Adolescent Research Review

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40894-019-00112-2

NARRATIVE REVIEW

Interparental Conflict and Adolescent Adjustment: A Narrative Review

of Bidirectional Pathways
Emily G. Simpson1,2 

Received: 5 November 2018 / Accepted: 2 February 2019

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019

Abstract
Adolescent research has traditionally focused on adolescent adjustment outcomes in the context of interparental conflict,
rather than jointly examining predictive relationships between adolescent adjustment and the interparental dynamic. Given
that sub-systems within the family are interwoven in reciprocal relationships, examination of these more complex pathways
serves to inform developmental research in both the areas of adolescent adjustment and family wellbeing. Utilizing a family
systems framework, this narrative review examines bidirectional pathways, including adolescent psychological adjustment
effects on interparental conflict and conflict-driven effects on adolescent adjustment. In doing so, the lifespan and contextual
factors of parenting an adolescent are examined, for which evidence suggests that pubertal development of the adolescent,
adolescent adjustment, and the lifespan timing of interparental relationships may pose unique risks for interparental conflict.
Interparental conflict pathways exacerbating adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems are also examined. Media-
tional factors, such as cognitive-contextual variables, are reviewed. Finally, evidence for bidirectional spillover, triangulation,
and developmental cascades is evaluated, and future recommendations issued, including the need to emphasize the bidirec-
tional pathways and other relevant moderating factors linking interparental conflict and adolescent psychosocial functioning.

Keywords  Interparental conflict · Adolescent adjustment · Bidirectional pathways

Introduction 2013). Parents may also experience stress associated with

Adolescence is a salient period for the development of inter-
nalizing and externalizing problems, setting the stage for
these years as a time of sensitivity to psychosocial stressors
(March-Llanes et al. 2017). For adolescents, interparental
conflict may have long-term negative effects on adjustment
(Van Doorn et  al. 2007). Conflict between parents may
cause psychological distress for adolescents in addition to
modeling maladaptive interaction (Silva et al. 2016). These
concerns are especially relevant for adolescents, given their
on-going refinement of regulatory abilities and navigation
of increasingly complex social relationships (Wrzus et al.
* Emily G. Simpson
Emily.2.Simpson@uconn.edu
1
Department of Human Development and Family Studies,
University of Connecticut, 348 Mansfield Road, Unit 1058,
Storrs, CT 06269, USA
2
Center for Behavioral Health, Connecticut Children’s
Medical Center, 282 Washington Street, Hartford, CT 06106,
USA
adolescent developmental transitions, which may be exac-
erbated by normative features of the parents’ adult devel-
opmental timing. For example, parenting an adolescent at
midlife maybe be impacted by caring for elderly parents
(Heckhausen 2001). It may also be impacted by issues sur-
rounding maintaining work/family balance and achieving
career goals (Hill et al. 2014). Although partnered rela-
tionships experience normative declines over time, hav-
ing children is associated with a steeper decrease in both
relationship functioning and communication quality (Doss
et al. 2009). These declines are associated with increased
conflict, as the first-born child’s pubertal development has
been linked with less positive and more negative interac-
tions between parents (Cui et al. 2007). These transactional
pathways highlight the need to examine bidirectional rela-
tionships between adolescent adjustment and interparental
conflict. Examining how the interparental context affects
and is affected by the adolescent’s psychosocial adjustment
is therefore increasingly vital for understanding adolescent
adjustment over time.

