The Relation Between State Angerin Divorced Mothers and Adjustment:

A Systems Perspective

Solly DremanSivan Tsemach

Uri Levin

ABSTRACT. The relation of maternal state anger to children's stateanxiety, parental responsiveness and attitudes to child rearing, parentalcooperation and conflict, and to social supporl were studied in divorcedfamilies. At higher levels of state anger, parental attitudes were morenegative, parental conflict higher, and social support lower, as predicted.Mothers, as compared to children, rated parental responsiveness and atti-tudes more positively, but perceived more conflict and less cooperationwith the ex-spouse in the post-divorce family. A maternal state anger xrespondent source interaction indicated that while mothers perceivedless contact, children perceived more contact with the noncustodial fa-ther as maternal anger increased. IArticle copies available for a fee front'Ihe Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address:<getinJb@haworthpressinc.com> Website: <http:llwwwHanorthPress.com> @ 2002by The Hcnvonh Press, Inc. All ights resetted.l

KEYWORDS. Divorced mothers, mothers post-divorce adjustment,anger and divorce

Solly Dreman, PhD, Sivan Tsemach, PhD, and Uri Levin, PhD, are on the faculty,Department of Behavioural Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box653, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel.

Journal of Divorce & Remariage,Yol.3T(U2) 200?http://www. haworthpressinc.com/store/product. asp'?sku=J087

@ 2002 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reser.red. 37

J8 JOURNAL OF DIVORCE & REMARRIAGE

Research has investigated the effects of parental conflict (Camera &Resnick, 1988; Emery,1982; Hauser, 1985; Rutter,7971; Wallerstein &Blakeslee, 1989), but the effects of parental anger has been relativelyignored. The present study casts some light on how maternal anger af-fects family coping and adjustment. It focuses on divorced women sincestudies have shown that these women are particularly prone to anger(Dreman,1998; Dreman & Aldor, 1994a; Kitson & Sussman, 1982;Wallerstein, 1986).

Recent research by Cummings and associates shows that parentalemotions are important in explaining children's adjustment to stressorsand have a causal role in organizing and directing children's reactionsto events (Cummings , 1995: Cumrnings & Davies, 1994; El-Sheikh &Cummings, 1995). It is also consistent with a body of research and the-ory highlighting the role of emotionality in children's coping with mari-tal conflict (e.g., Fincham, 7994; Grych & Fincham , 1993:- Osborne &Fincham, 1996).

With regard to divorce, several lines of research support the notionthat marital discord and its emotional residues, rather than the divorceper se, results in poor adjustment in children (Emery, 1982; Rutter,1979). Moreover, children are affected not only by anger and aggres-sion directed at them, but are also responsive to the background climateor environment of anger (Cummings, Zahn-Waxler, & Radke-Yarrow,1984). Such emotional components may mediate between stress and ad-justment. For example, Dix, Reinhold, &Zambarano, (1990) found thatangry mothers appraise their children's behavior more negatively thanthose in a happy or neutral mood. These investigators hypothesizedthatsuch affect-related cognitive biases adversely influence coping, as re-flected in parent-child interactions, and ultimately children's adjust-ment. Since anger is prevalent in the divorce situation it may be animportant factor in effecting children's adjustment. In support of theabove contention is a recent study conducted in Israel showing that highanger levels in divorced mothers were marginally associated with chil-dren's self-reports of diminished self-worth and high state anxiety(Dreman & Aldor, 1994b). A possible explanation is that persistent pa-rental anger may be accompanied by negative parent-child interactionand accompanying feelings of rejection by the child, enhancing theiranxiety and diminishing their self-esteem

Anger may also result in diminished parental cooperation and in-creased conflict. Deficiencies in these parental coping resources havebeen shown to negatively affect adjustrnent in children in both divorcedand two-parent farnilies (Camara & Resnick, 1988, 1989).

Dreman,Tsemach, and Levin 39

Anger may also affect the amount of perceived or actual social sup-

port extended to a divorced family. This follows because an angrymother may make attributions of rejection by potential helpers, or herbehavior may invite actual rejection. Supporling this contention regard-ing parental emotions is a study which showed that depressive symp-toms in parents adversely affect perceived social support (Billings &Moos, 1982).

The present study attempts to examine the effects of parental anger' on functioning in different "nested contexts" (Bronfenbrenner, 1 979) offamily life-individual, family, and social. Specifically, we investigatedthe effects of maternal anger on children's state anxiety (the individualcontext), on parenting attitudes & parental responsiveness, parental co-operation & parental conflict (the interpersonal context), and perceivedsocial support (the social context).

