parent-child attachment in adolescence. Extraversion did not have any significant effects, but the addition of neuroticism improved the prediction of parent-child alienation when interparental conflict was present, explaining approximately 51% of the differences in parent-child alienation. Specifically, higher intensity and frequency of conflict, poor resolution of the conflict, and the adolescent having high neurotic traits were strongly related to higher levels of parent-child alienation. These results have implications for interventions with families experiencing interpersonal conflict.