13
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Despite such complexity, there is a paucity of integra-
tive research examining both parent-driven effects on youth
adjustment and child-driven effects on interparental dynam-
ics (Heinrichs et al. 2010). Although focusing on family-
driven effects is essential for youth-oriented prevention
efforts, such a focus largely de-emphasizes bidirectional
relationships between interparental conflict and adolescents
and the potential for negative feedback loops. Given the sen-
sitive period of adolescent development for adjustment dif-
ficulties (March-Llanes et al. 2017), as well as the unique
adult developmental context of interparental conflict, bidi-
rectional research is critical to the advancement of adoles-
cent research. However, existing reviews and research have
focused predominately on parent-driven effects on youth
(Cummings and Davies 2010). The limited extant bidirec-
tional research has more broadly focused on co-parenting
rather than interparental conflict (Majdandžić et al. 2012),
or has largely examined children rather than adolescents
(Heinrichs et al. 2010). This narrative bidirectional review
addresses those gaps by illuminating transactional pathways
linking interparental conflict and adjustment. Furthermore,
this review’s focus on adolescence examines relationships
with interparental conflict during a vulnerable period for
internalizing and externalizing problems (March-Llanes
et al. 2017).
Family Systems Theory and Interparental Conflict
Family systems models highlight how adolescent develop-
ment must be understood within the relational context of
the family (Broderick 1993). For parents and adolescents,
interparental conflict has implications for the parental dyad
as well as parent-adolescent relationships and adolescent
adjustment (Rothenberg et al. 2017). These relationships are
simultaneously distinct and yet interwoven, as qualities or
characteristics of one subsystem, such as interparental con-
flict, are likely to impact another relationship, and vice versa
(Cox and Paley 2003). Developmental theory has postulated
multiple pathways through which interparental conflict and
adolescent adjustment impact one another. Spillover theory
states that aspects of one relationship may transfer over into
other relationships (Cui and Conger 2008). For example,
parent frustration following conflict with a co-parent may
transfer over into frustration when interacting with the ado-
lescent. Interparental conflict may therefore spill over into
the parent-adolescent dynamic, and inversely, one parent-
adolescent relationship may spillover into the interparen-
tal relationship. More directly, triangulation theory posits
that interparental conflict may affect adolescent adjustment
through involvement of the adolescent into the interparen-
tal conflict (Fosco and Bray 2016). In such instances, the
adolescent may feel pressured to side with one parent over
the other, creating tension or hostility between familial
13
Adolescent Research Review
subsystems (Schrodt and Shimkowski 2013). Finally, devel-
opmental cascade models elaborate on longitudinal pro-
cesses through which negative developmental characteris-
tics, such as frequent interparental conflict, may persist over
time and across domains (Masten and Cicchetti 2010). As
with spillover, developmental cascades provide a framework
for understanding how issues within a specific subsystem,
such as interparental conflict, may translate into overall
poorer adolescent adjustment over time. In such instances,
the negative impact of interparental conflict manifests in
related adolescent adjustment outcomes, such as externaliz-
ing or internalizing problems, demonstrating a trickle-down
effect of the earlier interparental conflict through impaired
adolescent regulatory and emotional processes (Davies et al.
2016).
Interparental conflict may also be impacted through
developmental cascades. Poor adolescent adjustment can
exacerbate interparental conflict, especially via pathways
of interparental disagreement about appropriate parental
approaches to address adolescent difficulties (Helland et al.
2017). Taken together, family systems theory provides a
useful and salient framework for examining associations
between interparental conflict and adolescent adjustment.
In particular, this framework enables examination of mecha-
nisms such as triangulation, spillover, and developmental
cascades (Salafia et al. 2014); however, other cognitive and
appraisal models also address pathways for such relation-
ships (Khaleque et al. 2016).
Cognitive‑Contextual Framework
Cognitive-contextual models, such as those proposed by
Grych and Fincham (1990), address how the elements of
exposure to a stressor, such as interparental conflict, may
relate to subsequent adjustment through a two-part process.
First, the stressor is appraised by the individual as threat-
ening or problematic (Lucas-Thompson et al. 2017). Next,
meaning-making is employed in order to parse the source
and purpose of the stressor (Pryor and Pattison 2007). For
instance, models of adolescent and adult adjustment high-
light that emotional activation in the presence of a threat,
such as conflict, depends upon individual variation and
susceptibility to attend to such stimuli as threatening (Kim
et al. 2008). Indeed, research has demonstrated that threat
appraisal or threat activation moderates the relationship
between a potentially ambiguous stimuli and reaction (Fosco
and Grych 2010).
