Impact of parents' marital conflicts on parental attachment and social competence of adolescents

The present research was designed to provide an integrated understanding of perceptions of parents' marital conflicts, parental attachment and social competence of adolescents. Perceived parents' marital conflicts were measured in order to find out their relationship with perceived parental attachment (i.e., affective quality of relationship, parental fostering of autonomy, and parental role in providing emotional support) and social competence. The sample was comprised of 325 adolescents, age range 13-19 years (males=146, females= 179) selected from government schools and colleges of Islamabad (Pakistan). The results revealed that the perceived marital conflicts have negative correlation with parental attachment and social competence of adolescents. The significant negative correlation was also found between parents' marital conflicts and subscales of parental attachment, i.e., affective quality of relationship, parental fostering of autonomy, and parental role in providing emotional support. Regression analysis revealed that perceived high marital conflict of parents leads to low parental attachment and social competence among adolescents. No significant main effects of age and gender were found in the perceived parents' marital conflicts, parental attachment and social competence. There were also non-significant effects of the interaction of gender and age on all three variables.