MIAMI UNIVERSITY The Graduate School Certificate for Approving the Dissertation We hereby approve the dissertation of Carolyn R. Shainheit Candidate for the Degree: Doctor of Philosophy ______________________________________ Director Margaret Wright, Ph.D. ______________________________________ Reader Elizabeth Kiel-Luebbe, Ph.D. ______________________________________ Reader Aaron Luebbe, Ph.D. ______________________________________ Graduate School Representative Robert Burke, Ph.D. ABSTRACT EXPOSURE TO CONSTRUCTIVE AND DESTRUCTIVE INTERPARENTAL CONFLICT AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO INTERPERSONAL FUNCTIONING by Carolyn R. Shainheit Conflict is an inevitable component of marital relationships. However, conflict can occur in constructive or destructive forms, each of which impacts children exposed to these conflicts in different ways. Previous research suggests that children’s exposure to interparental conflict is associated with later psychological adjustment, with exposure to constructive conflict being related to healthy (or positive) functioning and exposure to destructive conflict being linked to maladaptation. Importantly, much of the prior research has explored children’s adjustment in terms of externalizing and internalizing problems, neglecting other indicators of adjustment such as interpersonal/relational functioning. Grounded in interpersonal theory, the present study examines how exposure to parents’ constructive or destructive conflicts relates to individuals’ interpersonal/relational adjustment. Structural equation modeling was used to explore the relationships among exposure to constructive and destructive interparental conflict, emotional insecurity, and interpersonal functioning. It was found that exposure to constructive interparental conflict predicted reduced emotional insecurity, while exposure to destructive interparental conflict predicted greater emotional insecurity. Exposure to both constructive and destructive interparental conflict directly predicted fewer interpersonal problems related to hostile dominance, as well as greater capacities for empathic connection. Exposure to constructive and destructive interparental conflict did not directly predict interpersonal problems related to friendly submission, or the adaptive outcome of relationship security. Emotional insecurity fully mediated the relationships between constructive and destructive interparental conflict and relationship security. Also, emotional insecurity partially mediated the relationships among constructive and destructive interparental conflict and interpersonal problems due to hostile dominance, and fully mediated the relationships among constructive and destructive interparental conflict and friendly submission. Finally, it was found that gender moderated the two models. Men who were exposed to parents’ destructive conflicts and who also reported greater emotional insecurity were more likely to act out in aggressive, hostile, controlling and dominant ways. Suggestions for marital and family interventions designed to promote more constructive conflict management and to foster emotional security within the family are provided. ! EXPOSURE TO CONSTRUCTIVE AND DESTRUCTIVE INTERPARENTAL CONFLICT AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO INTERPERSONAL FUNCTIONING A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of Miami University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Psychology by Carolyn R. Shainheit Miami University Oxford, Ohio 2015 Dissertation Advisor: Margaret O’Dougherty Wright ! ! TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………. 1 Hypotheses ……………………………………………………………………………………....... 14 Method ………………………………………………………………………………………....... 14 Participants ………………………………………………………………………………………. 14 Procedure …………………………………………………………………………………………. 15 Measures ………………………………………………………………......……………………... 15 Data Analyses ………………………………………………………………………………….. 19 Preliminary Analyses ………………………...…………………………………………………. 19 Confirmatory Factor Analyses ………………………………......…………….……………… 20 Test of the Full Measurement Models …………………..……………………………………. 22 . Structural Equation Models – Total Sample …………........………………………………… 23 Discussion ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 28 Limitations and Future Directions …………………………………….……………………..….. 37 Implications ……………………………………………………………………………………... 38 References ………………………..……………………………………………………………… 41 Table 1 ……………………………………………………………………………………..……. 47 Hypothesized Models ……………………………………........………………………………… 48 Proposed Models ……………………………………….……………………………………….. 49 Appendix A ……………………………………………………………………………………… 58 Appendix B ……………………………………………………………………………………… 62 ii! ! LIST OF TABLES 1. Table 1. Means, standard deviations, and intercorrelations among variables ……… 47 iii! ! LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Proposed one-factor interparental conflict model ……………………………. 