Maladjustment As an Intervening Variable in Program Efficacy: Examining a Program to Improve Communication in Community Families

Evidence suggests links between destructive marital conflict and adolescent adjustment problems. In contrast, exposure to constructive marital conflict is associated with benefits to adolescents (Goeke-Morey et al., 2003). Intervening before behaviors associated with destructive conflict become engrained is important for marital partners and their children. Previous work suggests that a brief, easily administered program is optimal to accomplish these goals (Faircloth et al., 2011). An important next step for creating effective programs is to understand for whom interventions work best. The current study examines whether psychopathology moderates treatment impacts of the Family Communication Project, a 4-session psychoeducationally-based program to promote constructive conflict and effective communication in lower-income families with an adolescent child.

Participants in the current study included 225 families randomly assigned to one of four conditions: 1) parent-adolescent (PA) treatment, 2) parent-only (PO) treatment, 3) self-study (SS) control, 4) no treatment (NT) control. All families participated in assessments, including observed dyadic (interparental) and triadic (family) conflict interactions and questionnaires assessing parent and adolescent adjustment and marital functioning, at pre- and posttest, and at 6-month and 1-year follow ups. Families in the PA and PO conditions attended psychoeducational sessions and received coaching in a communication technique for four consecutive weeks. Participants in the SS condition received materials to review on their own during the time between pre- and posttest, and participants in the NT condition only participated in the assessments. All participants also completed diaries describing daily conflicts.

Preliminary analyses revealed a significant main effect of mothers’ depression in regard to adolescents’ knowledge about conflict, with children of depressed mothers improving less than children of mothers without depression at the one year follow-up. However, in regard to adolescents’ perceptions of interparental conflict, children of depressed fathers and mothers improved more than children of parents who were not depressed at the 1-year follow-up. The same pattern existed for depressed adolescents; adolescents with depression appeared to benefit more in regard to their perceptions of interparental conflict than their non-depressed counterparts. Future work will also include parents’ daily diaries as a dynamic indicator of the content and quality of their marital interactions.

Findings support the utility of a brief program to improve communication and promote constructive conflict for families that struggle with psychopathology. Implications for translational research will be discussed.