Children's emotional reactivity to interadult nonverbal conflict expressions.

Full Abstract

The authors investigated children's responses to nonverbal expressions of conflict. Reactions of 3 groups of children (ranging in age from 6 to 16 years) to multiple forms of nonverbal conflict behaviors expressed in videotaped simulations of interadult disputes were examined. Results indicated that children make few discriminations between different forms of nonverbal conflict behaviors and that their reactions to nonverbal conflict are similar to their reactions to verbal conflict. Adults' expressions of fear elicited the most negative emotional responses from children, suggesting that children react to the meaning of conflict expressions and that expressions of fear may represent the greatest emotional security risks to children. Implications of these results for a theoretical model of the effects of forms of marital conflict on children are discussed (P. T. Davies & E. M. Cummings, 1994).

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Author information

Author/s: De, Arth-Pendley Gina (AP); Cummings, E Mark (EM);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA. gvpendley(-atsign-)msn.com

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Clinical Trial; Journal Article; Randomized Controlled Trial

Journal: The Journal of genetic psychology (J Genet Psychol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Mar; vol 163 (issue 1) : pp 97-111

Dates: Created 2002/04/15; Completed 2002/10/09; Revised 2007/03/30;

PMID: 11952268, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

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