State anger was chosen as our measure of maternal anger because it issituational dependent (Spielberger, 1988) and in the post-divorce situa-tion may reflect the impact of specific stressors that divorced womenexperience, such as parenting difficulties (Hetherington, Cox, & Cox,1985), work overload (Hartman, 1991) and diminished socioeconomicstatus (Hetherington, Stanley-Hagan, & Anderson, 1989). Supportingthis claim is a recent study which found that levels of state anger in di-vorced mothers were more related to adjustment in the post-divorce fami-lies than were other personality-related anger scales such as trait, extemalized,

and intemalized anger (Dreman, 1995; Dreman, Spielberger, & Fried,1998).

While we expected individual, interpersonal, and social functioningto be poorer at high levels of maternal state anger, we were uncertainhow low levels of maternal anger would affect these variables. While itmight be expected that low anger levels would be associated with morepositive functioning, the possibility exists that such levels actually rep-resent denial or repression-processes which might adversely affect cop-ing and adjustment. Since there was no clear linear prediction wedecided to perform several analyses of variance in which the independ-ent variable, matemal state anger, was divided into high, medium and

low levels and its relationship with the dependent variables of the pres-

ent study were investigated. We predicted that:

. children would have higher levels of state anxiety at high versusmedium levels of matemal state anger

40 .IOURNAL OF DIVORCE & REMARRIAGE

. positive parent-child interaction, as reflected in parental respon-

iiveness and parental attitudes, would be lower at high versus me-

dium levels of maternal state anger. appraisals of parental conflict would be higher and parental coop-

eiation lower at high versus medium levels of matemal state anger. appraisals of social support would be lower at high versus medium

levels of matemal state anger

The relation between low levels of state anger and the dependent vari-

ables of the present study were examined post hoc'Participants in the present study were divorced custodial mothers,

and one of th"ir childien between the ages of 6-18. Mothers selected

were located at least four years past divorce in order to permit the inves-

tigation of the long-term effects of maternal anger in the post-divorcesituation. Of the dependent variables in the present study ratings of pa-

rental responsiveneis and attitudes, as well as of parental cooperation

and conflict, wele obtained from both mothers and their children Thismultiple respondent design was employed because research suggests

that motheriand children have different perceptions regarding parental

coping and adjustment. For example, divorced mothers, repofied com-p"-t"nf parenting in the immediate postseparation period, while their-ctritOren

reported more passive and nonnurturant maternal activity(Dreman, Orr, & Aldor, 1989). The children's description was more

compatible than was the mother's with research evidence which demon-

strated diminished matemal coping during the initial period after separa-

tion and divorce (Hetherington, 1981; Kurdek, 1981). The utilization ofchildren's as well as mother's fepofts may compensate for respondent bi-ases, as well as offering different perspectives of family coping and ad-

justment.

METHOD

Sample

Divorced mothels were randomly selected from an inclusive national

computerized list of 14,000 divorced custodial mothers receiving childstipend payments from the National Insurance Institute in Israel. A ran-

Aom sampte of 2,126 divorced mothers were approached by a letterfrom the institute asking for their participation in a national study ofcoping and adjustment in divorced families. Many of the letters were Ie-

Dreman, Tsemach, and Levin 41

tumed because of the mobility of this population group. Still, responserates were 18.5Vo of letters delivered (393 mothers), which compares fa-vorably with other family survey studies conducted in Israel (Homick &Maier, 1989).

Letters were then sent to mothers of the Jewish faith (85Vo of all di-vorcees) who both answered and agreed to participate in the research(337 mothers). Jewish mothers were selected because in the presentstudy we wished to focus on this group which represents the major reli-gious denomination in Israel, as well as different cultural values and dy-namics related to the divorce process than do the Christian and MoslemArab populations. This letter explained the purpose of the research, as

well as ensuring confidentiality. A demographic questionnaire was sentalong with this letter.