Within the family system, adolescent perception of
interparental conflict as threatening the safety or emotional
security of the family may be especially salient, given the
interconnected nature of the interparental and adolescent
subsystems (Suh et  al. 2016). Relatedly, parent percep-
tion of adolescent psychosocial adjustment difficulties as
Adolescent Research Review
challenging the equilibrium of the family may similarly
have a deleterious effect on that parent and the interparental
relationship (Steinberg and Silk 2002). In such situations,
gender differences may emerge, as adolescent girls may be
more sensitive than adolescent boys to potentially family-
disrupting messages (Ohannessian et al. 2016). Research
suggests that girls and women may be more susceptible to
negative family-driven effects, in part because of gender-
socialization messages around the value of emotional inti-
macy and closeness (Chan et al. 2013). In such instances,
the application of cognitive-contextual frameworks may help
parse complex gendered-relationships between stressors,
such as interparental conflict, and adjustment.
Interparental Conflict
As a social phenomenon, interparental conflict can take
many forms, ranging from aggressive arguing and slam-
ming of doors to subtler tension and less vocal disagree-
ment. It may be short-lived or chronic, mild or intense.
Indeed, dimensions of measurement utilized by extant
research include conflict frequency, intensity, content, and
resolution (Zimet and Jacob 2001). Despite this variability,
research has only just begun to unpack the implications of
adolescent psychosocial adjustment on interparental conflict
characteristics and trajectories (McCoy et al. 2013). Given
that aspects of child adjustment, including problem behavior,
have been linked with parent relationship quality, adoles-
cent adjustment is likely also a predictor of interparental
relations, emphasizing the need to examine how adolescent
development relates to interparental conflict (Zemp et al.
2016).
Types of Conflict
Research which has focused on nuanced operationalization
of interparental conflict has demonstrated links between
different forms of conflict and adjustment (Shimkowski
and Schrodt 2012). Adolescent depression, for example,
has been associated with covert interparental conflict,
whereas adolescent externalizing problems have been
associated with more overt interparental conflict (Brad-
ford et  al. 2008). Other research suggests adolescent
internalizing problems broadly may be more closely tied
to overt rather than covert interparental conflict (Stutz-
man et al. 2011). The bidirectional implications of such
associations are twofold. First, these findings suggest that
parents engaging in more conspicuous arguments with
one another may discourage regulatory patterns related to
managing impulsivity or self-control, but that even more
restrained conflict may still negatively affect adolescent
wellbeing. Second, it is possible that adolescent external-
izing or internalizing problems may stress the functioning
of the interparental dyad, leading to more emotionally-
charged conflict episodes, reinforcing a negative feedback
loop between conflict and adjustment. Indeed, less inter-
parental dysphoria has been linked with better adolescent
adjustment (Davies et al. 2016), suggesting that it is not
only conflict per se, but also the affective quality of the
conflict, which proves problematic for families. Relatedly,
conflict characterized by interparental-boundary problems
has been associated with hostility between parents and in
parent-adolescent relationships, and adolescent report of
interparental verbal aggression and poor conflict resolu-
tion have also been linked to poorer adjustment (Fosco
et al. 2014). Such findings highlight the need for research-
ers to contextualize interparental conflict and adolescent
adjustment within the sub-systems of the family.
Source of Conflict
As with characteristics of the conflict, different sources
of interparental conflict may have different ramifications
for the family. Common topics of interparental conflict
include parenting, household or family responsibilities,
and communication difficulties (Papp et al. 2009). In par-
ticular, conflict over child-rearing has been linked with
poorer adolescent adjustment, including externalizing
problems (Helland et al. 2017). Adjustment difficulties
may exacerbate interparental conflict and conflict over
child-rearing strategies in particular (Cui et  al. 2007).
Given that conflict related to children or child-rearing has
been cited both as a common source of conflict between
parents and a leading reason for seeking couples’ therapy,
implications of adolescent adjustment for interparental
conflict are important to investigate.
