Interweaving Threads: Untangling the Moderating Relationship of Parent-Child Conflict and Closeness in the Association Between Interparental Conflict and Emotion Regulation.

Abstract

The capacity to regulate emotions is central to children's physical, emotional, and mental well-being as they develop. The influence of adverse childhood experiences on diminished emotion regulation (ER) has been linked to internalizing and externalizing problem behaviours in both children and adolescents. This cross-sectional study, including 479 Canadian emerging adults aged 17-19 years, examined how exposure to different levels of interparental conflict (IPC) during childhood was associated with ER (i.e., expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal) during emerging adulthood, and how parent-child closeness and parent-child conflict moderated this link. Findings revealed that at higher levels of parent-child closeness, IPC was associated with increased expressive suppression, while there were no significant differences in expressive suppression at lower levels of parent-child closeness. Similarly, IPC was more strongly associated with reduced cognitive reappraisal in the context of high parent-child conflict compared to low conflict. Findings from this work will inform interventional therapeutic and counselling practices to support the well-being of children and families.