Mothers, who had remarried or had been married and divorced morethan once, were excluded. This was due to the fact that we wished to focuson coping and adjustment in single-parent custodial households, resultingfrom a flrst divorce, in which the mother was living without an adult part-ner. Only mothers who were four or more years past the divorce event wereselected. Mean time since divorce was 8 years and 9 months, S.D. of 3years and 8 months. Since time plays an important pafi in divorce adjust-ment, with children's adjustment improving as time from divorce increases(Hetherington, Cox, & Cox, 1982), it was treated as a covariate in the pres-ent study. Comparison of demographic characteristics showed that these

mothers were similar in terms of ethnicity, number of children in custody,the age of the oldest child and other relevant variables to the total sample ofdivorced Jewish mothers. The sample was skewed upwards in terms of age

distribution (mother's mean age 41.93 years) because mothers selected

were at least four yearc past divorce.Mothers selected had to have at least one child between the ages of

6-18, in order to ensure that the children were be capable of filling outvarious psychometric tests and questions related to post-divorce copingand adjustment. Mean age of children participating in the study was14.68 years, S.D. 3.5 years. These selection criteria, plus a 207o dropoutbetween the first wave and the second wave of the study, resulted in a fi-nal sample of 172 custodial mothers. One child was tested in each fam-ily unit with appropriate controls for gender, age, and birth order.

Measures

State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI; Spielberger, 1988).

The STAXI consists of 44 self-report items. Subjects are initially told

12 JOURNAL OF DIVORCE & REMARRIAGE

that the questionnaire inquires about their feelings, attitudes and behav-iors. Two scales measure the experience of ang,er: state anger and traitanger. Four scales measure the expression ofanger: anger in, anger out,anger control and anger expression. The l0 item state anger scale waschosen as the main independent variable of the present study because as

a situationally-dependent variable it was felt to be most representativeof such post-divorce stressors as parenting difficulties, work overloadand diminished socioeconomic standing after divorce. This scale askssubjects to rate the intensity of their angry feelings "right now," on a4-point scale, ranging from "very much so" to "not at all." An exampleof such an item is "I feel angry."

The STAXI has been extensively used in studies of stress and emo-tion and has proven reliabilities and validities (Spielberger, 1988). TheHebrew version of the STAXI (Dreman, 1998) was used in testing theIsraeli sample. Alphas reported for the adult population in the Israelistandardization forthe state anger scale was.80 as comparedto.91 inthe American sample. Factor analysis revealed an exact replication forall anger experience and expression scales of the scale items obtained inthe American standardization.

State-Trait Anxiety Inventotj for Children (Spielberger, Edwards,Lushene, Montuori, & Platzek, 1973). State anxiety was used as a mea-sure of personal functioning in children. It was selected because as asituationally-dependent variable it may ref-lect children's ongoing stressin the divorce context as reflected in their feelings of rejection, power-lessness, and uncertainty. This self-report scale contains 20 items, witha 3-point scale measuring how intensely the subject is experiencing thestated emotion at present, e.g., "I am very nervous." on a scale rangingfrom "not at all" to "very much so." A Hebrew version of this scale,with proven reliability and validity coefficients was used with the Is-raeli subjects (Teichman & Melnik, 1978).

Parent-child interaction: Resportsiveness and attitudes (Dreman &Aldor, 1988). This consisted of two scales used in divorce research in Is-rael: (a) parental responsiveness to the needs of their child, and (b) theirattitudes towards their parental effectiveness.

The parental responsiveness scale included the following items:

. Do you devote attention to your child?

. Do you discuss things with your child?

. Do you discuss the divorce with your children?

. Do you give your child permission to talk about the divorce out-side of the home?

Dreman, Tsemach, and Levin 43

The parental attitudes scale included the following items:

. How satisfied are you with your functioning as a mother?

. How satisfied are you with your child's behavior?

Both scales were assessed in a multiple respondent design in whichboth mothers and their children served as respondents. Children wereasked the above six questions in a modified form, e.g., "Does yourmother devote attention to you?"; "How satisfied is your mother in herrole as a mother?" All of the items relating to parental responsivenessand attitudes were rated by mothers on a 5-point scale ranging from"very little" to "very much," while children rated them on a similar3-point scale. Alphas reported on the parental responsiveness scalewere .41 for mothers and .52 for children. Alphas for the parental atti-tudes scale were .47 for mothers and .42 for children.

Parental interaction: Conflict and cooperation (Dreman & Aldor,1988). Parental conflict was measured by a 4-item self-report scale usedin divorce research in Israel. The items in the scale were:

. How much are you and your ex-spouse in conflict with each other?

. How much do your disputes concem the children?

. Do you criticize your ex-spouse in front of the children?

. What do you think of your ex-spouse's relation with your children?