Within the context of the family system, disagreement
over optimal child-rearing practices may cause conflict
between parents. Reactively, adolescent problem behavior
may further polarize parental child-rearing attitudes, as
perceived failure of a parenting strategy or set of strat-
egies may generate disharmony within the interparental
subsystem. As adolescence presents unique challenges for
parents, this developmental time may be one of particular
stress for the interparental subsystem, as parents may disa-
gree over how best to navigate the increasing autonomy
and independence of the adolescent years (McHale and
Lindahl 2011). Evidence suggests that adolescent external-
izing problems in particular predict marital conflict and
parent distress (Salafia et al. 2008). In addition, other sali-
ent sources of interparental conflict may include allocation
of resources, such as funds, or the interparental relation-
ship itself, but such specific sources of conflict have been
less examined within the interparental conflict and adoles-
cent adjustment research.
13

Adult Development Timing and Parenting Issues
Parenting an adolescent also occurs within a lifespan con-
text for mothers and fathers. Although parenting an ado-
lescent may occur across a wide age range, the example of
parenting at midlife may become an increasing meaning-
ful context to consider, given the rising mean age of first
birth in the United States was 26.3 years for mothers in
2014 (Mathews and Hamilton 2016) and 28.9 years for
fathers in 2015 (Khandwala et al. 2017), respectively, plac-
ing parents approximately at mid-life during the child’s
adolescence. This timing highlights the need to contextual-
ize parenting within the developmental period of parents
(Steinberg and Steinberg 2000); however, most research
has emphasized parent-driven child effects, with markedly
less examination of how parenting an adolescent relates
to parental development, regardless of the parent’s adult
developmental period (Whiteman et al. 2007). How the
experience of parenting an adolescent impacts interparen-
tal conflict within the context of adult development timing
is relatively unknown; however, studies examining more
general parental effects may help to shed light on the topic
(Whiteman et al. 2007). For example, such research indi-
cates that conflict increases around the first-born child’s
pubertal development, particularly with first-born boys
(Whiteman et al. 2007). Adolescent boys may engage in
more externalizing behavior than girls, and it may be that
such behavior makes adolescent boy’s adjustment difficul-
ties more salient than girl’s difficulties for parents (Villo-
das et al. 2014). These adolescent externalizing problems,
including aggression and risk-taking behavior, have been
reported to exacerbate interparental conflict (Baril et al.
2007). It is possible that these changes may be particularly
problematic for co-parenting couples at midlife.
Over time, partner report of love and satisfaction are
likely to experience normative declines, regardless of par-
enting, while conflict remains relatively stable (Whiteman
et al. 2007). These normative changes in partner dynam-
ics may inhibit the ability of parents to work together
in addressing a child-rearing stressor, such as pubertal
changes in externalizing problems. The combination of
decreasing love and satisfaction, coupled with stable
conflict, may make a midlife timing of a child’s pubertal
development one of increased vulnerability for parental
conflict. Indeed, marital love has been reported to mediate
the link between adolescent risk behavior and co-parenting
broadly (Baril et al. 2007), further highlighting the extent
to which the context of the adolescent-parenting marital
dyad confers vulnerabilities for both adolescents and par-
ents. In light of these pathways, adolescent adjustment can
be understood as both a predictor of interparental conflict
and as a developmental outcome.
13
Adolescent Research Review
Adolescent Adjustment
Addressing adolescent adjustment in the context of interpa-
rental conflict, research has largely examined factors related
to cognitive-contextual factors, such as appraisal, and out-
comes such as internalizing, and externalizing problems.
Appraisal variables include gate-keeping mechanisms of
cognitive activation and awareness as well as more mean-
ing-making constructs such as self-blame (Grych and Fin-
cham 1990). Similarly, more implicit emotional activation
of security speaks to the less deliberative, more autonomic
processes which may moderate the impact of interparental
conflict on adolescent adjustment. Research examining these
cognitive-contextual components is reviewed first, followed
by review and discussion of internalizing and externalizing
outcomes.
