Dimensions of marital conflict and children's social problem-solving skills

Marital conflict has been shown to be negatively associated with child func tioning. This study examined the relationships of negative and positive asp ects of marital conflict and frequency of conflict with children's social p roblem-solving skills, as measured by effectiveness of alternative solution s. Mothers, fathers, and children reported on marital conflict. Mothers' hi gher negative conflict characteristics, in the context of greater frequency of conflict, and less frequent positive conflict characteristics, in the c ontext of lower frequency of conflict, were significantly associated with t heir children's less effective social problem-solving solutions. For father s, none of the negative but one of the positive conflict characteristics wa s significantly associated with their children's more effective social prob lem-solving solutions, regardless of the frequency of marital conflict. Chi ldren's perceptions of their parents' conflict were not significant predict ors of their social problem-solving skills. Findings are interpreted in the framework of children's modeling aggressive conflict.