Alphas reported for mother and child respondents on this scale were.72 and.59, respectively. As previously, a multiple respondent designwas employed, both mothers and children rating parental conflict on thefirst three items on a 5- or 3-point scale ranging from "very little" to"very much." The last item was rated on a 5- or 3-point scale rangingfrom "very negative" to "very positive."

Parental cooperation was originally measured by a 4-item scale con-taining the following items:

. How much do you and your ex-spouse cooperate in decision making?

. How much do you and your ex-spouse cooperate in decisions re-garding the children?

. How often are you in contact with your ex-spouse?

. How often do your children have contact with their father?

The first two items were rated on a 5-point or 3-point scale ranging from"very little" to "very much.'o The last two items were rated by both

41 JOURNAL OF DI\IORCE & REMARRIAGE

mothers and children on a 7-point scale of increasing frequency from"not at all" through the highest level "every day." while the internal re-liability coefficient (alpha) for mothers was .67, it was only .10 for chil-dren's reports of parental cooperation. An item analysis revealed a highcorrelation on the pair of items that deal directly with parental coopera-tion (items 1 and 2) and also between the pair of items that deal directlywith contact with the ex-spouse/father (items (3 and 4). Hence, we de-cided to treat each pair of items as separate scales labeled "general pa-rental cooperation" and "frequency of contact." Alphas obtained forgeneral cooperation were .57 for both mothers and children. The alphasobtained for frequency of contact were .73 f or mother and .61 for childrespondents.

Perceived social support. Two parts of this scale were investigated:(1) frequency ofappeals to different sources ofsupport and (2) satisfac-tion obtained from these sources. The appeals to different sources scaleasked respondents to rate how often they made appeals for social sup-port ftom 1 1 different sources which included grandparents, mother, fa-ther, siblings, the ex-spouse's family, friends, teachers, counselors, andpsychologists. These were rated by mothers on a 5-point scale rangingfrom "almost always" to "almost never." Satisfaction from each ofthese specific sources was rated on a 5-point scale ranging from "verymuch" to "very little." The alphas obtained for frequency of appeals tospecific sources was .73 and for satisfaction obtained from these sources.79.

Procedure

This study examined the second wave of a longitudinal study de-signed to assess post-divorce coping and adjustment in divorced fami-lies. The test batteries were administered on the average one-an<l-a-halfyears after the first testing. This wave was selected because in this pe-riod a large number of divorced mothers were four or more years pastdivorce, permitting us to examine the long-term effects of anger in thedivorce context. Testing was done both by mail and home visits by un-dergraduate students trained in testing and interview techniques by agraduate research assistant. Mothers and children were tested individu-ally and could receive help from the research assistant ifthey so desired.ln return for participation, the mothers later took part in group meetingsin which the problems of single-parenting were discussed.

Dreman,Tsemach, and Levin 45

RESULTS

A number of ANCOVAS were conducted to investigate the relation-ship between the independent variable maternal state anger with the de-pendent variables of the present study. Time since divorce, education,and income were treated as covariates since they have been found to be

related to post-divorce coping and adjustment. Maternal state angerscores l/2 standard deviation or more above the mean, were classifiedas "high anger," those within plus or minus l/2 standard deviation as

"medium anger," and those Ll2 standard deviation or more below themean as "[ow anger."

On those dependent variables where both mothers and children as-

sessed the dependent variable, i.e., parent-child interaction and parentalinteraction, two-way analyses of variance were conducted, with respon-dent source and state anger serving as independent variables. Where theparent-child and parental interaction scales were rated on a 5-pointscale by mothers and a 3-point scale by children, ttansformations had tobe done to make mother's and children's ratings comparable. Hencemother's ratings were transformed to a 3-point scale: ratings of 1 and 2assigned a score of 1, ratings of4 and 5 assigned a score of3 and ratingsof 3 assigned a score of 2. The final score of each respondent on anyscale was the summated scores received on all the items of that scale.

Personal functioning: Children's state anxiety. A one-way analysisof variance demonstrated no significant relationship between matemalstate anger with children's state anxiety, in contrast to our predic-tion-children's mean anxiety levels being similar at high, medium, andlow levels of state anger: Means = 29.62, 29.95, and 28.22, respec-tively.