Cognitive‑Contextual Factors: Threat Appraisal
and Emotional Security
Research supports the role of adolescent security in the
interparental subsystem in mediating the relationship
between interparental conflict and adolescent adjustment
(Davies et al. 2014). Relatedly, perceived threat of inter-
parental conflict to the family’s wellbeing has also been
linked with poorer adolescent adjustment (Fosco and Bray
2016), including associations with internalizing problems
(Schlomer et al. 2015) and externalizing problems (Kim
et al. 2008). Adolescent self-blame or guilt stemming from
interparental conflict has also been linked to poorer ado-
lescent adjustment (Shelton and Harold 2008), including
internalizing problems (Lucas-Thompson et al. 2017) and
externalizing problems (Fear et al. 2009). Inversely, more
engaged coping in the presence of interparental conflict
has been linked with fewer externalizing problems (Tu
et al. 2016), suggesting that cognitive appraisal (Xin et al.
2009) and meaning-making processes (Pryor and Pattison
2007) have the power to ameliorate or exacerbate the effect
of interparental conflict, depending on how the situation is
perceived and interpreted.
Interestingly, genetic markers and physiological indica-
tors of appraisal may also play a role in these cognitive-
contextual factors. Evidence suggests that a dampened stress
response to conflict may be linked with more emotional dis-
tress (Lucas-Thompson 2012) and internalizing problems
(Lucas-Thompson et al. 2017). Genetic sensitivities to inter-
parental conflict moderate psychosocial responses (Schlomer
et al. 2015). Physiological factors such as shorter sleep dura-
tion may also sensitize adolescents to interparental conflict
(Lemola et al. 2012). Other cognitive-contextual factors at
play may include cultural values around conflict within the
family. For example, adolescents from families with a strong
cultural emphasis on harmony, politeness, and civility may
Adolescent Research Review
be more negatively impacted by interparental conflict, as it
is perceived to violate important social norms around fam-
ily interaction patterns (Chung et al. 2009). Such cultural
variation may also speak to moderating appraisal lens fac-
tors, such that adolescents may be sensitized reactively to
interparental conflict by dint of genetics, physiology, ethnic
or cultural values, or other contextual factors. These cogni-
tive-contextual variables address the moderating and mediat-
ing pathways linking interparental conflict with adolescent
adjustment broadly; however, different adjustment outcomes
may also share unique linkages with interparental conflict
(Kim et al. 2008).
Adolescent Internalizing Problems
Interparental conflict has been broadly linked with inter-
nalizing problems over time, including depression (Barton
et al. 2015), anxiety (Suh et al. 2016), and disordered eat-
ing (Salafinia et al. 2014). Interparental conflict has been
linked with greater adolescent depression over time (Barton
et al. 2015). Adolescent depression has been associated with
greater interparental conflict (Cui et al. 2007). Marital qual-
ity and conflict have both been reported to predict adolescent
anxiety over time (Suh et al. 2016). In addition, interparental
conflict has been associated with disordered eating for girls,
both directly and indirectly through poor adolescent-parent
relationship quality (Salafinia et al. 2014). With respect to
ethnic or racial differences in the effects of interparental
conflict on adolescent internalizing problems, findings are
mixed. Research indicates that Latino/a adolescents report
more interparental conflict and more internalizing symptoms
than White adolescents, but that the association between
interparental conflict and adolescent internalizing problems
does not differ for Latino/a and White adolescents (Stutzman
et al. 2011). Similarly, Suh et al. (2016) reported no differ-
ences between White and Mexican–American adolescents
with respect to the impact of interparental conflict on adoles-
cent internalizing problems. For African American adoles-
cents, interparental conflict also predicts adolescent depres-
sion over time (Barton et al. 2015). However, a cross-ethnic
comparison study of Asian American adolescents found a
greater sensitivity to interparental conflict than White ado-
lescents, and the associations with emotional distress, par-
ticularly among Asian adolescents with foreign-born parents
(Chung et al. 2009). Findings highlight that acculturation
differences in particular may be compounding the negative
effects of interparental conflict for Asian American adoles-
cents. Regardless of race, interparental conflict may impact
internalizing problems through generation of emotional dis-
tress, potentially driving negative-affect related maladaptive
coping behaviors. Given the regulatory refinement posited to
occur during the adolescent years (Ahmed et al. 2015), par-
ent modeling of conflict, especially if hostile, unresolved, or
frequent, may reinforce maladaptive coping behaviors, such
as rumination, or elevated anxiety related to uncertainly or
apprehension. In addition to internalizing problems asso-
ciated with interparental conflict, externalizing problems
have also been linked with interparental conflict (Fear et al.
