They do not mean to – but they do

Supporting the relationship between parents is at least as valuable in prevention terms as developing parenting skills, a trio of intervention experts told a London seminar, last week.

One of the major challenges in their area of research is to establish if the quality of couple relationships is the chicken or the egg. Does a deteriorating relationship between partners produce poor child outcomes, or is a difficult child more likely to fracture their relationship.

Gordon Harold believes he has established the direction of effects by using longitudinal methods to demonstrate that sleep problems in children, one manifestation of disturbance, are generally the product rather than the cause of conflict and instability between couples.

His studies have also tackled the possible genetic explanation for these findings: children who have sleep problems may share the same genes that contribute to the anxiety that creates tension between parents.

Harold’s solution to that aspect of the problem was to investigate the circumstances of children who had been adopted, and who therefore did not share the genes of their parents. The findings held up.

To emphasize the magnitude of the underlying social problem, he drew on recent evidence from UNICEF indicating that 275 million children worldwide experience domestic violence. About two-fifths will display clinically significant emotional and behavioral problems compared to about one in ten who belong to families where there is no violence.

These worrying statistics mask the fact that health and development of the majority of children being brought up in potentially damaging households is within the normal range. Why do all not children succumb to these risks?

Harold’s research continues, but his existing studies point to two important loci of intervention. First, it appears that children who view poor conflict resolution by their parents as a threat, worrying what will happen as a consequence, are prone to depression. Second, the same evidence seems to back the proposition that children who blame themselves for their parents relationship problems are more likely to develop behavior problems.

As Harold explained to the audience of policy makers and practitioners in the Tavistock Centre’s new central London home, this evidence widens the potential scope for intervention.

“Reducing conflict and domestic violence is one strategy”, he said. “But another is to remind children that they are not to blame for their parents’ behavior, and that the child’s life chances need not be undermined.”

Evidence of this type provides a foundation for the work of Philip and Carolyn Pape Cowan who design, implement and test programs designed to strengthen relationships between couples and reduce the impact of poor conflict resolution on children’s health and development.

Prevention Action will report on their contribution to the London conference soon.

Explainers

Gordon Harold [3]

Gordon Harold is Director of the Centre for Research on Children and Families at the University of Otago in New Zealand. His research focuses on children’s psychological development, looking at the genetic and neurobiological origins of different pathways, the role of family and applications of research to policy and practice.

Philip Cowan [4]

Philip Cowan is professor emeritus of psychology at the University of California. Family systems and children’s development are at the heart of his research and over three decades he and his wife, Carolyn Pape Cowan. have conducted several large-scale longitudinal studies of families and interventions to support them.

Carolyn Pape Cown [5]

Carolyn Pape Cowan is professor emerita of psychology at the University of California. Along with her husband, Philip Cowan, she is co-director of three longitudinal preventive intervention studies - Becoming a Family, School Children and their Families, and Supporting Father Involvement.