Los adolescentes y el conflicto interparental destructivoimpacto en la percepción del sistema familiar y diferencias según el tipo de familia, la edad y el sexo de los adolescentes

Abstract

We studied the perceptions of interparental conflict and its long term effects on emotions, behaviours and cognitions in a sample of 510 Spanish adolescents. The instruments used were the Children’s Perception of Interparental Conflict Scale [CPIC] (Grych, Seid & Fincham, 1992) and the Security in the Family System Scale [SIFS] (Forman & Davies, 2005). CPIC evaluates the nature of conflict and its contextual variables. SIFS measures the security in the family system, the preoccupation and the disengagement of children. We have found that the more destructive interparental conflict happens (more intense, frequent and unsolved), more guilty, threatened, triangulized, worried and insecure children feel, more useless their attempts to solve parental problems are and more disengage from interparental disagreements. There are differences between single mother families and nuclear families. These depict that post divorce conflict has a great impact on children. In this case, it is more stable and parents are less efficient in solving it, so children feel more insecure. Our data show that, with age, there is an increase in children’s insecurity and that girls disengage more than boys when facing interparental conflict.