2009).
Adolescent Externalizing Problems
Interparental conflict has been reported to predict increases
in early adolescent aggression, including behavioral prob-
lems, such as frequent fights (Lemola et al. 2012). Relatedly,
non-violent interparental conflict predicted adolescent dating
violence (Tschann et al. 2009). Adolescents diagnosed with
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and those
diagnosed with ADHD and Conduct disorder (CD), were
more likely than peers to report high ratings of interparental
conflict (Wymbs et al. 2008). Interparental conflict has been
linked to risky behavior generally (Baril et al. 2007), and
earlier sexual debut and childbearing in particular (Musick
and Meier 2010). Interparental conflict characterized by
poorly defined interpersonal boundaries has been reported
to predict early adolescent hostility over time (Fosco and
Grych 2010). Adolescent delinquent behaviors, such as tak-
ing an adult’s car for a joy ride without permission, have
also been linked with interparental conflict (Cui et al. 2007).
Further, interparental conflict has also been linked with ado-
lescent substance use, including smoking, binge drinking,
and marijuana use (Musick and Meier 2010). In addition,
overt interparental conflict has been associated with anti-
social behavior directly, and indirectly through impaired
parent–child relations (Bradford et al. 2008). With respect
to ethnic or racial differences in the effects of interparen-
tal conflict on adolescent externalizing problems, findings
are mixed. For example, Benson et al. (2008) reported little
evidence for differences between interparental hostility and
adolescent problem behaviors between African American
and White adolescents, although some differences emerged
for the association between the interparental dynamic and
parenting, such that hostility was more strongly linked to
harsh parenting for African American adolescents. Other
research with African American families has highlighted
the need to examine non-romantic coparenting partner con-
flict, given that many single African American households
are headed by mothers with extended kinship networks of
support (Goodrum et al. 2012). Research with Latino/a fami-
lies suggests that Latino/a adolescents’ externalizing prob-
lems are similarly impacted by interparental conflict, when
compared with White adolescents (Stutzman et al. 2011).
However, other research has not replicated the direct paths
between interparental conflict and substance use found with
White adolescents (Pereyra and Bean 2017). Taken together,
these studies furnish evidence for the deleterious effect of
13

interparental conflict on psychosocial regulatory abilities
during adolescence (Shimkowski et al. 2016), a time when
adolescents are both refining top-down executive functioning
processes and taking on increasingly adult roles (i.e. dating,
driving a car, etc.). In order to understand how interparen-
tal conflict within the marital subsystem affects adolescent
adjustment, it is important to consider evidence for mecha-
nistic pathways linking these subsystems within the family.
Linking Parents and Adolescents
Within a broadly systems-oriented framework of the fam-
ily, multiple focused theories may account for relationships
between interparental conflict and adolescent adjustment.
Spillover theory (Cui and Conger 2008) postulates that trou-
ble within the interparental dyad bleeds across domains,
such that negative affect experienced during interparental
conflict likely carries over into parent-adolescent interac-
tion patterns, effectively replicating suboptimal interaction
patterns first established within the parental dyad within
the parent-adolescent dyad. Existing research supports such
pathways, as parent-adolescent conflict has been reported to
mediate associations between interparental conflict and ado-
lescent adjustment (Chung et al. 2009). Parenting behavior
more generally has similarly been reported to mediate the
link between interparental conflict and adolescent adjust-
ment (Cui and Conger 2008). In particular, research suggests
that increases in harsh control, less parent involvement, and
less parental support for adolescents may help to account for
the spillover between interparental conflict and adolescent
adjustment (Hsieh et al. 2017). As conflict between parents
may deplete cognitive resources and prime negative affect,
even well-intentioned parents may consequently facilitate
spillover from interparental conflict into parenting and ado-
lescent-parent interaction, helping to bridge the gap between
interparental conflict and poorer adolescent adjustment.
