Marital Adjustment, Child-Rearing Disagreements, and Overreactive Parenting: Predicting Child Behavior Problems Susan G. O’Leary and Hilary B. Vidair Stony Brook University Using structural equation modeling, the authors evaluated the hypothesis that the relation between marital adjustment and children’s behavior problems is mediated by child-rearing disagreements, whose effects are mediated by parents’ overreactive discipline. In a commu- nity sample, fully or partially mediated models of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems of 3- to 7-year-old boys (N = 99) and girls (N = 104) were supported for mothers and fathers in 7 of 8 cases. Child-rearing disagreements always mediated the relation of marital adjustment and child behavior problems, and overreactive discipline was a final mediator in 3 cases. More variance was accounted for in mothers’ than fathers’ ratings. For mothers’ ratings, the most variance was accounted for in boys’ externalizing and girls’ internalizing behavior problems. Keywords: children, behavior problems, marital adjustment, child-rearing disagreements, parental discipline The most recent meta-analysis of the relation between marital adjustment and children’s behavior problems (Buehler, Anthony, Krishnakumar, & Stone, 1997) indicates a small to medium average effect size of .32. Such findings do not necessarily mean that marital adjustment causes child behavior problems. In fact, marital adjustment may be af- fected by the degree to which the child exhibits behavior problems; bidirectional influences may be operative; or third variables may explain the observed relation. Under- standing how poor marital adjustment might cause child behavior problems could, however, have clear implications for the prevention and treatment of children’s behavior problems. We explore the possibility that two family fac- tors, namely child-rearing disagreements and overreactive or harsh discipline, 1 fully or partially mediate the relation between marital adjustment and children’s behavior problems. Both theory and empirical evidence support the possible mediating effect of child-rearing disagreements (Fincham, Grych, & Osborne, 1994). If the parents have poor conflict- resolution strategies generally, they are probably also inept in dealing with child-rearing disagreements. Children are aware of many aspects of their parents’ marital relation- ships, but the extent to which parents disagree about child rearing may be particularly apparent to children. Child- rearing disagreements are likely to be provoked by issues involving the child and may frequently occur with the child present. We know that exposure to interparental conflict elicits negative emotions in children (e.g., Cummings, Goeke-Morey, Papp, & Dukewich, 2002; Cummings, Zahn- Waxler, & Radke-Yarrow, 1981) and is related to children’s externalizing problems (El-Sheikh, Harger, & Whitson, 2001; Ingoldsby, Shaw, Owens, & Winslow, 1999). In addition, Papp, Cummings, and Goeke-Morey (2002) re- ported that the marital conflicts to which children are ex- posed tend to be particularly hostile and negatively charged. The child who is privy to these disagreements may imitate the parents’ argumentative, hostile, emotional conflict- resolution strategies, and the defiant, argumentative child behavior could then be perceived as an externalizing behav- ior problem by the parents. Alternatively, the child may withdraw in the face of disagreements the parents are hav- ing about how to parent, become sad, and be perceived by the parent as evidencing internalizing problems. Across a variety of measures, significant relations are reported be- tween marital adjustment and child-rearing disagreements and between child-rearing disagreements and child behavior problems (e.g., Block, Block, & Morrison, 1981; Dadds & 1 Dysfunctional parental discipline includes not only overreac- tive or harsh discipline but also other “mistakes,” such as incon- sistent or lax discipline. The literature regarding marital adjust- ment and child behavior problems has focused primarily on overreactive parenting, and relations between such parenting and child behavior problems are generally stronger than those between lax parenting and child behavior problems. Therefore, the current study addresses only overreactive parenting as a possible mediator. Susan G. O’Leary and Hilary B. Vidair, Department of Psy- chology, Stony Brook University. Hilary B. Vidair is now at the Department of Psychology, Hofstra University. This research was supported in part by National Institute of Mental Health Grant R01MH57985 and is based on the undergrad- uate honors thesis of Hilary B. Vidair. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Susan G. O’Leary, Department of Psychology, Stony Brook Uni- versity, Stony Brook, NY 11794 –2500. E-mail: susan.oleary@ sunysb.edu Journal of Family Psychology Copyright 2005 by the American Psychological Association 2005, Vol. 19, No. 2, 208 –216 0893-3200/05/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0893-3200.19.2.208 208