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Although it is well documented that marital conflict is a risk factor for child adjustment difficulties (Cummings & Davies, 2002; Grych & Fincham, 2001), there is wide variability in child outcomes associated with interparental conflict. Thus, the identification of processes and variables that may predict, moderate, and mediate the pathway between marital conflict and child functioning are of paramount importance (Cummings & Davies, 2002). Consistent with basic tenets of the emotional security view (Davies & Cummings, 1994), and a family systems perspective (Cox & Paley, 1997), we examined multiple relationships within the family and assessed parent-child conflict and child-parent attachments as predictors, mediators, and moderators in the link between marital conflict and child adjustment. The study builds on current knowledge by examining several risk variables (marital and parent-child conflict) and a potential protective factor (child-parent attachment) to explicate the aggregation, potentiation, and mitigation of risk for child maladjustment associated with exposure to parental marital conflict. Empirical evidence has indicated that varying statistical models may best describe the relations between risk factors and child adjustment (Gerard & Buehler, 1999; Masten, Garmezy, Tellegen, Pellegrini, Larkin, & Larsen, 1988). Further, simultaneous examination of several risk and protective factors, as well as the explication of mediating and moderating processes by which various relationships may affect child functioning in the context of marital conflict, is consistent with a stress process model (Roosa, Wolchik, & Sandler, 1997), and is essential for a better understanding of developmental psychopathology.
According to the Emotional Security conceptualization, the child-parent relationship can function as either a partial mediator or moderator in the marital conflict-child adjustment connection. Parent-child conflict and the affective quality of the parent-child relationship are particularly important for understanding the role of parenting in the link between marital conflict and child adjustment (see Fincham, Grych, & Osborne, 1994). According to the emotional security view, children's emotional security in the family is derived from several family systems, especially the marital system. However, this sense of security may be compromised by not only marital discord but also by the child-parent relationship including parental hostility and aggression toward children, which are particularly related to behavior problems because of their threatening nature (Davies & Cummings, 1994). Children describe parent-child conflict as one of the most distressing events...