There is less research examining how spillover mechanisms
from poor adolescent adjustment may impact interparen-
tal conflict, although systems theories underscore that the
same interconnections may exist for these adolescent-driven
pathway as for parent-driven pathways. It is possible that
the psychological toll of parenting an adolescent with poor
adjustment may similarly deplete cognitive resources, lead-
ing to increased interparental conflict and creating negative
feedback loops.
More directly, triangulation theories argue that adoles-
cent adjustment can be directly impacted through active
involvement within interparental conflict (Fosco and Grych
2010). Existing research also furnishes evidence for trian-
gulation, in addition to spillover theory (Fosco and Bray
2016). For example, adolescents may themselves feel com-
pelled to intervene in interparental conflict. Such interven-
tion may be more likely in the context of parentification,
13
Adolescent Research Review
where adolescents take on more of a parental than child role
within the adolescent-parent relationship (Peris et al. 2008).
However, evidence also suggests that triangulation (Schrodt
and Shimkowski 2013) may also operate in conjunction with
spillover mechanisms, such as impaired parent-adolescent
relations (Fosco and Grych 2010). In particular, contexts
in which triangulation occurs alongside low maternal or
paternal warmth may be especially problematic for adoles-
cent psychosocial adjustment (Etkin et al. 2014). However,
more bidirectional models examining possible feedback
loops between adolescent adjustment and triangulation into
interparental conflict are needed. Recent models have also
examined how cognitive-contextual factors may work in
conjunction with triangulation to augment the relationships
between interparental conflict and adolescent adjustment,
serving to highlight the complexity of examining multiple
subsystems within the family system, an essential framework
for the examination of a phenomenon such as the relation-
ship between interparental conflict and adolescent adjust-
ment (Buehler and Welsh 2009). Although some research
has examined how cognitive contextual factors, such as emo-
tional security, may mediate adolescent-driven pathways to
interparental conflict, results have suggested that these path-
ways may operate more indirectly (Davies et al. 2016). More
research is needed to clarify the role of cognitive-contextual
variables in adolescent adjustment-driven pathways to inter-
parental conflict, and associated feedback loops.
Evidence also supports developmental cascades from
interparental conflict to adolescent adjustment. Over time,
exposure to interparental conflict has been reported to erode
adolescent sense of self-efficacy and well-being, as feelings
of helplessness associated with interparental conflict affect
other developmental domains via impaired global concepts
of self-efficacy (Fosco and Feinberg 2015). However, devel-
opmental cascades linking poor adolescent adjustment with
interparental conflict, and negative feedback loops, remain
less examined (Davies et al. 2016).
Limitations of the Current Research and Future
Directions
It is with the complexity of the family and its subsystems
in mind that recommendations for future research are
issued based on the current state of the research. Chiefly,
more research is needed which contextualizes interpa-
rental conflict and adolescent adjustment within the par-
ents’ developmental timing, including midlife and other
periods of adult development. In order to accomplish
this, researchers need to consider the theoretical implica-
tions of transactional mechanisms linking parent-driven
effects on adolescent adjustment for adolescent-driven
pathways and potential feedback loops. Although fam-
ily systems theory highlights that the interconnectedness
Adolescent Research Review
of family relationships facilitates bidirectional effects,
relevant theory needs to be adapted to help account for
adolescent-driven effects and subsequent feedback loops
(Davies et al. 2016). In particular, researchers need to
identify salient cognitive-contextual factors for adoles-
cent-driven pathways, as the limited research suggests
that the factors identified for parent-driven interparental
conflict effects on adolescents may not operate in the same
way (Davies et al. 2016). Next, although some research
has examined particular sources of interparental conflict,
especially conflict over child-rearing, parsing different
sources of interparental conflict may clarify pathways
linking conflict and adolescent psychosocial adjustment.