51 Figure 2. Proposed two-factor interparental conflict model …………………………….. 51 Figure 3. Alternative one-factor interparental conflict model ………………………….. 52 Figure 4. Alternative two-factor interparental conflict model …………………………... 52 Figure 5. Measurement model of the relationship between exposure ………………….. 53 to constructive and destructive interparental conflict and later adaptive interpersonal functioning. Figure 6. Measurement model of the relationship between exposure to ……………….. 54 constructive and destructive interparental conflict and later maladaptive interpersonal functioning. Figure 7. Structural model of the relationship between exposure to ……………………. 55 constructive and destructive interparental conflict and later adaptive interpersonal functioning. Figure 8. Structural model of the relationship between exposure to ……………………. 56 constructive and destructive interparental conflict and later maladaptive interpersonal functioning. Figure 9. Gender as a moderator of the model explaining the relationship ……………... 57 between exposure to constructive and destructive interparental conflict and adaptive interpersonal functioning. Figure A1. Proposed emotional security latent construct ………………………………... 58 Figure A2. Proposed empathic connection latent construct ……………………………... 59 Figure A3. Proposed relationship security latent construct ……………………………... 60 Figure A4. Proposed hostile dominance latent construct ……………………………….. 61 Figure A5. Proposed friendly submissive latent construct ………………………………. 61 iv! ! DEDICATION I would like to dedicate my dissertation to my family and friends. Your love, support, and encouragement have always carried me through. I could not have accomplished this without you. v! ! ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my sincerest gratitude to my advisor and dissertation chair, Dr. Margaret Wright. I am incredibly thankful to have you as my advisor. I have learned so much from you and know that your guidance, support, genuine care and belief in me have allowed me to grow professionally and personally. I see your influence in my clinical work, the way I think critically about research, and in the way that I believe in myself. If it is not already obvious, I regard you with great respect and fondness, and will carry with me all that I have learned from you. I would also like to thank my amazing dissertation committee, whose support and encouragement enabled me to embark on this project. I would like to especially thank Dr. Aaron Luebbe for lending his statistical expertise, teaching complex statistics in a way that makes sense, and sharing in my excitement about models terminating normally. Additionally, I would like to thank Dr. Elizabeth Kiel-Luebbe and Dr. Robert Burke for their thoughtful insights and suggestions, willingness to provide support, and ability to help me think about this project from new perspectives and angles. I could not have asked for a better committee – it was not only an honor to work with you, but it was also fun. Finally, I would like to acknowledge my family for their unending support, love, and faith in me. Your words of encouragement provided me with that extra bit of motivation so that I could accomplish this and so many other things in my life. I am the person that I am today because of you. I would also like to thank my partner for his love, support, and reassurance, and for always providing me with fun and laughter in life. Last but not least, I need to thank my dog, whose unconditional excitement and love for me was always an effective remedy for a long day. vi! ! Exposure to Constructive and Destructive Interparental Conflict and Its Relationship to Interpersonal Functioning Conflict commonly occurs and is a normal experience in marital relationships (Cummings and Davies, 2002). This is especially so if one conceptualizes conflict broadly to include all disputes, disagreements, or expressions of negative emotions (Cummings and Davies, 2002). While conflict is inevitable in marriage, the way in which it takes form differentiates between whether the conflict is constructive or destructive in nature. Constructive conflict may include behaviors such as calm discussion, problem solving, support, humor, affection, compromise, apology, agreement to disagree or discuss later, or changing the topic (Cummings, Goeke-Morey, Papp, & Dukewich, 2002; McCoy, Cummings, and Davies, 2009). In contrast, destructive conflict includes behaviors such as physical aggression toward one’s partner or objects, use of threat, verbal and nonverbal hostility, pursuit, withdrawal, and submission. Other dimensions of conflict meriting consideration include: frequency of conflict, duration, intensity, chronicity,