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. 2011 May;23(2):563-76.
doi: 10.1017/S0954579411000216.

Interparental aggression, attention skills, and early childhood behavior problems

Nissa R Towe-Goodman  1 , Cynthia A Stifter, Michael A Coccia, Martha J Cox; Family Life Project Key Investigators
Collaborators, Affiliations

Interparental aggression, attention skills, and early childhood behavior problems

Nissa R Towe-Goodman et al. Dev Psychopathol. 2011 May.

Abstract

The current study explored longitudinal associations between interparental aggression, the development of child attention skills, and early childhood behavior problems in a diverse sample of 636 families living in predominately low-income, nonmetropolitan communities. The results of latent-variable, cross-lagged longitudinal models revealed that maternal-reported interparental aggression in infancy predicted reduced observed attention skills in toddlerhood; no association was observed, however, between attention in infancy and interparental aggression during the toddler years. Further, reduced toddler attention and high interparental aggression were both associated with increased risk for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms and conduct problems at 3 years of age. Processes largely operated in similar ways regardless of child gender or low-income status, although a few differences were observed. Overall, the results suggest that interparental aggression undermines attention development, putting children's early behavioral adjustment at risk.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Cross-lagged model of interparental aggression, child attention, and early childhood conduct problems (n = 636). All factor loadings, path coefficients, and residual values are completely standardized; f fixed estimate. *p < .05. **p < .01. Site: 0 = North Carolina, 1 = Pennsylvania; marital status: 0 = nonmarried, 1 = married; race: 0 = White, 1 = Black.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Cross-lagged model of interparental aggression, child attention, and early childhood adhd symptoms (n = 636). All factor loadings, path coefficients, and residual values are completely standardized; f fixed estimate. *p < .05. **p < .01. Site: 0 = North Carolina, 1 = Pennsylvania; marital status: 0 = nonmarried, 1 = married; race: 0 = White, 1 = Black.
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