For instance, it is possible that interparental conflict over
financial resources or other common stressors may have
less harmful implications for adolescent adjustment than
conflict over child-rearing practices, given that adolescents
may feel less responsible or guilty over non-child related
conflict. More research to clarify the expression of inter-
parental conflict may further delineate pathways through
which adolescent adjustment is impacted. Existing work
suggests that, broadly defined, covert and overt conflict
(Bradford et al. 2008) and destructive and constructive
conflict (Cheung et al. 2016) have different ramifications,
and that even silent conflict can be problematic (Pryor and
Pattison); however, measures tapping precise dimensions
of conflict would serve to illuminate the conflict character-
istics most of interest with respect to adolescent wellbeing.
In addition, many of studies included in this review
relied upon only adolescent report of interparental con-
flict. Although adolescent report of conflict is meaningful,
including multiple reporters may help a nuanced picture of
the family dynamic emerge. For example, do mothers and
fathers consistently report the same conflict, and if not, how
do disparities relate to adolescent adjustment? In addition,
future research should strive to emphasize the bidirectional
relationships between adolescent adjustment and interpa-
rental conflict (Riina and McHale 2014). The existing work
which has emphasized associations has demonstrated lon-
gitudinal connections between conflict and adjustment, and
adolescent effects on the interparental relationship; however,
the extent to which these longitudinal relationships change
or persist with respect to parents’ developmental timing
remains unknown (Davies et al. 2016). Diversity is another
recommendation for future research, as existing work is
largely conducted with predominately white families. In par-
ticular, there is a dearth of research investigating how racial
and ethnic differences may impact adolescent-driven effects
on interparental conflict. Family diversity is also absent from
the current research, as all studies reviewed examined only
heterosexual couples, potentially obscuring how sex-same
parenting dynamics may have unique relationships with ado-
lescent psychosocial wellbeing.
Another issue within the research concerns the lack of
consensus on inclusion and exclusion criteria for parenting
couples. Although some studies have more conservatively
included only always-married biological parents (Baril et al.
2007), others have extended participation to cohabiting cou-
ples (Helland et al. 2017), step parents (Suh et al. 2016), and
even to non-residential parents (Stutzman et al. 2011). These
differences likely have implications for interparental conflict
and adolescent adjustment, so future research should strive
to clarify the need for greater consensus. On a final note,
future research should examine the potential protective role
of other relationships, such as peer relationships (Xin et al.
2009), such that protective strengths can be examined and
potentially leveraged in future prevention or early interven-
tion efforts.
Conclusions
This narrative review of the research has examined relation-
ships between interparental conflict and adolescent adjust-
ment utilizing a family systems framework. In doing so, the
developmental timing of both parents and adolescents has
been examined. Other recent reviews have focused primarily
on family-driven effects on adolescents, without examina-
tion of bidirectional pathways (Cummings and Davies 2010).
Because systems theory highlights the interconnectedness of
family relationships and the bidirectional nature of impact,
understanding the longitudinal effects of interparental con-
flict on adolescent adjustment necessitates examination of
how interparental conflict may be exacerbated or alleviated
by earlier adolescent adjustment. In addition, characteris-
tics of interparental conflict, including types and sources of
conflict, have been unpacked. Issues related to parenting an
adolescent from a lifespan perspective have been explored.
The larger research on the impact of interparental conflict
on adolescent adjustment was reviewed, emphasizing cog-
nitive-contextual factors, and internalizing and externalizing
problems as outcomes. Evidence for specific mechanisms
of influence were explored, including spillover theory and
triangulation. Lastly, recommendations for future directions
were issued based on the current state of the research. Fami-
lies are composed of interconnected subsystems, and to best
support healthy families, researchers must strive to model
these dynamics in all their sparkling complexity.
Acknowledgements  The author wishes to express appreciation for the
support, proof-reading, and feedback providedby Dr. Edna Brown and
Dr. Alexander Reid.
Compliance with Ethical Standards 
Conflict of interest  The author reports no conflict of interest.
13
 Adolescent Research Review

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