Children and Marital Conflict: The Impact of Family Dispute and Resolution [Paperback]

Cummings/Davies. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 18, 1994 | ISBN-10: 0898623030 | ISBN-13: 978-0898623031 | Edition: 1

The effects of parental discord on children's development has long been debated, with research in the field increasing dramatically in the past decade. Integrating and systematizing these findings, this book provides up-to-date descriptions of the causes and consequences of family conflict. For professionals interested in the family, the book describes how parents can handle their differences more effectively, and offers insights into the outcomes that are related to styles of family dispute. Other highlights include process and systemic perspectives; models of family and marital relations; illustrative case examples; reports on children's responses in laboratory and field studies; bottom?line prescriptions for parents, family therapists, and educators; and directions for future research. This book will be of great interest to family educators and family?policy makers, psychotherapists, social workers, family researchers, and parents. It is appropriate for courses on marriage and the family, child development, and family education.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This volume examines the impact of family discord on children and presents strategies for clinicians to help parents resolve differences more effectively for their marriage and their children. It is authoritative, readable, and practical... This book is important for child and adolescent psychiatrists." - David W. Cline, Clinical Professor, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, USA

"A useful basic introduction to the issues from marital conflict that effect children." - Nigel Alabaster, Greenwich Child Guidance Service, Plumstead Health Centre, London, UK

"Extremely well-written for a variety of readers--students, professionals, paraprofessionals. Summarizes a huge body of literature." - Kelly S. Simpson, Washington & Lee University, Lexington, VA; Course: Family Conflict, USA

"This is a remarkable and timely volume on the challenges that parental conflict poses for the social, emotional, and cognitive development of children, and ultimately for society as well. This scholarly account provides a cogent explication and distillation of research on outcomes of healthy and maladaptive anger and conflict. Academicians will appreciate the thorough, scientific treatment of the topic. Clinicians, educators, and parents will also find it valuable. The book is clearly written. It provides important information and insights about the unintentional problems we bequeath to our offspring as we become caught up in our own difficulties in partnered relationships. The authors rightly resist providing overly simplistic solutions to complex problems. At the same time they directly confront difficult questions about how parents might best deal with their conflict and anger toward each other, in ways that are adaptive, creative, and promote mature development. The importance of the need for children to witness resolution of conflict between parents is emphasized. This is a 'must-read' for those who wish to better understand conflict and coping in families." - Carolyn Zahn-Waxler, 

"This book provides a timely, up to date review of research on family conflict, particularly interparental conflict, and child adjustment. Among the many attractive features of the book are the attention given to the child's perspective, discussion of how diverse methodologies can advance understanding, and clear guidelines for how the research can be used to inform parent education and prevention programs. This volume will be a valuable resource for researchers in family, developmental, and clinical psychology as well as scholars in family sociology, communication studies, and social work." - Frank D. Fincham, University of Illinois, USA

"For more than 50 years, it has been known that marital discord and child behavior problems frequently co-occur within the same family. Why this association obtains has become a central focus of inquiry in a variety of fields of study, including developmental and clinical psychology. For the past decade, E. Mark Cummings has been a leader in this area of investigation, breaking ground with new investigatory techniques as well as original questions deserving of empirical and theoretical attention. In this volume, Cummings integrates his work on children's responses to inter-parental conflict and on the conditions under which such interpersonal discord does and does not undermine infants', children's, and adolescents' emotional well being with that pertaining to divorce, attachment, psychopathology, parenting, and child development more generally. In so doing, he succeeds in tying together areas of inquiry regarding family functioning and child development and dysfunction that all too frequently are discussed and considered in isolation. As a result, understanding of numerous concerns of clinical and developmental practitioners and researchers is substantially advanced in ways that should facilitate clinical treatment as well as scientific investigation. There can be little doubt that Cummings' careful and thorough scholarly analysis and synthesis will have long-lasting impact on those concerned with the well-being of children and families." - Jay Belsky, Professor of Human Development, Penn State University, USA

About the Author

E. Mark Cummings, Ph.D., is Professor of Psychology at West Virginia University. His numerous publications focus on the functioning of children in the family, and the significance of the family for children's adjustment and development. He is particularly concerned with the importance of emotional relationships and expressions. His work has been featured on 20/20, USA Today, CNN, and in the Washington Post and Parent's Magazine, among other media.

Patrick Davies, M.A., is a doctoral student at West Virginia University. His work and research interest focuses on the development of children within families.

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Guilford Press; 1 edition (February 18, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898623030
• ISBN-13: 978-0898623031
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,168,823 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent overview of an important topic, May 3, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Children and Marital Conflict: The Impact of Family Dispute and Resolution (Paperback)

I think that this book lays out the critical issues in understanding the consequences of marital conflict on the lives of children. In my opinion, the balance of theory -- to get you thinking -- and actual research findings -- so that you know the big picture of what is really going with children -- is great. I disagree heartily with the previous reviewer that this book is lightweight. Also the citations are NOT just gratuitous "I'm justifying what I just said." They are also there to suggest to an interested reader **further food for thought.** That is an important distinction.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars lightweight review of recent research, March 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Children and Marital Conflict: The Impact of Family Dispute and Resolution (Paperback)

This is a good introduction to the topic. It contains some interesting points. One is that even very young children are affected by marital discord. Another is that exposure to discord is likely to make a child more, not less, sensitive to it.

The book has its drawbacks. It's repetitive and heavy on fluffy citations, like "How couples handle differences is also important in marriages (Margolin, 1979; Markman & Kraft, 1989)." (p. 21). Do you really need someone else to back up an assertion that how couples handle differences is "important"?

Another example: "Spousal disengagement and withdrawal are associated with current marital distress [three citations follow]." If such statements of the vague and obvious were left out this book would be even slimmer than it is. These statements are the givens which made me want to read the book, to find out the why and how.

5.0 out of 5 stars very good information and great research, November 19, 2011

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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Children and Marital Conflict: The Impact of Family Dispute and Resolution (Paperback)

I purchased this book to use for my psychology class for writing about impact on marital conflict. this worked perfectly and had all of the information that I needed. very good writing, easy to read, and very helpful.