Parents' hostility in dyadic marital and triadic family settings and children's behavior problems

The authors examined the relation between parents' hostility during conflic t-focused discussions and child behavior problems. Parents engaged in 3 dis cussions: a dyadic marital discussion of marital disagreements, a dyadic ma rital discussion of child-related disagreements, and a triadic family discu ssion with the child about the child-related disagreements. Eighty-nine 2-p arent community families with a child aged 9-13 years participated. A signi ficant 3-way interaction between interparental hostility, parent-to-child h ostility, and child sex accounted for variance in children's behavior probl ems. Among boys, higher levels of parent-to-child hostility during family d iscussions exacerbated the effects of interparental hostility on boys' adju stment. Thus, exposure to higher levels of both interparental and parent-to -child hostility may put boys at risk for developing internalizing and exte rnalizing behavior problems.