Parent-child interaction: Reponsiveness and attitudes. A state angerx respondent source analysis of variance did not demonstrate a signifi-cant main effect for state anger on parental responsiveness, in contrastto our prediction. However, it should be noted that at the highest level ofstate anger mothers and children reported on the lowest level of parentalresponsiveness, as predicted (see Table 1). A significant main effectwas found for respondent source (F (1, 132) = 13.04 p <.001) withmothers reporting more responsiveness to their children's needs thanchildren reported.

A state anger x respondent source analysis of variance revealed a sig-nificant main effect (F(2,130) = 3.80, p <.030) for state anger onmother's parenting attitudes. Mothers with high and medium levels ofstate anger were rated as having the most negative parenting attitudes

46 JOURNAL OF DIVORCE & REMARRIAGE

TABLE 1. Maternal Responsiveness to Children's Needs as a Function of Ma-ternal State Anger and Respondent Source

RespondentSource

Mother

child

Mean

SD

Mean

SD

N

ColumnMean

State Anger

Medium

10.21

1.49

9.07

2.07

43

9.64

High

9.46

1.74

8.96

1.85

24

9.21

Low

9.96

1.61

9.35

1.85

68

9.65

Row Mean

9.88

9.19

1.85

Ancova Results for Maternal Responsiveness as aand Respondent Source

F

Funclion of State Anger

P<NS

.001ns

State Anger (SA)Respondent Source (RS)SAXRS

1.0013.04

by both mothers and children (see Table 2). A significant main effectwas found forrespondent source (f(1,130) = 6.09, p <.020) and likematemal responsiveness, mother's reports on parenting attitudes weremore positive than those of their children.

Parental interaction: conflict and coopet'ation. A state anger X re-spondent source analysis of variance revealed a significant main effectfor mother's state anger on perceptions of parental conflict (F(2,121) =4.050, p < .030). The highest levels of conflict were reported for moth-ers with the highest levels of state anger as predicted, with the lowestlevels of conflict being associated with the lowest levels of state anger(see Table 3). A main effect was also obtained for respondent source(F(1,121) = 22.67 , p < .001) with mothers perceiving significantly moreparental conflict than children.

A state anger X respondent source analysis of variance revealed nosignificant main effect for mother's state anger on perceptions of gen-eral parental cooperation, in contrast to our prediction, although therewas a trend for the highest level of maternal state anger to be associatedwith the lowest level of cooperation, as predicted (see Table 4). A sig-nificant main effect was found for respondent source on general cooper-ation, parents reporting less parental cooperation than their childrendid, F(1,103) = 19.24, p < .00l.In addition, an interaction was obtainedbetween state anger and respondent source (F(2,103) = 3.23, p <.05),

Dreman, Tsemach, and Levin

TABLE 2. Mothers'Attitudes Towards Parental Functioning and Child's Behav-

ior as a Function of Maternal State Anger and Respondent Source

47

Resgondent High

5.17

.83

4.74

1 .10

23

4.95

High

7.73

2.69

5.86

2.90

22

6.80

State Anger

Medium

4.98

1.18

4.91

0.92

43

4.94

State Anger

Medium

6.38

2.58

5.1 0

1.90

39

5.74

Low

5.48

.91

5.1 5

0.89

67

5.31

Low

5.95

2.61

4.78

2.20

bJ

5.40

Row Mean

s.zs1.05

4.93

0.94

Row Mean

6.45

2.74

5.07

2.27

chitd

Mean

SD

Mean

SD

N

ColumnMean

Ancova Results for Mothers' Attitudes as a Funclion ol State Angerand Respondenl Source

F P<State Anger (SA) 3.80 .030Respondent Source (RS) 6.09 .020SAxRS ns

TABLE 3. Parental Conflict as a Function of Maternal State Anger and Respon-

dent Source

chitd

Mean

SD

Mean

SD

N

ColumnMean

Ancova Results for Spousal Conflict as a Function ol State Angerand Respondent Source

F P<State Anger (SA) 4.05 .030Respondent Source (RS) 22.67 .001SAXRS NS

Mother

48 TOURNAL OF DIVORCE & REMARRIAGE

TABLE 4. Parental Cooperation as a Function of Maternal State Anger and Re-spondent Source

RespondentSource

Mother

chitd

Mean

SD

Mean

SD

N

ColumnMean

High

2.53

1.31

2.68

0.95

19

2.60

State Anger

Medium

2.48

1.06

3.52

1.58

33

3.00

Low

2.58

.91

3.04

1.11

54

2.81

Row Mean

2.47

1.00

3.12

1.28

Ancova Results for Parental Cooperation as a Funclion of State Anger and RespondentSource

F P<ns

19.24 .001ns

Stale Anger (SA)Respondent Source (RS)SAXRS

children reporting on the highest levels of cooperation when mothershad medium levels of state anger, while mothers reported on the mostcooperation when they had low levels of state anger.

