Marital Tension Can Harm Parent's Bond With Child

Marital tension between couples affects their bond with children, a new study reveals.

A new research led by Southern Methodist University, Dallas, found that when parents argue at home or have a disturbed relationship, their children suffer the consequences. More often, it is the father who allows negative emotions and tensions from their marriage to spill over and harm the child.

This study highlights that the quality of marriage is strongly associated with the bond each parent shares with their child. The finding is based on the analysis of the data retrieved from 203 families.

In this study, the families were made to complete daily diary entries for 15 days. At the end of each day, both mom and dad were asked to rate their quality of marriage and the relationship they shared with their child. The researchers noticed that when tension and conflicts existed between parents, their interaction with children on that day was filled with tension and conflict as well. Distinct differences were also noticed between moms and dads.  

When the quality of marriage was poor, mothers compartmentalized the problems in their marriage by the next day.

"In fact, in that situation, moms appeared to compensate for their marital tension," Kouros said. "Poor marital quality actually predicted an improvement in the relationship between the mom and the child. So, the first day's adverse spill-over is short lived for moms." The same case was not present for fathers.

She further said that in families where the mothers showed signs of depression, dads on the other hand let the marital tension spill over, leading to poorer interactions with their child, even on the next day.

Kouros said, "We see from the findings that the marriage is a hub relationship for the family. The quality of that relationship spills over into each parent's interactions with the child. So if mom and dad are fighting, it will show up initially -- and in some cases on the second day -- in a poorer quality relationship with their kids."

The finding was documented in Journal of Family Psychology.