Marital discord and child behaviour problems: their relationship in normal and clinic-referred children

Abstract

The Incidence of marital discord within intact families has reached alarming proportions. To date, in South Africa, there has been no published research on the relationship between marital discord in intact families and child behaviour problems. The present study investigated this relationship in normal and clinic-referred children. It was hypothesised that marital discord would be related to conduct problems in boys and to anxiety problems in girls, Further, different aspects of marital discord were expected to be related to different behaviour problems in boys and girls. The normal sample was obtained from several private schools and the clinic sample from a child guidance clinic, all of which are in the Johannesburg area. All subjects were volunteers. Parents rated their children's behaviour on the Revised Behaviour Problem Checklist and their own marriages on several v 11 established marital relations inventories. Although not all of the Hypotheses receive positive support, the results show that there is an association between marital discord and child behaviour problems. In many instances, however, the obtained relationships differ markedly from the expected relationships. The expected sex differences in child behaviour problems associated with marital discord are reversed, with girls displaying more conduct problems and boys displaying more anxiety problems. A ney association is also revealed. It appears that even interparental verbal aouse, and not necessarily physical abuse as was previously thought, is associated with withdrawal reactions in children. Possible explanations for these findings are offered. Implications for intervention and methodological refinements for future research are discussed.