No main effect was found for mother's state anger on perceived fre-quency of contact with the noncustodial parent, in contrast to our pre-dictions. However, an interaction was obt;ined between state anger;ndrespondent source (F(2,122) = 3.86, p < .03): mothers with high stateanger reporting on the lowest level of contact with noncustodial fathers,as predicted, while children whose mothers had high state anger repoftedon the highest frequency of contact with their fathers. A main effect wasalso found for respondent source (F (1,122) = 46.00, p < .001) with chil-dren reporting significantly more contact with the noncustodial fatherthan did mothers (see Table 5).

The above findings indicate that mothers have more positive percep-tions of par"ent-child interaction, as measured by parental responsive-ness and attitudes, than their children. In contrast, children perceiveparentalinteraction between the ex-spouses more positively than moth-ers do as reflected in their lower ratings of parental conflict and higherratings of parental cooperation as compared to mothers. Children alsoperceived more contact with the noncustodial father than their mothersacross anger conditions. In addition, they perceived contact with their

Dreman, Tsemach, and Levtrt

TABLE 5. Frequency of Contact with the Noncustodial Father as a Function ol

Maternal State Anger and Respondent Function

State Anger

High Medium

49

RespondentSource

Mother

chitd

Mean

SD

Mean

SD

N

ColumnMean

4.43

3.26

1 1.39

3.35

23

7.91

b.bJ

3.40

9.37

3.46

41

8.00

Low

6.11

3.36

9.05

3.81

61

7.58

Row Mean

5.98

3.42

9.58

3.70

Ancova Results for Frequency ol Contact of the Noncustodial Parent as a Function of StateAnger and Respondent Source

F p <State Anger (SA) nsRespondent Source (RS) 46.00 .001SA x RS 3.86 .003

father as greater at higher levels of matemal state anger, while the oppo-site was true for mothers.

Social support. A one-way analysis of variance revealed a main ef-fect for state anger on frequency of appeals to different sources of socialsupport as rated by mothers (F(2,160;) = 6.41,p < .003), with the lowestlevel of appeals for support found at the highest levels of maternal state

anger, as predicted. A main effect was also obtained for maternal state

anger on satisfaction with social support (F(2,159) = 11.41, p <.001),with the lowest level of satisfaction found at the highest level of state

anger, as predicted( see Tables 6 andT).

DISCUSSION

Contemporary theories of stress contend that cognitive appraisals ofcrisis events, as well as available coping resources, mediate betweenenvironmental stressors and adjustment, (e.g., McCubbin & Patterson,1983: Lazarus and Folkman, 1984; Olson, 1993; Olson, 1997). Com-mon to these theories is their failure to take sufficient account of the me-diating role that emotions have in this process. To illustrate, an angrymother may appraise her ex-spouse negatively which results in poorercoping because of increased parental conflict and diminished coopera-

50 JOURNAL OF DIVORCE & REMARRIAGE

TABLE 6. Frequency of Appeals to Different Sources of Social Support as aFunction ol Maternal State Anger

Mean

SD

N

Ancova Results for Frequency ofFunction of Maternal State Anger

Slate Anger (SA)

State Anger

High Medium

14.67 19.35

7 .42 5.1 5

33 48

Appeals to Diflerent Sources oJ Social

F P<6.41 .003

Medium

20.29

7.89

48

Low

17.86

5.49

82

Support as a

Low

19.06

7.22

82

TABLE 7. Satisfaction from Different Sources of Social Support as a Functionof Maternal State Anger

State Anger

Mean

SD

N

High

12.47

8.1 3

32

Ancova Results lor Satistaction JromMaternal State Anger

State Anger (SA)

Different Sources of Social Support as a Function ol

F P<4.41 .001

tion. Parental anger may also express itself in negative attitudes towardschildren and poor parent-child relationships. It may also negatively af-fect social support received because an angry mother may perceive oth-ers as being unwilling to help her, as well as actively discouragingothers from extending support. All of the above processes may ulti-mately affect adjustment as well.

