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Author ORCID Identifier
N/A
AccessType
Open Access Dissertation
Document Type
dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Degree Program
Psychology
Year Degree Awarded
2017
Month Degree Awarded
May
First Advisor
Sally Powers
Second Advisor
Aline Sayer
Third Advisor
Paula Pietromonaco
Fourth Advisor
Karen Kalmakis
Subject Categories
Biological Psychology | Child Psychology | Clinical Psychology | Developmental Psychology | Psychology | Social Psychology
Abstract
Childhood family adversity influences behavioral and physiological response processes to acute interpersonal stress. Additionally, conflict behaviors in marriage are primary determinants of stress response and related psychological problems in adulthood. As little research has examined these two important literatures simultaneously, further work is warranted to clarify the role of marital conflict behavior in the relation between childhood family adversity and adult cortisol response to conflict. The current study examined relations between childhood family adversity, observed marital conflict behaviors, and salivary cortisol in response to acute marital conflict among 228 different-sex newlywed couples. We examined intrapersonal “actor” effects as candidate mediators of the relation between childhood adversity and cortisol response; and examined interpersonal “partner” effects as candidate moderators of the relation between childhood family adversity and cortisol response. Path analysis using Actor-Partner Interdependence Modeling demonstrated that wives’ childhood family adversity was negatively associated with wives’ cortisol. Wives’ negative conflict behavior (e.g., hostility and distress maintaining attributions) was negatively associated with wives’ cortisol. In the context of higher levels of wives’ negative conflict behavior, husbands’ experiences of childhood family adversity were positively associated with husbands’ cortisol in response to conflict. Results demonstrate the potential lasting impacts of childhood family adversity on later cortisol response to conflict and the important role of wives’ negative conflict behaviors on both husbands and wives. This study adds to the developmental psychopathology and close relationships literature, and further clarifies how stressful childhood experiences and conflict behaviors in marriage “get under the skin” in the form of physiological stress response to conflict.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/8696125.0
Recommended Citation
Winer, Jeffrey P., "Mediators and Moderators of Childhood Family Adversity and Adult Cortisol Response: The Role of Marital Conflict Behavior" (2017). Doctoral Dissertations. 1139.
https://doi.org/10.7275/8696125.0
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/1139
Included in
Biological Psychology Commons, Child Psychology Commons, Clinical Psychology Commons, Developmental Psychology Commons, Social Psychology Commons