Clinical Prevention and Remediation of Child Adjustment Problems

The collection of chapters in this book indicates that we have come a long way in explicating the complex relationship between interparental conflict and child adjustment. We now have several frameworks and data bases for delineating the particular aspects of parental conflict that are most detrimental, understanding how children's thinking and processing of the conflict can contribute to their adjustment, and understanding how parenting practices and parent–child relationships can serve as either protective or risk factors for children's adjustment. The challenge for researchers and clinicians alike is to use these bodies of evidence, and the known risk and protective factors, to develop effective prevention and treatment strategies that aim to prevent or minimize the suffering of children exposed to their parents' conflict. Thus, this chapter aims to (1) provide an overview of current intervention technologies that are or could be employed in this area, (2) briefly review examples of specific prevention and intervention programs that have been evaluated and described in the literature, (3) discuss important methodological issues for conducting intervention research, and (4) provide a model for future development of and research into treatment and preventative interventions. Accordingly, we intend to provide a “blueprint” for future investigations, both in terms of program development and evaluation research. It is hoped that our suggestions and guidelines will assist in building upon the foundation research that has already been done in this important area