The findings of the present study offered some support for this con-tention. Matemal state anger was found to be significantly associatedwith less positive maternal attitudes, increased parental conflict, and di-minished social support. High levels of state anger also were associated,though not significantly, with decreased responsiveness to children anddiminished parental cooperation. Caution must be exercised, however,when making causal inferences concerning the effects of anger on cog-nitive appraisal, coping, and adjustrnent since the present study is

Dreman,Tsemach, and Levin 51

comelational. For example, just as anger might influence maternal atti-tudes, perceptions ofparental conflict, and social support, these cogni-tive appraisals could also affect matemal anger.

Interrater reliability, For the most pafi the relationship of state angerto the dependent variables rated by multiple respondents were similar, ir-respective of whether mothers or children served as respondents. Hence,high state anger was found to be significantly associated with par-ent-child relationships, as expressed in more negative matemal attitudesand parental interaction, as expressed in increased parental conflict.However, there were also significant differences between mother's andchildren's ratings, with mothers reporting more parental conflict and less

cooperation across different anger levels than children. In contrast, moth-ers rated their parental responsiveness and parental attitudes as signifi-cantly more positive than their children rated these variables acrossdifferent anger levels. Hence, mothers rated interaction with theirex-spouse more negatively, while they rated their interaction with theirchildren more positively than did their children.

In order to explain the above findings we suggest that parental con-flict and cooperation is more visible, relevant, and salient to the di-vorced couple than to their children, causing them to appraise it morenegatively. In contrast, the mother's attitudes to their own parenting, as

well as their parental responsiveness, directly affect children and makea more profound impact on them. A possible explanation for the differ-ences between mother's and children's teports lies in the motivationalbiases involved in assessing such family dynamics. These biases havebeen defined as the tendency to arrive at conclusions which serve theparticular needs of the individual and preserve their sense of self-es-teem and control of events (Kruglanski &. Azjen, 1983). Because moth-ers have considerable esteem invested in their own parenting role, theymay rate this role less objectively than children who are more cognizantof deficient parenting. Supporting this contention is research whichshowed that children's reports of matemal behavior are more objectivethan those of mothers-children rating matemal behavior as less positivethan do mothers who tend to overestimate their effectiveness as parentsin the post-divorce context (Hetherington, 1981; Kurdek, 1981).

With regard to contact with the noncustodial father, an interactionwas obtained between mother's state anger and respondent source:mothers rating their children's contact as decreasing, while children in-dicated increasing contact with the father as maternal anger increased.We hypothesize that the aversive nature of the angry custodial house-hold may cause these children to seek out their fathers more and/or en-

52 JOURNAL OF DIVORCE & REMARRIAGE

gage in wish ftrlfillment regarding the actual frequency of contact withthe noncustodial father. One could also argue, however, that fatherswho perceive the matemal custody household as hostile and aversivemay seek out more contact with their children.

Theoretical, research and intert,entive implicatiorts. The presentstudy has important theoretical, research, and interventive implications.On the theoretical level, it suggests that emotions may be irnportant toadjustment because they affect cognitive appraisals ar-rd coping re-sources. As for state anger, specifically, it may be an important variablein stress management if it reflects, as suggested earlier, ongoing stress-ors such as parenting difficulties, work overload, and diminished socio-economic standing in the divorce context.

Because of the correlational nature of this study conciusions regard-ing causality should be held in abeyance until longitudinal studieswhich systematically investigate ongoing relationships between emo-tions, cognitive assessments, coping, and adjustment are conducted.Such studies should also be extended to other populations such as

two-parent families, violent families, and other family types in order toinvestigate the applicability of our findings to families outside of the di-vorce context. Cross-cultural studies are also necessary because angermay have different meanings in different cultural contexts, e.g., beingviewed as assertive and positive behavior in some cultures, and as ag-gressive and negative in other cultures.

As for implications regarding intervention, the fact that children andparents differed in their ratings of parental conflict and cooperation, as

well as in their assessments of parental responsiveness and attitudes, sug-gests the importance of considering children as well as their parent's re-ports in the assessment and treatment process. Future research shouldattempt to investigate how closely parent's and children's perceptions ofparent-child and parental interaction are related. For example, if parent'sassessments of parent-child interaction are more positive than their chil-dren's assessment and differences in these ratings are correlated withpoorer adjustment in their children, they may reflect parental denial.Therapy might then be directed at helping the parent to recognize suchdeficiencies in order to contribute to their children's adjustment.

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