# “Interparental Conflict and Parenting”

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER · 2020 · $510,130

## Abstract

Given the hierarchical nature of family structure, family systems theory places the interparental relationship as
the cornerstone of the family unit (Cox & Paley, 2001). Although disagreements between parents are a regular
and normal part of family life, entrenched, chronic, and hostile disputes are proposed to undermine family
functioning. To understand how interparental conflict reverberates throughout the family system, process
models of interparental discord have focused on identifying how interparental conflict “spills over” to influence
interactions within the parent– child system (Easterbrooks & Emde, 1988). Although a generation of research
has been instrumental in cataloguing “spillover” between the interparental and parent-child subsystems, little is
known about the mechanisms underlying this relationship. The criticality of process-oriented research in this
area is underscored by the high proportion of children who are exposed to interparental hostility and
aggression (i.e., National Survey of Children's Health, 2003), with estimates suggesting that between 20% to
40% of parents who live together report significant, clinical levels of distress in their relationships (Cummings &
Davies, 2010). Furthermore, experts place emphasis on the clinical value of identifying the etiology of
parenting difficulties within high conflict homes (Emery, Fincham, & Cummings, 1992).
 As a first step toward advancing a process-oriented model of spillover the application addresses the
following specific aims: (1) test a cascading family process whereby experiences with hostile interparental
conflict increases parenting difficulties by undermining parental self-regulatory abilities; (2) examine whether
parental neurobiological reactivity to interparental conflict mediates current and prospective associations
among interparental conflict and parenting difficulties; (3) identify how parental explicit and implicit
representations of the protective and supportive qualities of their intimate relationship may serve as
explanatory processes underlying the spillover of distress from the interparental to parent-child relationship,
and (4) consistent with calls underscoring the significance of understanding the relative role of mediational
mechanisms in process models, specifically test the distinctiveness of each of the three pathways as
mechanisms of spillover.
 To address these objectives, this application will follow a sample of 250 parents and their 3-4 year-old
child over three annual measurement occasions. The multi-method, multi-informant, and multi-level
measurement battery combined with powerful latent based quantitative approaches will generate authoritative
tests of novel and theoretically guided hypotheses regarding the robustness of multi-level mechanisms
underlying spillover from interparental relation dynamics to parenting.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9982091
- **Project number:** 5R01HD087761-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Patrick T Davies
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $510,130
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-08-05 → 2021-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9982091

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9982091, “Interparental Conflict and Parenting” (5R01HD087761-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9982091. Licensed CC0.

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