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A Process-Oriented Analysis of the Mechanisms and Conditions Underpinning Children's Vulnerability to Disorganized, Unpredictable Interparental Conflict

Award Number: R01HD119011
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CHILD HEALTH AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/01/2026
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 05/31/2031

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A Process-Oriented Analysis of the Mechanisms and Conditions Underpinning Children's Vulnerability to Disorganized, Unpredictable Interparental Conflict - Exposure to disorganized interparental conflict (IPC) is a significant public health issue due to the distinctive risk it poses for children’s mental health. Defined by abrupt, unpredictable shifts and inconsistencies in parental emotional expressions, conflict tactics, and verbalizations during conflicts, disorganized IPC is an incremental predictor of subsequent increases in children’s externalizing and social difficulties over and above several other family risk factors. However, little is known about how, why, and when exposure to disorganized IPC is pathogenic for children. To address this significant gap, the present application is designed to break new ground by providing the first test of an integrative, developmental cascade model designed to identify the mediating mechanisms and moderating conditions that underpin the vulnerability of children exposed to heightened disorganized IPC. Guided by a strong conceptual framework and promising preliminary findings, the specific aims of this application examine whether prospective associations between disorganized IPC and children’s externalizing and social difficulties are mediated by their: (1) defensive schema and strategies for responding to family conflict; (2) biases in emotion processing and understanding; and (3) heightened reward responsivity and alterations in learning in rewarding contexts. To further identify which children are resilient in these contexts, another aim will test the theory-guided hypothesis that children’s self-regulatory capacities at physiological, psychological, and relationship levels may protect them from experiencing the pathways among disorganized IPC, the proposed mediating mechanisms, and their social and behavioral problems. This application will test these aims by following a sample of 236 4-year-old children and their parents over three annual measurement occasions. The multi-method, multi-informant, and multi-level measurement battery combined with powerful quantitative analyses is designed to generate rigorous tests of hypotheses on the mechanisms and conditions linking disorganized IPC and two primary forms of children’s mental health difficulties: externalizing symptoms and diminished social competence. Methodological innovation and rigor are evident in the use of novel assessments of disorganized IPC, sophisticated measures of proposed mediators (e.g., computational modeling of learning strategies in innovative reward learning tasks, eye tracking measures of emotion-biased attention; precise computer-generated manipulations of emotion stimuli for emotion knowledge measures, cutting edge assessments of children’s strategies for defusing the harm of IPC), and extensive multi-method assessments of children’s protective factors and mental health. By offering the first systematic test of the child mechanisms that account for why disorganized IPC is a distinctive precursor of children’s behavioral and social difficulties and the underlying multi-level sources of resilience, the current application stands to provide a foundation for new theory building, sustainable growing points for scientific inquiry, and important translational guideposts for clinical practice and public policy.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $588,905 )
2026	2026	UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER	910 GENESEE ST	ROCHESTER	NY	14611	MONROE	USA	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	000	1	8/27/2026	NEW	$588,905
														Subtotal = $588,905

Grand Total All Awards = $588,905

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A Process-Oriented Analysis of the Mechanisms and Conditions Underpinning Children's Vulnerability to Disorganized, Unpredictable Interparental Conflict

Award Number: R01HD119011

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CHILD HEALTH AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/01/2026

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 05/31/2031

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