Psychological Inflexibility in the Relationship Between Interparental Conflict and Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties in Adolescents
Ludovica Giani, Chiara Crepaldi, Luisa Morello, Silvia Grazioli, Simona Scaini, Marcella Caputi, Giovanni Michelini, Barbara Forresi
Interparental conflict, especially when frequent, intense and unresolved, shapes up as a risk factor for a wide range of internalizing and externalizing difficulties in offspring. Research has attempted to explain how this conflict between parents may affect the adjustment of children and adolescents, focusing on the role of several factors. However, the role of psychological inflexibility in adolescents exposed to interparental conflict has not been investigated. The objective of this research is to investigate whether psychological inflexibility could mediate the impact of interparental conflict on adolescent children’s emotional and behavioural difficulties. Data were collected from a sample of Italian adolescents (N = 195; F = 79.50%; M age = 17,31; SD age = 1,22) through the use of the Italian version of these self-report questionnaires: the Children’s Perception of Interparental Conflict Scale (CPIC), the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and the Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youth (I-AFQ-Y). Correlation analyses showed that destructive interparental conflicts characterized by high frequency, intensity and low resolution are positively related to emotional and behavioural difficulties in adolescent offspring. The mediation analysis revealed that psychological inflexibility acts as a partial mediator in the relationship between interparental conflict and adolescents’ psychological difficulties. This result provides support for interventions aimed at promoting psychological flexibility in adolescents exposed to destructive parental conflict, such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.
Keywords
Interparental conflict, Psychological inflexibility, Acceptance and commitment therapy; Adolescence, Mediation analysis.
