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Interparental Conflict and Adolescents’ Relational Aggression and Loneliness: The Mediating Role of Maternal Psychological Control

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Abstract

Research has shown that frequent, intense, and poorly resolved conflict between parents relates to adolescents’ adjustment problems but the mechanisms that explain such a link have not been fully uncovered. In this prospective study, we relied on the spillover hypothesis and investigated through an integrated multi-informant model whether maternal psychological control would account for the associations between interparental conflict and adolescents’ relational aggression and loneliness. Participants were 527 Turkish adolescents (M age = 14.36 years, SD = 0.33) and 307 mothers (M age = 41.18 years, SD = 4.47). Analyses through structural equation modeling indicated that interparental conflict (as assessed by both the adolescents and their mothers) related positively to maternal psychological control (as assessed again by both of them) which in turn predicted adolescent-reported relational aggression and loneliness, 8 months later. These findings are in line with the spillover hypothesis and show that dysfunctional relationships between parents are related to poor parenting practices and in turn to adolescents’ maladjustment.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Hacettepe University, Beytepe Campus, Cankaya, Ankara, 06800, Turkey

    Aylin Koçak & Zehra Uçanok

  2. Department of Psychology, TED University, Ankara, Turkey

    Athanasios Mouratidis & Melike Sayıl

  3. Department of Psychology, Cumhuriyet University, Ankara, Turkey

    Yeliz Kındap-Tepe

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  1. Aylin Koçak
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  2. Athanasios Mouratidis
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  3. Melike Sayıl
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  4. Yeliz Kındap-Tepe
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  5. Zehra Uçanok
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Correspondence to Aylin Koçak.

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Koçak, A., Mouratidis, A., Sayıl, M. et al. Interparental Conflict and Adolescents’ Relational Aggression and Loneliness: The Mediating Role of Maternal Psychological Control. J Child Fam Stud 26, 3546–3558 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-0854-x

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